Ventucopa is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in the southeastern

Cuyama Valley The Cuyama Valley (Chumash: ''Kuyam'', meaning "Clam") is a valley along the Cuyama River in Central California, in northern Santa Barbara, southern San Luis Obispo, southwestern Kern, and northwestern Ventura counties. It is about two hours d ...

, within eastern

Santa Barbara County, California Santa Barbara County, officially the County of Santa Barbara (), is a County (United States), county located in Southern California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, California ...

, United States. Ventucopa has a population of 92 people and is located an elevation of . It is an agricultural area situated near the

Cuyama River The Cuyama River (Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Kuyam'', meaning "Clam") is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 15, 2011 river in southern San Luis Obispo County, ...

. It is located near the intersection of four counties: Santa Barbara, Ventura,

San Luis Obispo ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

and

Kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...

. Ventucopa borders

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

to the east, south and west. When the town was registering a postal office in 1926, local resident Dean Parady came up with ''Ventucopa'', as the community lies between Maricopa and Ventura County. The ZIP Code is 93252, and the community is inside

area code 661 Area code 661 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) in the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area comprises the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley and the far northern part of the Los Angeles metrop ...

Geography

The community is on the southern Maricopa Highway section of State Route 33, near an upper southern fork of the seasonally-dry

. It is about southeast of Cuyama which is in the western Cuyama Valley. The name Ventucopa is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of the cities of Ventura and

Maricopa Maricopa can refer to: Places * Maricopa, Arizona, United States, a city in Pinal County, Arizona ** Maricopa Freeway, a section of I-10 in Metropolitan Phoenix ** Maricopa station, an Amtrak station in Maricopa, Arizona * Maricopa County, Arizo ...

, which are located along Highway 33 to the south and north, respectively.

Access

Because of how the county borders were drawn in relation to the valley and the Cuyama River, the community is ground transportation isolated from the rest of Santa Barbara County. Travel to other communities within the county requires crossing through either

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county located in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises ...

(south) via the southern Maricopa Highway section of State Route 33 and Ojai to 101, or

San Luis Obispo County San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo. Junípero Serra fou ...

(north) via the western Cuyama Highway− State Route 166 and Santa Maria to 101. Access from the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

and

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...

to the north in Kern County is via the eastern Maricopa Highway section of State Route 166.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Santa Barbara County, California Cuyama Valley Populated places established in 1952 1952 establishments in California Unincorporated communities in California

Geography

Access

See also

References