![Bluffs and shoreline](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Bluffs_and_shoreline.JPG)
Cambria () is a seaside
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
in
San Luis Obispo County, California
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a County (United States), county on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 282, ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
midway between
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
along
California State Route 1
State Route 1 (SR 1) is a major north–south state highway that runs along most of the Pacific coastline of the U.S. state of California. At , it is the longest state route in California, and the second-longest in the US after Monta ...
(Highway 1). The name Cambria, chosen in 1869, is the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
name for
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. Cambria is situated amidst
Monterey pines in one of only three such native forests.
[ Previously, the town had gone by the names of Slabtown, Rosaville, San Simeon, and Santa Rosa. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined the ]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 ...
as a census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
(CDP). The CDP had a population of 5,678 at the 2020 census, down from 6,032 at the 2010 census.
History
Local tribes
The earliest human settlement of this area is known to be associated with prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
habitation by the Native American Chumash Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California
See also
*Chumash traditional n ...
peoples, who harvested along the coastal area, with emphasis upon sites that were close to rivers.
Although recorded history of the tribes in this region does not begin until the explorers and missionaries arrived, there is evidence of many tribal settlements in the area later known as Cambria. It is estimated that as many as 30,000 people inhabited the area in the time (some 1,000 years) before the Spanish arrived. Experts believe these tribes to have been migratory and used Cambria as a seasonal settlement; other scientists are convinced that they lived there permanently. Most agree that they fed themselves with shellfish and seafood, as well as obtaining food from travels inland to hunt and gather seeds. A variety of artistically-crafted implements have been discovered, including spears points and arrowheads made from obsidian; basalt, sandstone, and granite were used to make mortars and pestles; soapstone kettles and stone hammers were also found. These early inhabitants were skilled basket and net makers and fashioned jewelry from crab claws, abalone shells, and the teeth of sharks and whales. The presence of soapstone (steatite) provides evidence that they traded with the Catalina Island tribes, whereas the lack of metals and glass indicates that they did not trade with Europeans or Asians.
A tribal site on present-day Cambria was named ''tsɨtkawayu'', Obispeño for "Place of the horses".
Early settlers and quicksilver
The first recorded visit by Europeans took place in 1769 when the Portola expedition Portola may refer to:
* ''Portola'' (album), a 1998 album by Rose Melberg
* Portola, California
* Portola, San Francisco, California
People with the surname
* Gaspar de Portolá
Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira (January 1, 1716 – October 10, 1 ...
, coming overland from the south, visited the area. The Spanish explorers camped near the present site of the Coast Union High School, on Santa Rosa Creek, on September 10, 1769, and again on December 24–25, spending the first Christmas in what later became known as Cambria. The Spanish soldiers named the site ''El Osito'', because the local Chumash people
The Chumash are a Native American people of the central and southern coastal regions of California, in portions of what is now San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, extending from Morro Bay in the north to Malibu ...
offered them a young pet bear (which they politely refused). Gifts of food (pinole
Pinole, also called pinol or pinolillo, is roasted ground maize, which is then mixed with a combination of cocoa, agave, cinnamon, chia seeds, vanilla, or other spices. The resulting powder is then used as a nutrient-dense ingredient to make di ...
and fish) were particularly welcome on their return journey, because food supplies were running short.
Cambria is located on the Rancho Santa Rosa Mexican land grant given in 1841 to Julian Estrada.
Settlers were drawn to the area because of the fertile land, streams, and lumber. Additionally, miners were attracted to the area by the 1862 discovery of cinnabar
Cinnabar (), or cinnabarite (), from the grc, κιννάβαρι (), is the bright scarlet to brick-red form of Mercury sulfide, mercury(II) sulfide (HgS). It is the most common source ore for refining mercury (element), elemental mercury and ...
, an ore from which mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
can be extracted. For a while, Cambria was a boom town, with $280,000 worth of mercury shipped out of San Simeon between 1867 and 1870.
During several years Cambria was a booming mine town, and prospectors flooded the area. More than 150 claims were filed in the early 1870s. The most successful of these claims, the Oceanic Quicksilver Mining Company, at one time employed 300 and was the largest mine in the area and the sixth largest in the world. Three furnaces were built, seven tunnels completed, and their stock price jumped to $30.00 per share. Hopes were high, and Cambria residents dreamed of imminent wealth. Unfortunately, by 1878, mercury prices started to fall and Cambria's first economic boom ended. As mercury prices fluctuated, Cambria's mining thrived and dwindled. During the boom of 1876, $282,832 worth of quicksilver was produced; four years later, production had decreased to only $6,760. A devastating fire in 1889 virtually ended the mercury business and Cambria settled into a quiet dairy community.
