Ballenas en Península Valdès.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community and census-designated place in
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
, California, United States. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line distance) northwest of San Francisco, and by road. The community is known for its reclusive residents. It is only accessible via unmarked roads; any road sign along
State Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...
that points the way into town has been torn down by local residents, to the point where county officials offered a ballot measure to which the voters responded by stating a preference for no more signs.


History

Prior to the European colonization of California, the Coast Miwok lived in the area, possibly calling the area "Bali-N". Bolinas and present-day
Stinson Beach Stinson Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of . The population of the St ...
were once encompassed by
Rancho Las Baulines Rancho Las Baulines was a Mexican land grant in present-day Marin County, California, given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Gregorio Briones. The grant extended around Bolinas Lagoon and encompassed present-day Stinson Beach and Bolinas. Hist ...
, a
Mexican land grant The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for ...
given by Governor Pío Pico to Gregorio Briones in 1846. The first post office in the town of Bolinas opened in 1863. In 1927, a former dairy farm on the Big Mesa was subdivided into a grid of streets and 5,336 lots measuring . Many of these lots were sold for $69.50 by the San Francisco Bulletin as a subscription promotion. Portions of the mesa, including sections of Ocean Parkway, have since eroded into the sea. A few streets on the mesa are paved and maintained by the county, but many are unpaved, and either maintained by adjoining property owners or completely unmaintained."A Plan for the Bolinas Gridded Mesa", Bolinas Planning Council and The Marin County Planning Department, 1984

/ref> The Big Mesa has no sewer system, and houses on the mesa have individual septic systems."Sewer System Management Plan". Bolinas Community Public Utility District, April 2008

/ref> The Bolinas beaches were hit hard by the
1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill The 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill occurred when two Standard Oil Company of California tankers, the ''Arizona Standard'' and the ''Oregon Standard'', collided on January 18, 1971, in the San Francisco Bay. The resulting 800,000 gallon spill, the ...
, with the community coming together to clean the beach of crude oil. The Bolinas Museum was founded in 1983. Today, it contains five galleries featuring contemporary art, historical information, and works from local artists. Today, it puts on auctions and events for locals and visitors alike.


Geography

Bolinas sits at an elevation of above sea level. It is bound on the northeast by Bolinas Lagoon and Kent Island, on the south by
Bolinas Bay Bolinas Bay is a small bay, approximately 5 miles (8 km) long, on the Pacific coast of California in the United States. It is in Marin County, north of the Golden Gate, approximately 15 miles (25 km) northwest of San Francisco. The tow ...
and Duxbury Point, on the southwest by the Pacific Ocean, and on the northwest by Point Reyes National Seashore. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , all of it land. The GNIS has cited archaic alternate town-names, including "Ballenas", "Baulenas", "Baulings", and "Bawlines". Bolinas' downtown is located on the eastern side of town along Wharf Road, which ends at Bolinas Lagoon. The downtown buildings were mostly built between 1850 and 1920. Brighton Avenue connects downtown to the south-facing Brighton Beach. In the southeast corner of town is the Little Mesa. The Big Mesa, also known as the Gridded Mesa, lies to the west, with Agate Beach at its western end. By air, Bolinas is just west-southwest of San Rafael, and northwest of San Francisco. While located just from
State Route 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered S ...
, the area is not very accessible by car. The driving time from San Rafael is roughly 52 minutes, and it takes over an hour to drive to downtown San Francisco. Bolinas lies west of the San Andreas Fault, which runs the length of Bolinas Lagoon and continues northward through
Olema Valley Olema Valley is a gorge formed by the San Andreas Fault in rural west Marin County, Northern California. The valley runs from the southern end of Tomales Bay through Point Reyes Station, the town of Olema, and Dogtown, to the Bolinas Lagoon, which ...
and Tomales Bay. Bolinas and the Point Reyes peninsula are on the
Pacific Plate The Pacific Plate is an oceanic tectonic plate that lies beneath the Pacific Ocean. At , it is the largest tectonic plate. The plate first came into existence 190 million years ago, at the triple junction between the Farallon, Phoenix, and Iza ...
, moving north relative to
Stinson Beach Stinson Beach is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Marin County, California, on the west coast of the United States. Stinson Beach is located east-southeast of Bolinas, at an elevation of . The population of the St ...
and the North American Plate at an average rate of about per year. Point Reyes National Seashore borders Bolinas to the northwest.
Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area located about 1 mile (2 km) west of Bolinas in Marin County on California’s north central coast. This marine protected area covers . Duxbury Reef SMCA prohibits t ...
encompasses Bolinas' western shoreline.


Climate

Bolinas experiences warm (occasionally hot) and dry summers, with some average monthly days in summer months above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bolinas has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Like much of the California coast, summer afternoons are often cool and windy (and sometimes foggy) as winds blow in off the ocean. It receives more rain than other coast cities in the San Francisco Bay Area in this latitude with of rain.


