Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Gardena, CA

Gardena was incorporated on September 11, 1930, when the rural farming communities of Gardena, Moneta, and Strawberry Park merged into a single city.

Gardena's land was once part of Rancho San Pedro, the 43,119-acre Spanish land grant awarded to Juan José Dominguez between 1784 and 1800.

The Gardena Valley was nicknamed "Berryland" because berries of all kinds, especially strawberries, were grown there in huge quantities.

Gardena's townsite was laid out in 1887 near Figueroa Street, but in 1889 the whole town picked up and moved to Vermont Avenue and 166th Street to meet the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway where it was actually built.

According to the Los Angeles County Library, Gardena was named by the daughter of early settler Spencer Thorpe in honor of the valley being a "garden spot."

Japanese immigrant farmers in the berry fields built Gardena into one of the largest Japanese American communities in the United States, and in 1972 the city elected the nation's first Japanese American mayor.

For decades Gardena was the only locality in Los Angeles County where card-room gambling was legal, and its six card rooms held a countywide monopoly until the city of Bell joined in 1980.

At one point Gardena had more public poker tables than the rest of the United States combined, and card rooms still pay the city a share of their monthly gross revenue.

Gardena had a population of 61,027 at the 2020 census, with about 20,822 households in 2020-2024 averaging 2.81 persons each, and it packs those residents into about 5.7 square miles 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

Nicknamed the "Freeway City" for the freeways at its edges, Gardena is often described as one of the most ethnically balanced communities in the United States.