Name
Originally an American settlement called Slab Town, the town later known as Cambria was centered at the Leffingwell cove of today's northern Moonstone Beach, which beach also featured a wharf. Because lumber production, ranching activities and mercury mining increased in the area, the village adopted the more dignified name of Cambria. Locals seem to agree that the name was contributed by a local surveyor from Cambria County, Pennsylvania
Cambria County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 133,472. Its county seat is Ebensburg. The county was created on March 26, 1804, from parts of Bedford, Huntingdon, and Somerset Countie ...
, because the local topography and flora reminded him of that place. However this differs from Onomastic data published in several other sources. A 1960 study of California place names, often contemporarily quoted elsewhere states "A Welshman named Llewellyn dubbed his shop 'The Cambria Carpenter Shop,' and in 1869, the good folks adopted it as the official name." Forty-three years prior to that, the ''History of San Luis Obispo County and environs'' contains a similar account:
Hearst Castle and SS ''Montebello''
Cambria has benefited greatly from the building of Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his archit ...
. During the high unemployment years of the Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
, many Cambria citizens found welcome employment in construction. Additionally, Cambria provided supplies, services, and accommodations for many who came to build the Castle, creating prosperity in Cambria in an otherwise less prosperous decade.
War affected Cambria when the 8,000 ton Union Oil tanker SS ''Montebello'' was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the early morning of 23 December 1941. Cambria citizens rallied to the rescue and all six crewmen were saved. According to the captain, Olaf Eckstrom, these citizens of Cambria were real heroes: "''God Bless 'em — they performed like American seamen, orderly, efficient, without hysteria''."
The historic Old Santa Rosa Chapel, which was built in 1870, and as one of the oldest churches in the county of San Luis Obispo, held Catholic mass until 26 May 1963. The church fell into neglect until 1978, when the chapel and cemetery were restored.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land.
Climate
Cambria has a warm-summer (csb)Mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
typical for the coastal regions of southern California, experiencing an Indian summer with the warmest days in August and September. Winters are cool and wet with mild days, chilly nights, and great rainfall. Summers are warm and dry with sometimes hot days, cool nights, and almost no rainfall.
Demographics
2010
The 2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
reported that Cambria had a population of 6,032. The population density was . The racial makeup of Cambria was 5,166 (85.6%) White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 18 (0.3%) African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 47 (0.8%) Native American, 78 (1.3%) Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 14 (0.2%) Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 557 (9.2%) from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 152 (2.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 1,187 persons (19.7%).
The Census reported that 6,031 people (100% of the population) lived in households; only 1 (0%) was known to live in non-institutionalized group quarters, and none were institutionalized.
There were 2,762 households, out of which 442 (16.0%) had children under the age of 18 living with them; 1,483 (53.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 200 (7.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 75 (2.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 130 (4.7%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships and 31 (1.1%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 804 households (29.1%) were made up of individuals, and 422 (15.3%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 persons. There were 1,758 families
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideall ...
(63.6% of all households); the average family consisted of 2.61 persons.
The population was spread out, with 858 people (14.2%) under the age of 18, 281 people (4.7%) aged 18 to 24, 865 people (14.3%) aged 25 to 44, 2,116 people (35.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 1,912 people (31.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 57.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males.
There were 4,062 housing units at an average density of 477.4 per square mile (184.3/km), of which 1,985 (71.9%) were owner-occupied, and 900 (28.1%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 3.4%; the rental vacancy rate was 10.1%. 4,030 people (66.8% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 2,001 people (33.2%) lived in rental housing units.
2000
As of the census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
of 2000, there were 6,232 people, 2,816 households, and 1,881 families residing in the CDP. The population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 727.1 people per square mile (280.8/km). There were 3,752 housing units at an average density of 437.7 per square mile (169.0/km). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.08% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 0.35% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.99% Native American, 1.16% Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
, 0.13% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe the original p ...
, 4.03% from other races
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
, and 2.26% from two or more races. Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race were 14.02% of the population.
There were 2,816 households, out of which 18.6% had children under age 18 living with them, 57.6% were married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 7.1% had a female householder with no husband present; 33.2% were non-families; 26.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.63 persons.
In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 16.4% aged 18 years or younger; 5.4% aged 18–24; 18.0% aged 25–44; 33.5% aged 45–64, and 26.6% aged 65 years or older. The median age was 51 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.4 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $45,000, and the median income for a family was $55,745. Males had a median income of $36,193 versus $24,594 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the CDP was $29,620. About 8.3% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 15.6% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.
