Cal State Los Angeles is right there by Monterey Park and East Los Angeles...also check out Occidental College (www.oxy.edu), in northeast L.A. Small college with 1800 students, top notch education, very diverse student body...also Cal State Northridge...if you're looking for community colleges, there's also Pasadena Community College.
Don't let the cost or the academics scare you...most all colleges give scholarships, and the point of a college education is to go somewhere that's hard and will challenge you...otherwise you're just wasting your own time...