Maywood is a little Gateway city in Los Angeles County. At 1.18 square miles (3.1 km²), Maywood is the third-smallest incorporated city in Los Angeles County. It is bordered by the cities of Bell on the south, Vernon on the north and west, Huntington Park upon the southwest, and Commerce upon the east. It is the most densely-populated city in California, and has the highest proportion of Latinos, immigrants, and undocumented immigrants in the county.

As of July 1, 2010, Maywood became the first municipality in California to outsource all of its city services, dismantling its police department, laying off all city employees except for the city manager, city attorney and elected officials, and contracting following outside agencies for the provision of anything municipal services. The population was 27,395 at the 2010 census.

The land upon which Maywood now stands had been populated by Native American tribes for centuries. The area that would forward-looking become Maywood was deeded in 1781 by the Spanish monarchy to Spanish War veteran Manuel Nieto. When the settlement of Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles was recorded, it included the cow pasture (now Maywood) that eventually turned into a rancho.

In 1919, May Wood, a popular young girl who worked for the genuine estate corporation developing the 2,300 acres (930 hectares) ranch into house tracts, agreed to lend her herald to the property. The progress of Maywood far along survived a acid challenge to dissolve the prospective city in in advance 1924.