Tourism
The primary economic activity of Cambria is tourism. Located on the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
, the area has both rocky cliffs and beaches. The town and adjacent hills are known for the extensive Monterey pines that give the area a particular character. The 2012–2014 drought severely affected the forests, with estimates that as many as 40% of the trees were dying.[
There are many ]bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
inns and hotels, especially along Moonstone Beach Drive. One visiting author described seeing "many impressive homes of highly imaginative design" and encouraged a casual tour of the residential district. The beach is home to various sea life such as seals and sea otter
The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of the weasel family, but among the small ...
s and tide pools filled with sea anemone
Sea anemones are a group of predation, predatory marine invertebrates of the order (biology), order Actiniaria. Because of their colourful appearance, they are named after the ''Anemone'', a terrestrial flowering plant. Sea anemones are classifi ...
s, sea urchin
Sea urchins () are spiny, globular echinoderms in the class Echinoidea. About 950 species of sea urchin live on the seabed of every ocean and inhabit every depth zone from the intertidal seashore down to . The spherical, hard shells (tests) of ...
s, sea star
Starfish or sea stars are Star polygon, star-shaped echinoderms belonging to the class (biology), class Asteroidea (). Common usage frequently finds these names being also applied to brittle star, ophiuroids, which are correctly referred to ...
s, crabs, snails, and more. The beach was named after the moonstones that wash ashore there. Moonstone Beach Boardwalk is a walk with several beach access points and benches to allow for sea life observation and beach combing.
Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle, known formally as La Cuesta Encantada (Spanish for "The Enchanted Hill"), is a historic estate in San Simeon, located on the Central Coast of California. Conceived by William Randolph Hearst, the publishing tycoon, and his archit ...
is located approximately six miles north, and the Northern elephant seal
The northern elephant seal (''Mirounga angustirostris'') is one of two species of elephant seal (the other is the southern elephant seal). It is a member of the family (biology), family Phocidae (true seal (mammal), seals). Elephant seals derive ...
rookery
A rookery is a colony of breeding animals, generally gregarious birds.
Coming from the nesting habits of rooks, the term is used for corvids and the breeding grounds of colony-forming seabirds, marine mammals (true seals and sea lions), and ev ...
at Piedras Blancas is some fifteen miles to the north. Cambria is home to the Cambria Historical Museum in the historic East Village and to the California State Historical Landmark No 939, Nitt Witt Ridge
Nitt Witt Ridge is a house on two and a half acres in the coastal city of Cambria, California, United States. Artist and recluse Arthur "Art" Harold Beal (18961992) bought his hillside lot in 1928 and spent most of the next 50 years carving out th ...
.
Parks and recreation
Cambria offers a variety of recreational activities such as bicycling
Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, Physical exercise, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bike ...
and hiking
Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...
. Local beaches offer a venue to boogie board, surf, and skimboard
Skimboarding or skimming is a boardsport in which a skimboard (much like a surfboard but smaller and without fins) is used to glide across the water's surface to meet an incoming breaking wave, and ride it back to shore. Wave-riding skimboarders ...
. Ocean fishing is conducted off area beaches. Local kayak fishing tours are available.
Protected areas
The Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (formerly known as the East-West Ranch) is a 430 acre park that separates Cambria's East and West Villages; it protects over a mile of spectacular Pacific Ocean coastline. The Fiscalinis were pioneering Italian Swiss
The Swiss people (german: die Schweizer, french: les Suisses, it, gli Svizzeri, rm, ils Svizzers) are the citizens of Switzerland or people of Swiss abroad, Swiss ancestry.
The number of Swiss nationality law, Swiss nationals has grown from ...
dairymen, who moved into the Cambria region in the 1880s; they acquired a number of dairy farms, including what they called the Town Ranch. The Fiscalini family donated small plots of the Town Ranch as building sites for the Cambria public library, the Veterans Memorial, and a museum. By the 1970s, the Fiscalini heirs, facing an inheritance tax of over one million dollars, sought a buyer, preferably a non-profit organization. None came forth, and in 1979 they sold the property to a developer, who went bankrupt in 1989 after failing to win approval of his ambitious development plans. The Fiscalini property was then sold for three million dollars to wealthy investors in the early 1990s. However, their development plans were also rejected, and in 2000 they sold the property to the American Land Conservancy
The American Land Conservancy was an American non-profit organization whose goal was to protect the natural environment.
About the American Land Conservancy
American Land Conservancy was a non-profit land conservation organization dedicated t ...
