El Monte Airport renamed SGV Airport

Former Arcadia Mayor Pater Amundson, in his current role as chairman of the Los Angeles County Aviation Commission oversaw the re-naming of Los Angeles County’s airfield in El Monte as the San Gabriel Valley Airport on Sunday, Nov. 16.

Amundson was quoted by a reporter from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune at the air fair and open house:

“This airport, though physically located in El Monte, is of immense but mostly unappreciated benefit to the whole San Gabriel Valley.  With that thought, it is only fitting today that we rename this airport the San Gabriel Valley Airport.

The San Gabriel Valley Airport, built in 1936, and Brackett Field Airport in La Verne are the only two remaining airports in San Gabriel Valley. Los Angeles County, which bought the Ontario Airport and is now being challenged to give it up to locals who claim the County has caused a tremendous dropoff in the success of that airport in favor of focusing resources and profile on LAX, bought the San Gabriel Valley Airport in 1969 for $3 million, according the SGV Tribune. It now generates more than $40 million in economic annual output and supports almost 200 jobs inside the airport and in the surrounding communities, according to officials. The County operates five small local airports overall in El Monte, La Verne, Compton, Pacoima and Lancaster. Amundson told the reporter they are important to the local economy and “invaluable in case of disaster.”