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Real Estate Appraisers and Appraisals In
San Bernardino County, City of Fontana
| Fontana is a city in
the desert of San Bernardino that was originally a sleepy, dusty town of citrus
orchards and cattle ranches astride Route 66. Fontana was radically transformed
during World War II by the construction of a steel mill belonging to the Henry
J. Kaiser Company and the routing of the San Bernardino Freeway through a
section of the town. Explosive growth soon followed, with the area becoming a
prominent industrial exurb of Los Angeles. Its working-class orientation, and a
population of largely rural Southern, Hispanic, and Midwestern origins, led to
the city receiving the derisive nicknames Fontucky and Fontucket. This
reputation for provincialism was not aided by the rise to prominence of the
Hells Angels motorcycle gang, which had originally formed in Fontana. Foreign
competition and mismanagement led to the closure of the Kaiser Steel plant in
the early 1980s, and Fontana and neighboring San Bernardino soon became centers
of lower income whites. The production and consumption of methamphetamine, and
its distribution by the Hells Angels, rose during this time. The completion of
the Foothill Freeway extension in 2003 should contribute to Fontana's
increasing prominence as both a bedroom community and a center of industry.
Much of the boom has occurred to the north of the city core with residents
ordering appraisals and choosing to identify with surrounding cities such as
Rancho Cucamonga. Fontana's principal cultural/entertainment attraction is the
California Speedway, a racetrack that plays host to two NASCAR Nextel Cup
events a year and various smaller races. It is built on portions of the former
site of the Kaiser mill. |
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