. The park is managed by the Cambria Community Services District.
Marine protected areas
Cambria State Marine Conservation Area
Cambria State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area located off the coast of the city of Cambria, California on California’s central coast in San Luis Obispo County, California. The marine protected area covers . Within the ...
and White Rock (Cambria) State Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas off the coast of Cambria. Much like other underwater parks, the marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.
Geology
Cambria is built on the Cambria Slab, a 5,000 ft. thick late-Cretaceous
The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
in a rather enigmatic geologic setting, completely surrounded by Franciscan Formation
The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andrew ...
rocks, mostly mélange
In geology, a mélange is a large-scale breccia, a mappable body of rock characterized by a lack of continuous bedding and the inclusion of fragments of rock of all sizes, contained in a fine-grained deformed matrix. The mélange typically cons ...
. The Cambria Slab extends from Villa Creek in Estero Bluffs State Park
Estero Bluffs State Park is a state park of California, United States, on Estero Bay (California), Estero Bay. The park protects a grassland-dominated marine terrace that slopes from California State Route 1 to the Pacific Ocean. The property i ...
to San Simeon Creek, holding up the high coastal ridge between Cayucos
Cayucos (Spanish for "Canoe") is an unincorporated coastal town in San Luis Obispo County, California, along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south. The population was 2,505 at the 2020 census, down f ...
and San Simeon State Park
Hearst San Simeon State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving rocky coast and rare habitats. It is located between Cambria and San Simeon. The park was first established in 1932. The park includes the Santa Rosa Cree ...
. The sandstones are massively bedded. Bedding is only occasionally visible, as at the Leffingwell Landing bridge on Moonstone Beach. Compositionally, they are a feldspathic
Feldspars are a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagioclase'' (sodium-calcium) feldspa ...
graywacke
Greywacke or graywacke (German ''grauwacke'', signifying a grey, earthy rock) is a variety of sandstone generally characterized by its hardness, dark color, and poorly sorted angular grains of quartz, feldspar, and small rock fragments or lit ...
. The rocks in places are distorted and sheared (for example, below the high bluff at the north end of Moonstone Beach), and in a few areas injected by Franciscan mélanges and serpentinite
Serpentinite is a rock composed predominantly of one or more serpentine group minerals, the name originating from the similarity of the texture of the rock to that of the skin of a snake. Serpentinite has been called ''serpentine'' or ''ser ...
s (as on the beach below the high bluff at the north end of the Bluff Trail in the Fiscalini Ranch preserve). The Slab was deposited in an area of active subduction
Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at convergent boundaries. Where the oceanic lithosphere of a tectonic plate converges with the less dense lithosphere of a second plate, the ...
during the plate-tectonic assembly of today's coastal California.
Government
In the state legislature Cambria is in , and in .
In the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
, Cambria is in .
Education
Cambria is home to the Coast Unified School District. The Coast Unified has one K-5 elementary school, one 6–8 middle school, one traditional 9–12 high school, Coast Union High School, and one alternative high school. The District also serves the communities of San Simeon
San Simeon (Spanish: ''San Simeón'', meaning "St. Simon") is a village and Census-designated place on the Pacific coast of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Its position along State Route 1 is about halfway between Los Angeles ...
to the north and Cayucos
Cayucos (Spanish for "Canoe") is an unincorporated coastal town in San Luis Obispo County, California, along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south. The population was 2,505 at the 2020 census, down f ...
to the south (grades 9–12) as well as the surrounding rural areas.
Coast Union High School
Coast Union High School, home of the Broncos, is a very small public high school located on the farmland of Cambria. It typically enrolls around 230 students, all active in FFA, school clubs, athletics, and many other school activities.
Athletics
Although known for its very small enrollment, Coast Union does perform well in sports. The girls volleyball team has won two CIF Southern Section
The California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section (CIF-SS) is the governing body for high school athletics in most of Southern California and is the largest of the ten sections that comprise the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF ...
Championships: in 1993's Division VI and 2011's Division 5A. CUHS also won the sectional 1978 title in the 8-man football
Eight-man football is a form of gridiron football, generally played by high schools with smaller enrollments. Eight-man football differs from the traditional 11-man game with the reduction of three players on each side of the ball and a field wi ...
division. The school has also won numerous league championships.
Two of the town's most recent NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
products include Quentin Cate, a former Horizon League
The Horizon League is an 11-school collegiate athletic conference in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, whose members are located in and near the Great Lakes region.
The Horizon League founded in 1979 as the Midw ...
