| Alvarado Hot Springs | |
|---|---|
 The Pomona Progress Bulletin, Feb. 6, 1926 | |
 | |
| Location | Puente Hills, Los Angeles County, California, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 33°58′55″N117°53′18″W / 33.98194°N 117.88833°W |
| Type | geothermal |
| Temperature | 44 °C (111 °F) [1] |
| Depth | 1,525 metres (5,003 ft) [1] |
Alvarado Hot Springs was a 20th-century geothermal well in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A bathhouse was built next to the water and a therapeutic spa was operated on the site for several decades.
The source of the water was a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) large-diameter petroleum test well drilled that yielded hot water and natural gas. [2] On November 7, 1924, [3] a six-inch well bore hit hot water at 3,400 feet (1,000 m) and gas at 4,240 feet (1,290 m). [4] The water was pumped up to a tank for recreational-therapeutic use and the gas was used to heat the bathhouse. [2] The well was drilled and owned by rancher William P. Alvarado. [4] [2] Alvarado also piped the natural gas to his house, a mile from the well site, for use in cooking and lighting, and combined the water with water from other sources for use in agricultural irrigation. [4]
The bathhouse was located just off Fifth Avenue, roughly three miles southeast of the town limits of La Puente. [5] [4] As described in 1926, the Alvarado Hot Springs spa was on the far slope of the Alvarado Ranch "in the hills about a mile and one-half west of the Otterbein road that runs south from Valley boulevard...The route to the springs is fairly circuitous but well signed and the road leads at last to a towering wooden oil well derrick mounted on a knoll from which much of the valley and Old Baldy in the distance Is visible." [3] There were four baths for men and three for women, as well as sweat rooms. [3]
Alvarado Hot Springs and Seminole Hot Springs were the two major therapeutic hot springs spas within Los Angeles County as of 1937. [6] The bathhouse, situated on about 20 acres of land, [7] was still in business as of 1961, street address 1880 E. 5th Street in La Puente, California. [8] The former site of the well lies within a residential neighborhood in Rowland Heights. [9]
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