Putting West Covina on the Map

From left: “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” co-creator and star Rachel Bloom, West Covina Mayor James Toma, Supervisor Hilda Solis, and Bloom’s parents, Alan and Shelli Bloom. (Office of Supevisor Hilda Solis)

Rafu Wire and Staff Reports

Actress Rachel Bloom was honored at Tuesday’s Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting for her work in promoting West Covina, the setting of the CW’s musical comedy series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” which she co-created and in which she stars.

Bloom plays Rebecca Bunch, a single woman who still longs for her longtime soul mate Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III), who dumped her after a summer fling 10 years ago. She restarts her pursuit of Josh after she spots him in New York City. When he tells her that he is moving to West Covina (“Just two hours from the beach, four hours in traffic”), Rebecca decides to move there too, hoping that it will give her a fresh start and bring her closer to Josh.

The show, which airs Mondays at 8 p.m., has been praised by Media Action Network for Asian Americans for casting an Asian American man as the romantic lead.

Bloom received a scroll from Supervisor Hilda L. Solis, board chair, for the positive publicity she has generated for West Covina, part of the First District that Solis represents.

Noting that Bloom was born and raised in Los Angeles County, Solis said, “Rachel has managed to include almost every city in the region — including my childhood hometown of La Puente and my current hometown, El Monte — on her TV show.”

Solis thanked the Golden Globe winner for choosing the San Gabriel Valley as the setting for the 18-episode show that “sustains close to 800 jobs and generates more than $8 million to the local economy.”

“Keeping TV production here in L.A. boosts our economy,” Solis said.

Bloom, who was raised in Manhattan Beach, said she was “happy to be representing Los Angeles (County) to the rest of the country.” She added that as a native Southern Californian, “I hadn’t really seen anything that was set where I grew up.”

When prompted to sing, the actress asked West Covina Mayor James Toma to join her in a couple of lines from the show’s “West Covina Song,” gamely singing, “In my soul I feel a fire as I’m headed for the pride of the San Gabriel Valley.”

“I couldn’t say no to request from Rachel Bloom to join her in the ‘West Covina Song,’” Toma said on Facebook. “Sorry to subject you to that, Supervisor Solis.”

Toma also had an opportunity to meet Bloom’s parents, Shelli and Alan.

The West Covina setting stemmed from a desire to do a “fish-out-of-water story,” the lack of previous series about “inland Southern California — it’s way different than other parts, it’s really fascinating” — and because “a guy I used to have a crush on lived in Glendora and I would find excuses to try to go to Glendora all the time,” Bloom told City News Service in an interview last year.

Scenes are regularly filmed at the Big League Dreams Sports Park in West Covina and other locations in the city.

Last November, West Covina officials, including then-Councilmember Toma, presented a key to the city to “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” represented by executive producer and co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna and cast members Rodriguez and Donna Lynne Champlin. The presentation was preceded by a screening of the show’s pilot episode in the council chambers.

To see a video of the Board of Supervisors presentation, go to https://vimeo.com/157354617