Baseball Player of the Week, and Jeb Heavenrich, a football player for Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
.
Infrastructure
The community gets its water supply from wells that tap San Simeon and Santa Rosa creeks. The area is vulnerable to shortages due to the reliance on an unstable network of creeks, lakes and State Water Project allocations. The Cambria Community Services District is building a treatment plant to treat brackish water and return it to the aquifer. The water is a combination of groundwater, percolated wastewater treatment plant effluent, mixed with fresh water and salt water. The $9.13 million water treatment plant has critics who contend it will damage the delicate ecosystem, particularly San Simeon Creek lagoon, and burden ratepayers for years.
In popular culture
The small town and high school were used for the filming of the 1990 film ''Arachnophobia
Arachnophobia is a specific phobia brought about by the irrational fear of spiders and other arachnids such as scorpions.
Signs and symptoms
People with arachnophobia tend to feel uneasy in any area they believe could harbour spiders or that h ...
''. The filmmakers didn't use the town name, however, and went with the name Canaima. The football players and staff shown on the field and in group events were actual CUHS students and staff, and the locker room, gymnasium, and surrounding buildings seen in the film are actual buildings of the high school.
The town became the basis for the hit radio drama that aired first locally in Cambria and San Luis Obispo, and also in Rochester, New York from 1987–1990. In 1992, it became a hit on BBC Radio, the first American radio serial broadcast in the U.K. where it reached an audience of 4.5 million listeners. In the 2000s it became a series of best-selling books called
Author Christopher Moore lived in Cambria and set several books in the fictional town of Pine Cove, modeled after Cambria.
Notable people
* Bradford Angier
Bradford Angier (May 13, 1910 – March 3, 1997) was an American wilderness survivalist and proponent of back-to-earth living. He authored more than 35 books on how to survive in the wild and how to live minimalisticly off the land.
In 1947 A ...
, survivalist writer
* Red Holloway
James Wesley "Red" Holloway (May 31, 1927 – February 25, 2012) was an American jazz saxophonist.
Biography
Born in Helena, Arkansas,Daniel E. Slotnik"Red Holloway, Swinger of the Sax, Dies at 84" ''The New York Times'', February 28, 2012 ...
, saxophonist
* Peter Horton
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
, actor, producer
* Catherine Ryan Hyde
Catherine Ryan Hyde (born 1955) is an American novelist and short story writer, with more recent forays and notable success in transitioning from traditional publication towards the world of eBook publication. Her novels have enjoyed bestseller sta ...
, author
* Jude Johnstone
Jude Johnstone is an American singer-songwriter. Her songs have been covered by Laura Branigan, Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, Johnny Cash, Stevie Nicks, Mary Black, and others. Johnstone wrote the No. 1 song ...
, singer-songwriter (former resident)
* Warren Leopold
Warren Leopold (February 15, 1920 – May 19, 1998) was an American architect, painter and craftsman who designed and built coastal homes in Cambria, California and throughout San Luis Obispo County, California and whose work is part of the Organi ...
, architect and painter
* S.J. Main Muñoz, director
* George Papashvily, author, sculptor
* Nehemiah Persoff
Nehemiah Persoff (August 2, 1919 – April 5, 2022) was an American character actor and painter. He appeared in more than 200 television series, films, and theatre productions and also performed as a voice artist in a career spanning 55 years, be ...
, actor
* Charlie Shoemake
Charlie Shoemake (born July 27, 1937) is an American jazz vibraphonist. He played in George Shearing's Quintet for seven years, starting in 1967. He also played vibes on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood film ''Bird''. He is the director of th ...
, vibraphonist
* Kath Soucie Kath or KATH may refer to:
* Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm
* Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
* KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska
* KATH (AM)
KATH (910 kHz) is an ...
, cartoon voice actress
* Paul Squibb
Paul Squibb was a college football player. Chattanooga
Squibb was a prominent running back for the Chattanooga Mocs of the University of Chattanooga, selected All-Southern in 1915. That year, he set a record with 5 touchdowns in the game aga ...
, Founder of Midland School, Los Olivos, California
Midland School is a small, co-ed, outdoor education, preparatory boarding school for grades 9 to 12 in Los Olivos, California. Midland was founded in 1932 by Kent School and Harvard graduate Paul Squibb. Squibb envisioned a small, rural communit ...
References
External links
Visit Cambria
Cambria Tourism Board
Cambria History.org
{{authority control
1862 establishments in California
Census-designated places in California
Census-designated places in San Luis Obispo County, California
Populated places established in 1862
Populated coastal places in California