Point Arena, California
Encyclopedia
Point Arena is a small coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...

al city in Mendocino County
Mendocino County, California
Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Point Arena is located 31 miles (50 km) west of Hopland
Hopland, California
Hopland is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California. It is located on the west bank of the Russian River south-southeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of 502 feet . The population was 756 at the 2010 census....

, at an elevation of 118 feet (36 m). The population was 449 at the 2010 census, down from 474 at the 2000 census, making it one of the smallest incorporated cities in the state. Its main street comprises part of State Route 1
California State Route 1
State Route 1 , more often called Highway 1, is a state highway that runs along much of the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. It is famous for running along some of the most beautiful coastlines in the world, leading to its designation as an All-American Road.Highway 1 does not run...

, California's coastal artery. Along with a number of other Mendocino County coastal communities, Point Arena is associated with the hippie and subsequent counterculture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 groups. Its reported economy is largely geared toward servicing the summertime tourist industry
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

. The City is near the headquarters of the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria
Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria
The Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians in California.The tribe's reservation is the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria, situated near the towns of Manchester and Point Arena in Mendocino County, California...

.

Geography and environment

The city of Point Arena is located at 38°54′32"N 123°41′35"W. It is in USPS
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...

 ZIP code
ZIP Code
ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, is properly written in capital letters and was chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...

 95468.

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the city has a total area of 1.4 square miles (3.6 km²), all of it land.

The city itself is built around a small natural inland harbor, and is located about a mile and a half (1.5 km) south of the actual Point Arena, a narrow peninsula jutting around 1/3 mile (800 m) into the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

. This is the location of the Point Arena Lighthouse
Point Arena Light
Point Arena Light is a lighthouse in Mendocino County, California, United States, two miles north of Point Arena, California. It is located approximately north of San Francisco in the Fort Point Group of lighthouses. The lighthouse features a small museum and giftshop...

, at 115 feet (34.5m) the tallest lighthouse on the West coast of the United States. The lighthouse is also the closest location on the mainland (excluding Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

) to Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 at a distance of 2,045 nautical miles (2,353 statute miles) or 3,787 kilometers.

The city has two high schools: Point Arena Union High and the Pacific Community Charter High School. Students are allowed to cross-enroll and take courses at both schools, granting Point Arena students a broad curriculum to choose from. Although due to limited teaching staff many of the top students are left without options. The choice of the charter school has helped to keep in Point Arena many students who formerly commuted to Mendocino
Mendocino, California
Mendocino is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. Mendocino is located south of Fort Bragg, at an elevation of 154 feet...

 to attend its high school. Several feeder schools bring students through grammar school before sending them to Point Arena High School or the Charter School, meaning that the schools draw from a large pool of students in southern Mendocino County.

A variety of fauna and flora occur in the Point Arena area. The location is also sometimes a range demarcation for occurrence of some species. For example, the Pacific Giant Salamander
Pacific giant salamander
Pacific giant salamanders are a family of large salamanders.The family includes only a single genus, Dicamptodon. The genus was formerly thought to contain two species, Cope's Giant Salamander on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and the Pacific giant salamander Pacific giant salamanders...

 occurs at Point Arena and at points south, but not at all to the north.

The Point Arena State Marine Reserve & Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area
Point Arena State Marine Reserve & Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area
Point Arena State Marine Reserve and Point Arena State Marine Conservation Area are two adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore of Point Arena in Mendocino County on California’s north central coast. The combined area of these marine protected areas is , with in the SMR and in...

 are two marine protected areas that extend offshore from Point Arena.

Sound levels in Point Arena are relatively quiet, with many locations at night-time dominated by natural sounds such as those of the surf. The firm of Earth Metrics Inc., who prepared the Noise Element of the Point Arena General Plan, found that, even considering the presence of logging trucks on main city streets, composite sound levels rarely exceed 55 Leq. The maximum acceptable sound level specified in that General Plan Element is 60 Leq for residential areas.

Climate

Point Arena has cool, wet winters and mild, relatively dry summers. The average January temperatures are a maximum of 56.4 °F (13.6 °C) and a minimum of 40.2 °F (4.6 °C). The average July temperatures are a maximum of 65.2 °F (18.4 °C) and a minimum of 49.9 °F (9.9 °C). There are an average of only 0.3 days with highs of 90 °F (32.2 °C) or higher and an average of 14.1 days with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The record high temperature was 95 °F (35 °C) on August 12, 1947, and September 28, 1966. The record low temperature was 22 °F (-5.6 °C) on January 21, 1962.

Average annual precipitation is 41.28 inches (1,048.5 mm). There are an average of 83 days with measurable precipitation. The wettest year was 1983 with 83.34 inches (2,116.8 mm) and the dryest year was 1976 with 21.23 inches (539.2 mm). The most precipitation in one month was 21.99 inches (558.5 mm). The most precipitation in 24 hours was 5.09 inches (129.3 mm) on January 24, 1944.

Geology

The San Andreas Fault
San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental strike-slip fault that runs a length of roughly through California in the United States. The fault's motion is right-lateral strike-slip...

 runs out to sea at Point Arena. The 1906 earthquake was strongly felt at Point Arena and caused moderate damage.

The Point Arena Mountain Beaver

The Point Arena area is home to an endangered species of rodent
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 known as the Point Arena Mountain Beaver
Mountain Beaver
The Mountain Beaver is the most primitive extant rodent. Not to be confused with the North American beaver Castor canadensis, or its relative the Eurasian beaver, Castor fiber, it has several common names including Aplodontia, Boomer, Ground Bear, and Giant Mole...

