Gardena is a city located in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.

Until 2014, the U.S. census cited the City of Gardena as the place with the highest percentage of Japanese Americans in California.

[11] Based on archaeological findings, the Tongva people hunted and fished in the area of today's Gardena.

[12] In 1784, three years after the foundation of Los Angeles, Juan Jose Dominguez (1736–1809), a Spanish soldier who arrived in San Diego, California in 1769 with Fernando Rivera y Moncada, in recognition of his military service, received the roughly 43,000-acre (170 km2) Spanish land grant, the Rancho San Pedro.

[12] After the American Civil War veterans bought parts of the land, and soon ranchers and farmers followed suit.

Gardena proper began in 1887 when the Pomeroy & Harrison real estate developers subdivided the ranch, anticipating the coming of the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway.

Civil War veteran Spencer Roane Thorpe is credited with starting the first settlement in Gardena in 1887.

[12] Railroads put Gardena on the map following a 1880s Southern California real estate boom.

[12] Some believe the city was named for its reputation for being the only "green spot" in the dry season between Los Angeles and the sea.

[14] The only way Gardena could protect itself from a heavy county tax imposed on a planned project at a park site was to incorporate.

[13] From 1936 to 1980, Gardena held a local monopoly on legal cardrooms, the taxes from which accounted for nearly a third of its annual budget.

[15][16] As this Los Angeles suburb grew, many Japanese American families moved into the new tract homes being built.

[17] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.9 square miles (15 km2), over 99% of which is land.

Gardena is bordered by the unincorporated community of Athens on the north, the Los Angeles neighborhood of Harbor Gateway on the east and south, Torrance on the southwest, Alondra Park on the west, and Hawthorne on the northwest.

During 2009–2013, Gardena had a median household income of $48,251, with 15.5% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

The remainder included a Korean community that was increasing in size and Chinese, Filipino, and Native American people.

The National Planning Data Corp. released projected figures in 1987 estimating that of the 50,000 residents, 26.3% were Anglo, 23% were black, 22.7 were Latino, and 28% were of other racial groups.

That year, Mayor Edmond J. Russ declared that, according to a special 1978 census, the racial demographics of Gardena had stabilized.

As of 2014, the nearby city of Torrance holds the highest Japanese-American population in the 48 contiguous states.

[47] Early in Gardena's history, Japanese migrants played a role in the agrarian economy.

[48] Beginning in the 1920s, Japanese American organizations, including the Moneta Gakuen, were established continuously around the current JCI site.

[43] As of 1992[update], about 60% of the Korean population in the South Bay region lived in Gardena and Torrance.

National Stores Inc., which operates the Factory 2-U and the Fallas Paredes brands, has its headquarters in the Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles,[57] near Gardena.

[58] According to the city's 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[59] the top employers in the city as of 2020 were: In the California State Legislature, Gardena is in the 35th Senate District, represented by Democrat Laura Richardson, and in the 66th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Al Muratsuchi.

[64] The northern end of the Gardena HS campus has LAUSD staff housing, Sage Park Apartments.

The current Satow building, dedicated on February 26, 1977, was named after a Japanese American in the community.