Blue Jay is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
located in
San Bernardino County
San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...
in California. It is located in the
San Bernardino Mountains, above a region of California known as the
Inland Empire.
It is within the
San Bernardino National Forest
The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernard ...
. Blue Jay Village itself is located one mile from the southwestern bank of
Lake Arrowhead.
The town is a part of the
Lake Arrowhead Community. Other towns in this community are
Lake Arrowhead,
Running Springs and Cedar Glen.
History
The town started as the homestead of Art and Norma Wixom. They leased a few vacation cabins and opened a store in 1914. Stoney DeMent leased the land and built a market called The Blue Jay Market in 1934. The store was named for the blue colored birds that live in the area, and this later became the name of the town built up around it. The naming of the town is something of a misnomer: the local variety of
jay
A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For example, the Eurasian m ...
is actually the
Steller's jay, not the closely related
blue jay. While this is widely known in the area, the name has stuck. Residents began to move to Blue Jay about 10 years later. In 1978 Bluejay was purchased by H.R. "Rick" Kaufman through his company Pioneer Take Out Corporation aka Pioneer Chicken.
Today
Blue Jay Village today is home to 2,314 residents. It is considered the entertainment district of the Lake Arrowhead community. It contains a shopping center, a number of restaurants, a bank, the headquarters of The Rim of the World Unified School District, a motion picture theater, the Lake Arrowhead Library and many privately owned stores. The village also hosts many events including the Lake Arrowhead celebration of film, The Blue Jay Christmas parade, and the Blue Jay Jazz Festival.
References
External links
* https://web.archive.org/web/20060424054559/http://www.bluejayvillage.com/
{{authority control
San Bernardino Mountains
Unincorporated communities in San Bernardino County, California
Unincorporated communities in California
1914 establishments in California