It’s La Mirada’s birthday.

Biola’s hometown will be 50 on March 23, and one way the city is celebrating is with an evening social at the La Mirada Civic Center, which is just across the street from Biola.

The entire La Mirada community, Biola students included, is welcome to attend free of charge. Drinks and dessert will be available to guests. The gathering will take place at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall following a city council meeting centered around the anniversary.

“Local officials and residents are invited to attend and commemorate the city’s history, present and future,” said Leticia Revilla, department secretary of community services for La Mirada.

A main display at the gathering will be a timeline of La Mirada’s history. Guests will learn about the city’s past by viewing old pictures and historical artifacts from the archives of City Hall. The displays will focus on individual decades trailing back to the city’s beginnings.

La Mirada’s roots date back to the late 1800s, when Andrew McNally purchased land in California and developed a homestead called Windermere Ranch. Olives, lemons and oranges from McNally’s groves were shipped across the United States by train from a station formerly located on what is now Stage Road.

Approximately 200 people lived in the area in the 1940s, but the city grew rapidly after it was split into subdivisions. On March 23, 1960, the city was incorporated to California as Mirada Hills. Eight months later, the city changed its name to La Mirada, Spanish for ‘the view,’ because of its panoramic vistas of the surrounding hills.

Some were surprised by La Mirada’s relative youth.

“La Mirada is younger than I thought,” said sophomore Lauren Kermelis. “It appears to be a well-established community.”

“I didn’t know it was the city’s anniversary this month,” said sophomore Ethan Stupfel. “It’s a birthday worth celebrating though.”

Local government officials have been invited to come and celebrate alongside city council members. California Sen. Ron Calderon, Assemblyman Curt Hagman and Don Kanbe, a Los Angeles County supervisor, are among some of the officials council members hope to see at the celebration.

Although previous celebrations in La Mirada, like the 45th anniversary, have been more extravagant, city council members decided to be more economical this year.

“Were not spending money that we shouldn’t be spending,” Revilla said.

Rather than fund one expensive celebration on March 23, La Mirada’s 50th anniversary will be interlaced with other events all throughout 2010.

“The city will also be incorporating the anniversary theme at existing events held during the year,” Revilla said.

An anniversary logo will be on display at many events throughout the upcoming year to salute La Mirada’s 50 years of existence and influence. At La Mirada’s annual Easter egg hunt in April, balloons and banners will display the logo in order to communicate to participants the city’s important anniversary.

A free POPS concert at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts will be held on April 3 to honor the 50th anniversary of La Mirada as well.

“The La Mirada Symphony rents our theater and they do four concerts a year,” said Laura Moore, theater secretary at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts. “During this concert they’re planning something special for the 50th anniversary.”

Nolan Gasser, a professional music composer originally from La Mirada, will premiere music he wrote specifically for the event titled “La Mirada Overture: A Rancher’s View.” The piece will be performed by the La Mirada Symphony.