The Community of La Mirada
The city of La Mirada is in Los Angeles County, 22 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and is surrounded by such cities as Whittier,
Norwalk, Buena Park, La Habra and Fullerton. La Mirada is a suburban
residential community with a population of 40,000. Included within
the vicinity are several major shopping areas in addition to many
other business establishments.
La Mirada is situated near many of the outstanding attractions of Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles is a half-hour's drive from the campus. Disneyland is 12 miles to the southeast and famed Knott's Berry Farm is six miles away. Within an hour's drive are such popular beach cities as Long Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.
Recreational facilities are easily accessible. An 18-hole golf course lies a mile east of the campus and other parks in the area offer opportunity for activities and relaxation. An hour's drive will take one into the nearby mountains where winter sports are available.
Cultural and research opportunities abound in the area. Several
major universities and libraries are within easy driving distance of
La Mirada including the University of California, Los Angeles; the
University of Southern California; the University of California,
Irvine; and several other state and private institutions.
The Biola Campus
The campus consists of 95 acres with nearly 800,000 square feet of building space in 31 major buildings. Just under half of the space is dedicated to nine student residence halls, housing nearly 1,500 students in a fine variety of living quarters.
These include traditional residence halls, fully independent apartments, and
special housing for both married students and graduate students. The
rest of the buildings house classrooms, laboratories, auditoriums,
offices and students services.
Highlights of the buildings include Soubirou Hall, containing specialized classrooms for nursing instruction; Lansing Auditorium, a 450-seat concert hall with a fine pipe organ and excellent acoustics; the Rose of Sharon Chapel, a small chapel exclusively reserved for silent prayer and meditation; a gymnasium-swimming complex with a short-course Olympic pool; and a new production center for the Radio/TV/Film program.
The most recent addition to the campus is a 98,000 square foot Library Resource Center in the center of campus. The new facility is designed to enhance the technology of a 21st Century library - combining the best of books and computers in a variety of beautiful and functional research spaces.
Other athletic facilities on campus include lighted tennis courts,
softball diamonds, soccer fields, a baseball diamond and lighted
outdoor courts for basketball and sand volleyball. In addition to more than 15 acres of recreational facilities on campus, there are off-campus facilities in the 105-acre La Mirada Regional Park, just across La Mirada Boulevard from the Biola campus.
Biola has purchased a former medical office building at the corner of La Mirada Boulevard and Imperial Highway, less than half a mile from the northern edge of the main campus. The Biola Counseling Center is housed here as are the administrative offices of the BOLD program and other programs that serve the non-traditional students and the local community.