Covina, CA

Covina is a city located in the San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California. The population was 106,098 at the 2010 census. Covina is home to the Covina Hills High School and the Covina Community Theatre.

The city was founded in 1887 by George W. Hearst and his brother William Randolph Hearst on land that they purchased from Jose Maria Verdugo, a Spanish landowner. The brothers named their new town after their father's home town of Coventry, England. They began to build what would become known as "the castle on the hill". In 1905, construction began on what would become known as Hearst Castle, now a National Historic Landmark and one of the most photographed properties in America. The castle was completed in 1907 and hosted many social events for members of the Hearst family until it burned down in 1961.

In 1924, Harry Chandler bought some land east of downtown Covina from George Hearst and developed it into what is now called Westfield Century City shopping mall which opened in 1962. In 1965, he built another shopping mall called South Coast Plaza just north of Westfield Century City which became one of Southern California's largest malls with more than 1 million square feet (93,000 m2) of retail space.

In 1987, Wal-Mart opened its first store in Southern California at South Coast Plaza; this store later became one of the company's largest and most successful stores with more than 269 million square feet (25 million m2)of retail space worldwide as of January 31, 2017. In 2006, Target Corporation opened its first store outside North America at South Coast Plaza; this store later became one of Target Corporation's largest and most successful stores with more than 270 million square feet (25 million m2)of retail space worldwide as of January 31, 2017