Overview
About Old Town East
Old Town East is a block of 8.8 acres, 41 parcels carrying 74 addresses, which is the ratio that comes with duplexes and small apartment buildings rather than detached houses. Only two streets touch it, Pine and Reagan, over 0.16 miles, and the city zones it Limited Multi Family Residential.
Soroptimist Park sits inside the boundary at 10822 Pine Street, 0.17 acres with a play area on the city's inventory. Land Use Policy 4.3 names Old Town East with Old Town West and Apartment Row as one of three multifamily neighborhoods where the city promotes coordinated property maintenance and improvement, and the Mobility Element proposes a Class III bike route along Reagan Street to link the schools with the downtown area. Los Alamitos Unified School District covers the block, with Los Alamitos Elementary on Bloomfield Street enrolling 603 and Los Alamitos High at 3591 Cerritos Avenue enrolling 2,809.
View available homes in Old Town EastHistory
How Old Town East was built
Old Town East is the eastern half of the original company town, laid out in 1896 when Llewellyn Bixby drew streets of worker housing beside the sugar refinery the future Montana senator William Andrews Clark had just built, the first one in Southern California. County construction years inside this small boundary go back to 1908 and run all the way to the 1980s, which is the signature of a place that has been continuously rebuilt rather than developed once. Pine and Reagan carry almost the whole neighborhood, and Soroptimist Park sits on Pine with a sixth of an acre.
The sugar economy that put these blocks here lasted about twenty five years. A soil pest and the end of a protective tariff finished beet growing in Orange County in the 1920s, and the refinery was leased in 1921 to the Dr. Ross dog food company. The town survived on what came next: a touch and go airfield east of town in August 1940, the first military post in Orange County, and then the Naval Reserve Air Base that moved in from Long Beach in May 1942 and became the busiest reserve air base in the country during the Korean War.
By the Numbers
Old Town East by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Old Town East lifestyle
The city keeps 18 acres of public park across four neighborhood parks and five pocket parks. Little Cottonwood Park on Farquhar Avenue is the largest of them at 6.75 acres, with a basketball court, a sand volleyball court and a softball field. Coyote Creek Park opened in 2013 and turned a bare utility corridor into a 3.69 acre greenway along the Coyote Creek Channel.
Laurel Park runs to 4.33 acres on Bloomfield Street with a lighted multipurpose field and lighted tennis courts, and it has hosted the Los Alamitos Girls Softball League since 1974. The Aquatic Center, which the city leases and operates, is home to the USA Water Polo National Training Center and an outdoor 50 meter pool.
Schools
Schools serving Old Town East
Los Alamitos Unified School District covers the whole of Old Town East. The campuses below are the district's, with enrollment from the state's 2025-26 census day count. The district publishes no attendance boundary map, so confirm the assigned campus for a specific address with the district.
9-12 · 2,809 students
6-8 · 1,031 students
6-8 · 1,017 students
K-5 · 680 students
K-5 · 641 students
K-5 · 638 students
K-5 · 636 students
K-5 · 603 students
K-5 · 569 students
FAQs
Common questions about Old Town East
What kind of housing is in Old Town East?
Attached housing, mostly. The county records 74 addresses on 41 parcels inside the boundary, and the city zones the whole block Limited Multi Family Residential. Land Use Policy 4.3 names it with Old Town West and Apartment Row as one of the three multifamily neighborhoods where the city promotes coordinated property maintenance and improvement.
When were the buildings in Old Town East built?
Across most of the twentieth century. The county carries a build year on 35 of the 41 parcels here, the earliest 1908 and the latest 1987, with half of them 1957 or before.
How big is Old Town East?
The boundary the city draws encloses 8.8 acres, one of the smallest of the sixteen it numbers. Only two streets touch it, Pine and Reagan, over 0.16 miles of pavement.
Is there a park in Old Town East?
Yes. Soroptimist Park sits inside the boundary at 10822 Pine Street, 0.17 acres with a play area on the city's inventory, one of the five pocket parks in the city's 18 acres of public park space.
Which schools serve Old Town East?
Los Alamitos Unified School District covers all of it. The district enrolls 603 students at Los Alamitos Elementary on Bloomfield Street, 1,017 at Oak Middle on Oak Street, 1,031 at Sharon Christa McAuliffe Middle on Cerritos Avenue and 2,809 at Los Alamitos High at 3591 Cerritos Avenue. All nine of the district's comprehensive schools have been honored as National Blue Ribbon Schools, California Distinguished Schools, or both. The district publishes no attendance boundary map, so confirm the assigned campus for a specific address with the district.