Location means it’s more affordable but can make a DTLA commute a pain.

Like that of most places in the Los Angeles region, the recorded historyofRowland Heights stretches back to the time when Spanish expeditions wanderedthe sereplains and craggy hills of California, trying to takethe measureofthe vast land they had stumbled upon whilesearching for gold.

It wasGaspar de Portolá —on his long, dustymarch from San DiegotoMonterey —who claimed the place for the king of Spainand named the area Puente, for a bridge hismen built over anearby creek.

In the 1840sthe Mexican government, the inheritors of the remnants of the Spanish empirein NorthAmerica, granted rights to the 49,000-acreRancho La Puente to John Rowland and his partner.

Togetherthey raised crops and cattle and fought in supportofPio Picoand the Californiocause in the Second Battle of Cahuenga Pass in 1845,inwhichthe warring sidesfired artilleryateachother untiltheyran out of shot, resulting in the deaths of one horse, one donkey and zeroCalifornians.

The rancho remained asleepy agricultural corner of Southern California, untouched by generationsofboom and bust cycles until the 1950s, when the Rowland and Walnut WaterDistrict wasformed to bring waterfromthe Colorado River to whatwouldsoon become abustling bedroom community.

The construction of the 60 Freewayin1970fueled the boom in subdivisions and strip malls in what wasnow called Rowland Heights.

It wasalso in the 1970sthat the surrounding San Gabriel Valley began to develop intoan important commercial and residential center of Chinese-American life.

Eschewing the traditional gatewaycommunityofChinatown in downtownLos Angeles, newly arrivedChinese, like so many of theirfellowAngelenosold and new, opted for life in the suburbs.

Today,Rowland Heights is one of the San Gabriel Valley’s many communities with pluralities of Chinese-American residents and is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in L.A. County.

Neighborhood highlights

Aliteral feast for thesenses:

Lovers of Chinese cuisine —which, let’s be honest, is everyone —know that the San Gabriel Valleyboasts some of the best restaurants in Southern California, and the Colima Road corridorinRowland Heights has morethan its fair shareofthem.

Take a hike: Rowland Heights sits right next door to hundreds of acres of parkland in the Puente Hills that boast miles of hiking and riding trails, not to mention expansive views of the San Gabriel Valley.

Suburb to suburb: Rowland Heights is convenient to the rest of the San Gabriel Valley and the northern O.C.

Neighborhood challenges

Potentially long commute: For the unlucky, downtown Los Angeles — or worse, the Westside — is a gnarly rush-hour drive away.

Up and to the right: Although home prices in Rowland Heights are still a relatively good deal for the region, homes in the southern and eastern portions of the neighborhood are regularly asking well over $1 million.

Expert insight “In comparison to Monterey Park, Alhambra and San Gabriel, it’s a lot more affordable for people who are buying their first home.

And it’s not as competitive,” said Jennifer Lee, a real estate agent with RE/MAX 2000 in Rowland Heights.

That’s in part because the neighborhood is farther east, and therefore more of a trek to downtown.

Lee recommended that potential home buyers drive around to check out the different areas of Rowland Heights “because they do change drastically in terms of the different house styles, in terms of who your neighbors are.”

Market snapshot Portions of the 91748 and 91789 ZIP Codes overlap the Rowland Heights area. In November, based on 22 sales, the median sales price for the 91748 ZIP was $575,000. The median sales price in the 91789 ZIP, based on 33 sales, was $780,000.

Report card Within the neighborhood boundaries, as defined by the L.A. Times’ Mapping Tool, is Bradford Elementary, which scored 925 out of 1,000 in the 2013 Academic Performance Index. Jellick Elementary scored 771, and Rowland Elementary had a score of 755. Alvarado Intermediate scored 897, and John A. Rowland High came in with 838.

hotproperty@latimes.com