Fontana, California (CA)
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Originally a sleepy, dusty town of citrus orchards and cattle ranches astride Route 66 and numerous rail lines, 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 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. Despite this reputation, Fontana elected its first African American to the city council in 2004.
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 infamous centers of white poverty. The production and consumption of methamphetamine, and its distribution by the Hell's Angels, rose to epidemic proportions during this time. However, Fontana's fortunes improved notably (along with the rest of the cities of the "Inland Empire") with the advent of the Southern California real estate boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s: as of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,929, but a July 1, 2002 Census estimate showed the fast-growing city's population at 143,607. 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 who choose 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. Some parts of the mill were sold to China, and the rest remains as an operating steel mill.
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