San Gabriel Ca

It was short in length -- but long in its reach. The Grizzly Flats Railroad's steam engines traveled for 70 years along a 500-foot-long stretch of rails next to the San Gabriel home of Betty and Ward Kimball. Along the way, the Kimballs' picturesque narrow-gauge line helped inspire Walt Disney to build the famous passenger train system that circles Disneyland.

The son of a seamstress and a cook, Chi Mui didn't speak any English when he left Hong Kong for the United States in 1963. At the time, San Gabriel, the city where he would be elected to office 40 years later, was still a mostly sleepy white and Latino suburb. Mui, 53, became the city's first Chinese American mayor last week, the latest symbol of San Gabriel's rise as the new center of the region's Chinese community.

A public memorial service will be held today for Mayor Chi Mui, who died April 27 after a long battle with cancer. Mui, the first mayor of Asian descent in the city's 93-year history, will be honored first with a walking procession beginning at 9:45 a.m. at City Hall, 425 S. Mission Drive. The service will begin at 10 a.m. at San Gabriel Civic Auditorium, 320 S. Mission Drive. A memorial fund was established to assist with burial costs and other expenses.

A man suspected of stabbing a woman and a 10-year-old girl and setting an apartment building on fire slit his own throat when officers confronted him, police said Saturday. The incident began Friday night, when police responded to a call for help and found the woman and child bleeding in the driveway. No one else was hurt, but the fire lasted several hours and nearly destroyed the building, Lt. Darren Perrine said.

For thousands of years, Gabrielino Indians say, they have lived in the Los Angeles Basin. They survived the Spanish missions, Mexican settlers and white developers. Now, a tribe that nearly disappeared is mired in a legal battle over who has the right to control its destiny -- and what role gambling might play in its future.

Kim Ky Noodle House in San Gabriel is best known for its simple and affordable fare. A bowl of noodles goes for less than $5. But after a customer purchased a winning lottery ticket there last week worth $166.5 million -- the second-biggest Mega Millions jackpot in California history -- the restaurant became an instant landmark. "People from Monrovia, L.A., even San Francisco called to get our address," restaurant manager Linda Wong said during the lunch rush Tuesday. "They say, 'I never heard of you before.

A possibly mentally disturbed man was shot and killed when he fired a handgun at sheriff's deputies Tuesday, authorities said. The Sheriff's Department had reports about noon that a man was shooting near San Gabriel Boulevard and Darlington Street. Deputies surrounded a house in the 500 block of Darlington, where the man had fled. He came out firing a gun, and deputies shot him several times, the Sheriff's Department said. He died at the scene.

A driver was killed Monday when two men on foot shot at him and two passengers. One suspect was arrested. The shooting occurred about 1:45 p.m. as the driver was going east on Marshall Street, approaching San Gabriel Boulevard, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Luis Castro said. The driver, who was in his 20s, died at the scene. His two passengers weren't injured. A San Gabriel police officer saw the suspects running south on San Gabriel Boulevard. He shot at but missed them, Castro said.

The most frequently asked question in San Gabriel these days is not "Where's the mission?" but "Where's a good Chinese restaurant?" The city, home of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel and the site that history books call the birthplace of the Los Angeles region, has emerged as a hub of Asian culture and commerce, offering a vibrant look at how a city adjusts to swift demographic change. A one-mile stretch of Valley Boulevard that bisects the city is now San Gabriel's main attraction.

The city received a $328,500 state grant Friday to help revitalize its Valley Boulevard corridor. "San Gabriel, like many California cities, is facing a challenge in accommodating the rapid growth projected for our state in the decades ahead," said state Treasurer Phil Angelides, who started the special grant program to help communities pursue "smart growth" initiatives.