Editing Downey, California (section)

===After World War II===
[[File:Vultee Vengeance production at Downey CA.jpg|thumb|right|Workers in Downey building [[Vultee A-31 Vengeance|Vultee Vengeance]] bombers for the [[Royal Air Force]] in 1943<ref name="Parker, Dana T. p. 107-20">Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' p. 107-20, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref>]]
Farmers in the area grew grain, corn, [[castor bean]]s, and fruit, and by 1935 Downey was characterized as an "orange-grove town".<ref>Romance & History of California Ranchos. Myrtle Garrison. 1935. page 11. Harr Wagner Publishing Company, San Francisco, CA.</ref> 
Downey was incorporated in 1956 and instituted a [[Municipal charter|charter]] form of government in 1964. Suburban homes and factories replaced the farms after World War II.

====Aerospace====
[[Vultee Aircraft]] was Downey's largest employer during World War II producing 15% of all of America's military aircraft by 1941.<ref>Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' p. 107, Cypress, CA, 2013. {{ISBN|978-0-9897906-0-4}}.</ref> The company was a pioneer in the use of women in manufacturing positions and was the first aircraft company to build airplanes on a powered assembly line.<ref name="Parker, Dana T. p. 107-20"/> Vultee became a part of [[North American Aviation]] (later [[North American Rockwell]], then [[Rockwell International]] which was then bought by the [[Boeing]] company) whose facilities were the birthplace of the systems for the [[Apollo program|Apollo Space Program]] as well as the [[Space Shuttle]]. For over 70 years, Downey's Rockwell [[NASA]] plant produced and tested many of the 20th century's greatest aviation, missile, and space endeavors.

The seventy-year history of airplane and space vehicle manufacturing in Downey came to an end when the Rockwell plant closed in 1999. The plant was demolished and replaced by the [[Space Shuttle Columbia#Tributes and memorials|Columbia Memorial Space Center]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbiaspacescience.org|title=Columbia Memorial Space Center -|access-date=April 22, 2016}}</ref> Downey Landing shopping center, [[Promenade at Downey]] shopping center (the former [[movie studio]] site of [[Downey Studios]]), a [[Kaiser Permanente]] hospital, and a city recreation fields park.

====Other landmarks====
Near the center of the city lies what was in the 1960s one of the busiest intersections in California, the intersection of Lakewood Boulevard ([[California State Route 19|State Route 19]]) and Firestone Boulevard (former [[California State Route 42|State Route 42]]). Route 19 was a major thoroughfare between [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] and the port at [[Long Beach, California|Long Beach]] and Route 42 was along part of the old Spanish [[El Camino Real (California)|El Camino Real]] trail that connected the [[Pueblo de Los Angeles]] to [[San Diego]].

In the 1960s, the town's Downey Records achieved some notoriety with recordings such as [[The Chantays]]' surfing instrumental "[[Pipeline (instrumental)|Pipeline]]"; nearly two decades later, Downey's local music scene led to the founding of [[The Blasters]] and [[Dark Angel (band)|Dark Angel]].

[[Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center]], the main public rehabilitation hospital for [[Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles County]], is located in Downey. Rancho Los Amigos is renowned worldwide for its innovative contributions to the care of [[Spinal cord injury|spinal cord injuries]] and [[post-polio syndrome]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rancho.org|title=Official Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center website|access-date=July 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224085939/http://www.rancho.org/|archive-date=February 24, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Downey was featured in the 2008 American action-comedy film ''[[Pineapple Express (film)|Pineapple Express]]''. Many of the buildings along Florence Avenue are seen in a driving sequence early in the film.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910936/locations?ref_=tt_ql_dt_6|title=Pineapple Express (2008)|work=IMDb|access-date=April 22, 2016}}</ref>

Downey is home to the world's oldest existing [[McDonald's]] Restaurant, the so-called Speedee McDonald's Store, which opened in 1953 at the southwest corner of Florence Avenue and Lakewood Boulevard. Damaged in the [[1994 Northridge Earthquake]], the store reopened in 1996 along with a museum and gift shop.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=51959|title=The Speedee McDonald's Store|work=The Historical Marker Database|access-date=May 19, 2024}}</ref>