Bell is a small incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, located near the center of the former San Antonio Township. It sits along the west bank of the Los Angeles River and serves as a suburb of Los Angeles. Covering only 2.5 square miles, Bell is one of the smallest cities in the United States with a population over 25,000, housing 33,559 residents as of the 2020 census.
In 2005, Bell’s residents voted to make it a charter city, a move that freed local officials from state salary limits. This later led to a major corruption scandal where several city officials were convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison for awarding themselves extremely high salaries.Historically, the area was first inhabited by the Gabrieliño Indians around 500 B.C. Spanish settlers arrived in the mid-1700s, including Don Antonio María Lugo, who received a 30,000-acre land grant from the King of Spain in 1810 for his military service. This land became known as Rancho San Antonio, which included the area now known as Bell. Over time, most of the Lugo family’s land was sold, but their original adobe home, built around 1810 on Gage Avenue, remains the oldest house in Los Angeles County.









