Editing El Monte, California (section)

==In popular culture==
El Monte is credited with being the birthplace of TV variety shows. ''Hometown Jamboree'', a KTLA-TV Los Angeles-based show, was produced at [[El Monte Legion Stadium]] in the 1950s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/cliffie-stone |title=Full List of Inductees |publisher=Country Music Hall of Fame |access-date=August 3, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721215900/http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/cliffie-stone |archive-date=July 21, 2010 }}</ref> The Saturday night stage show was hosted and produced by [[Cliffie Stone]], who helped popularize country music in California.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nelson |first=Valerie J. |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-molly-bee11-2009feb11,0,7175717.story |title=Molly Bee dies at 69; country singer |work=Los Angeles Times |date=February 11, 2009 |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>

In the 1950s, as the unstable racial climate and the hostility toward rock & roll started to emerge, rock & roll shows were forced from the City of Los Angeles by police pressure. The [[El Monte Legion Stadium]], outside the city limits, became the site of a series for rock and roll concerts by [[Johnny Otis]] and other performers. (Johnny Otis along with [[Alan Freed]] and [[Dick Clark]] were the major powers in the growing rock and roll industry.)  During the fifties, teenagers from all over Southern California flocked to El Monte Legion Stadium every Friday and Saturday night to see their favorite performers.  Famous singers who performed there include: [[Ritchie Valens]], [[Rosie & the Originals]], [[Brenton Wood]],  [[Earth, Wind & Fire]], [[The Grateful Dead]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/gd1970-12-26.sbd.ashley-field.34031.sbeok.flac16 |title=Grateful Dead Live at Legion Stadium on 1970-12-26 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive |date= December 26, 1970|access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>  [[Dick Dale]] and his Del-Tones and [[Johnny "Guitar" Watson]]. Disc jockeys [[Art Laboe]] and [[Huggy Boy]] enhanced the stadium's popularity with their highly publicized Friday Night Dances with many popular record artists of the late 1950s and 1960s.  "El Monte Legion Stadium", as it was often called, was the  "Happening" place to be for the teenagers of that era.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200805/1211504190.html |title=History-Making Oldies Cruise Announced - Doo Wop Cruise, Doo-Wop, Oldies Cruises |publisher=Free-press-release.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref> In a closed-circuit telecast, a recorded performance of [[The Beatles]], the [[Beach Boys]], and [[Lesley Gore|Lesly Gore]] aired in the El Monte Legion Stadium from Mar 14–15, 1964.<ref>{{Cite web|last=San Gabriel Valley in Time|title=When The Beatles Kinda Played at the El Monte Legion Stadium|url=https://sgvintime.com/home/f/when-the-beatles-kinda-played-at-the-el-monte-legion-stadium|access-date=September 22, 2021|website=San Gabriel Valley in Time|language=en-US}}</ref>

El Monte is known for the long-time rock & roll hit "[[Memories of El Monte]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foreveroldies.com/various/memoriesofel.mp3 |format=MP3 |title=Audio soundbyte |website=Foreveroldies.com |access-date=June 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101028145752/http://foreveroldies.com/various/memoriesofel.mp3 |archive-date=October 28, 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> written by [[Frank Zappa]] and originally recorded by [[The Penguins]], one of the local [[Doo-wop]] groups from the 1950s that became famous nationwide. The song is in remembrance of The El Monte Legion Stadium and can be heard on many albums including ''Art Laboe's Memories of El Monte''. Although the stadium closed their doors nearly 50 years ago, the music continues to live on.<ref>Even though the stadium closed their doors almost fifty years ago, the music and the memories, continues to live on.</ref>
El Monte was the birthplace of singer–guitarist [[Mary Ford]], of [[Les Paul and Mary Ford]] fame.  John Larkin, known as ([[Scatman John]]), is also a native.  El Monte was home to musicians Gregg Myers and [[Country Joe McDonald|Joe McDonald]], who performed in the 1960s with [[Country Joe and the Fish]]. 
[[File:Leo the MGM lion 1928.jpg|thumb|Photo of "Leo the Lion" being recorded for his roar to be heard at the beginning of MGM films.]]
A popular attraction from 1925 to 1942 was [[Gay's Lion Farm]]. Two European retired circus stars, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gay, operated this tourist attraction, which has been called "the Disneyland of the 1920s and 1930s" by historian Jack Barton,<ref name="earthlink1" /> and many others of that era. The Gays raised wild animals for use in the motion picture industry and housed over 200 African lions.  Many of the lions starred in films during the 1920s and 1930s, including the [[Tarzan]] films starring [[Elmo Lincoln]] and [[Johnny Weissmuller]]. The [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] lion logo was made with two lions from the farm, "Slats" (1924–1927), and his lookalike successor "Jackie" (1928-1956).  Another one of the farm's famous lions was Numa, who appeared in several films throughout the 1920s, including Charlie Chaplin's "The Circus."<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1975|title=The 117th Conference & Equipment Exhibit: Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles September 28–October 3, 1975|journal=Journal of the SMPTE|volume=84|issue=8|pages=627–646|doi=10.5594/j13324|issn=0361-4573|doi-access=free}}</ref> In 1925, El Monte Union High School adopted "The Lions" name for its teams, and the Gays provided a lion mascot for big games.  The famous live lion farm was closed temporarily due to wartime meat shortages. It never reopened, but a life-sized memorial statue can be seen next to I-10 on the SE corner of [[Valley Boulevard]] and Peck Road. The original lion statue, commissioned for the Farm, stands in front of nearby [[El Monte High School]].<ref>John Garside & Marty Shields. Gay's Lion Farm - A Forgotten Tale of El Monte. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47do8uEihH8</ref>

Horse racing's most famous jockey, [[Willie Shoemaker]], was a resident and attended El Monte High School, until he dropped out to work in the nearby stables.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.yourdictionary.com/biography/willie-shoemaker |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130210090155/http://www.yourdictionary.com/biography/willie-shoemaker |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 10, 2013 |title=Willie Shoemaker Facts |website=Yourdictionary.com |access-date=June 6, 2017 }}</ref>
El Monte was also briefly the home to author [[James Ellroy]] until his mother Geneva was murdered there in 1958.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocregister.com/entertainment/ellroy-143160-says-movie.html |title=Memories in black |website=Ocregister.com |access-date=June 6, 2017|date=September 15, 2006 }}</ref>
Former baseball player [[Fred Lynn]] was a resident of El Monte.  Actor-filmmaker [[Timothy Carey]] filmed much of his underground feature ''The World's Greatest Sinner'' (1962) in El Monte. Modern authors Salvador Plascencia, 33, and Michael Jaime-Becerra, 36, both grew up in El Monte and each references El Monte in his novels.<ref>{{cite news|last=Johnson |first=Reed |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/la-ca-el-monte-20100425,0,4721719.story |title=Writers Salvador Plascencia and Michael Jaime-Becerra share a city and common inspiration: El Monte |publisher=chicagotribune.com |date=April 25, 2010 |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>  [[Mister Ed]], the palomino of the classic 1960s television show, was foaled in 1949 in El Monte and named "Bamboo Harvester".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.angelfire.com/film/horsefame/MrEd2.html |title=mr ed story |publisher=Angelfire.com |access-date=August 3, 2010}}</ref>