 (Aplodontia rufa nigra). According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the habitat for this sub-species of Mountain Beaver lies only within a 24 sq mi (62.2 km²) area around Point Arena. The biggest threat to the PAMB is loss of habitat, and it was officially listed as an endangered species on December 12, 1991. Much local folklore revolves around this mysterious creature.

History

The first European to record Point Arena was Spaniard
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 Bartolomé Ferrelo
Bartolomé Ferrelo
Bartolomé Ferrelo, also known as Bartolomé Ferrer, born 1499 in Bilbao Spain, died 1550 in Mexico.He was the pilot for Juan Rodrigo Cabrillo, the Portuguese captain who was sent by the viceroy of Mexico, with two ships in 1542 to explore what is now Northern California...

 in 1543, who named it Cabo de Fortunas (Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 for "cape of fortunes"). The cape was renamed to Punta Delgado (narrow point) in 1775 by lieutenant Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra
Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra was a Spanish naval officer born in Lima, Peru. Assigned to the Pacific coast Spanish Naval Department base at San Blas, in the Viceroyalty of New Spain , this navigator explored the Northwest Coast of North America as far north as present day Alaska.Juan...

 (commander of the schooner
Schooner
A schooner is a type of sailing vessel characterized by the use of fore-and-aft sails on two or more masts with the forward mast being no taller than the rear masts....

 Sonora), part of a royal expedition chartered by the government of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 to map the north coast of Alta California
Alta California
Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...

. Later the point, and the small harbor town south of it, were called Barra de Arena (i.e. sandbar) and finally Point Arena (literally "sand point").

The Punta Arenas post office opened in 1858, and was renamed Point Arena in 1889. The first store at Point Arena opened in 1859. Point Arena incorporated in 1908.

The Point Arena area is also home to the Point Arena Cable Station, although the station is technically located in nearby Manchester. Built in 1956 by AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

, the cable station serves as the eastern terminus of several undersea cables
Submarine communications cable
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean....

, including the JUSCN
Japan-US (cable system)
Japan-US is a submarine telecommunications cable system in the North Pacific Ocean linking the USA and Japan.It has landing points in:*Shima, Mie Prefecture, Japan...

 and connections to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

.
In 2002, AT&T applied for a permit from the EPA
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...

 to connect an existing fiber optic conduit to the cable station, since further construction would cause incidental damage to the habitat of the endangered Point Arena Mountain Beaver.

Demographics

2010

The 2010 United States Census reported that Point Arena had a population of 449. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 332.6 people per square mile (128.4/km²). The racial makeup of Point Arena was 305 (67.9%) White, 2 (0.4%) African American, 1 (0.2%) Native American, 0 (0.0%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 118 (26.3%) from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 23 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 150 persons (33.4%).

The Census reported that 449 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.

There were 192 households, out of which 57 (29.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 62 (32.3%) were opposite-sex married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 25 (13.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 13 (6.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 20 (10.4%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships
POSSLQ
POSSLQ is an abbreviation for "Persons of Opposite Sex Sharing Living Quarters," a term coined in the late 1970s by the United States Census Bureau as part of an effort to more accurately gauge the prevalence of cohabitation in American households....

, and 3 (1.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 71 households (37.0%) were made up of individuals and 28 (14.6%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34. There were 100 families
Family (U.S. Census)
A family or family household is defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes as "a householder and one or more other people related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption. They do not include same-sex married couples even if the marriage was performed in a state...

 (52.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.08.

The population was spread out with 112 people (24.9%) under the age of 18, 31 people (6.9%) aged 18 to 24, 116 people (25.8%) aged 25 to 44, 132 people (29.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 58 people (12.9%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.0 years. For every 100 females there were 109.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.0 males.

There were 225 housing units at an average density of 166.7 per square mile (64.4/km²), of which 87 (45.3%) were owner-occupied, and 105 (54.7%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 4.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.7%. 189 people (42.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 260 people (57.9%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 474 people, 191 households, and 109 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 348.5 people per square mile (134.6/km²). There were 218 housing units at an average density of 160.3 per square mile (61.9/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 73.63% White, 1.05% African American, 3.80% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 18.78% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 2.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 28.48% of the population.

There were 191 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.3% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 13.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.9% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.30.

In the city the population was spread out with 32.9% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 27.8% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 110.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 106.5 males.

The median income
Income
Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...

 for a household in the city was $27,083, and the median income for a family was $32,885. Males had a median income of $21,042 versus $15,000 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $12,591. About 24.1% of families and 26.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 36.0% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

In the state legislature
California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members...

 Point Arena is located in the 2nd Senate
California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 state senators. The state legislature meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate and may break a tied vote...

 District, represented by Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 Noreen Evans
Noreen Evans
Noreen Evans is an American politician in the California State Senate. She is a Democrat representing the 2nd district, encompassing Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, and Napa counties, as well as parts of Sonoma and Solano counties....

, and in the 1st Assembly
California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000...

 District, represented by Democrat Wesley Chesbro
Wesley Chesbro
Wesley P. Chesbro is a Democratic politician from California. He is currently the Assembly member for the 1st Assembly district in California. Previously, Chesbro served as a State Senator from California's 2nd district from 1998 until 2006...

. Federally, Point Arena is located in California's 1st congressional district
California's 1st congressional district
California's 1st congressional district is a congressional district located in the U.S. state of California and presently consists of the northern coastline and includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino and Napa counties and parts of Sonoma and Yolo counties.The district is currently...

, which has a Cook PVI
Cook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...

 of D +10 and is represented by Democrat Mike Thompson
Mike Thompson
Michael C. Thompson , is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties as well as parts of Yolo and Sonoma Counties....

. The City itself is governed by an elected five person Council, City clerk and other staff.

External links

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