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 the Bolinas CDP ( Census-designated place) had a population of 1,620. The population density was . The racial makeup of Bolinas was 1,406 (86.8 percent) White, 27 (1.7 percent) African American, 10 (0.6 percent) Native American, 17 (1.0 percent) Asian, 14 (0.9 percent) Pacific Islander, 64 (4.0 percent) from other races, and 82 (5.1 percent) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 260 people (16.0 percent). The census reported that 88.4 percent of the population lived in households and 11.6 percent lived in non-institutionalized group quarters. There were 698 households, 144 (20.6 percent) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 259 (37.1 percent) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 54 (7.7 percent) had a female householder with no husband present, 32 (4.6 percent) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 49 (7.0 percent)
unmarried opposite-sex partnerships POSSLQ ( , plural POSSLQs) is an abbreviation (or acronym) for "Person 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 ...
, and nine (1.3 percent) same-sex married couples or partnerships. There were 280 households (40.1 percent) made up of individuals, and 98 (14.0 percent) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.05. There were 345 families (49.4 percent of all households); the average family size was 2.65. The age distribution was 234 people (14.4 percent) under the age of 18, 76 people (4.7 percent) aged 18 to 24, 385 people (23.8 percent) aged 25 to 44, 642 people (39.6 percent) aged 45 to 64, and 283 people (17.5 percent) who were 65 or older. The median age was 49.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 115.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 113.6 males. There were 986 housing units at an average density of 169.2 per square mile, of the occupied units 57.4 percent were owner-occupied and 42.6 percent were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7 percent; the rental vacancy rate was 2.6 percent. 54.1 percent of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 34.3 percent lived in rental housing units.


2000

At the 2000 census there were 1,246 people in 486 households, including 260 families, in the CDP. The population density was . There were 629 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the CDP in 2000 was 77.7 percent non-Hispanic White, 0.5 percent non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.2 percent Native American, 0.9 percent Asian, 0.2 percent Pacific Islander, 0.1 percent from other races, and 4.3 percent from two or more races. 16.0 percent of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 486 households 27.4 percent had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.9 percent were married couples living together, 10.5 percent had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.3 percent were non-families. Of all households, 32.1 percent were one person and 4.5 percent had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.87. The age distribution was 21.0 percent under the age of 18, 4.7 percent from 18 to 24, 26.0 percent from 25 to 44, 40.3 percent from 45 to 64, and 8.0 percent who were 65 or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 110.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.1 males. The median household income was $53,188 and the median family income was $56,111. Males had a median income of $48,281 versus $40,417 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $28,973. About 5.5% of families and 10.2 percent of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.7 percent of those under age 18 and 2.8 percent of those age 65 or over. The much larger area defined by the Census Bureau as Zip Code Tabulation Area 94924, which includes Horseshoe Hill, Dogtown, and Five Brooks, had a 2000 population of 1,560 people (see map).


Education

Bolinas is in the
Bolinas-Stinson Union School District Bolinas-Stinson Union School District is a public school district in Marin County, California, with offices in Bolinas, California, USA. As of the 2017–18 school year, the District had 91 students at its Bolinas campus. History Bolinas Schoo ...
, the
Tamalpais Union High School District The Tamalpais Union High School District or TUHSD provides high school education to students residing in ten elementary districts in central and southern Marin County, California and parts of West Marin. The headquarters are on the property of ...
, and the
Marin Community College District The College of Marin is a public community college in Marin County, California, with two campuses, one in Kentfield, and the second in Novato. It is the only institution operated by the Marin Community College District. College of Marin has bee ...
. Students in primary grades (kindergarten – grade 2) attend Stinson Beach School, while elementary grade students (grades 3–8) attend
Bolinas School Bolinas-Stinson Union School District is a public school district in Marin County, California, with offices in Bolinas, California, USA. As of the 2017–18 school year, the District had 91 students at its Bolinas campus. History Bolinas Scho ...
. Bolinas is included in the attendance area of Tamalpais High School, in Mill Valley. In 1951, ''Ford Times'' identified Bolinas as the first in its series of "Tom Sawyer Towns... a good place for boys and girls to live and grow... its school days, its summer vacations, its vast adventures in fishing, swimming, baseball, basking and dreaming in the sun. Such a place is Bolinas."


Government

Bolinas is unincorporated, receiving general government services from
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
, including law enforcement, land use planning, public health, and code enforcement. Two special districts provide local services. The Bolinas Community Public Utility District provides water and wastewater service and contracts for garbage and recycling collection. The Bolinas Fire Protection District provides fire protection, emergency medical care, and disaster management services.


Bolinas Community Public Utility District

In 1967, the Bolinas Community Public Utility District was formed by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. It merged two local water districts, the Bolinas Beach Public Utility District which served the Big Mesa, and the Bolinas Public Utility District which served the Downtown and Little Mesa, with the Marin County Sanitary District #3, formed in 1908 to provide sewer service in the downtown. The BCPUD provides water service and solid waste pickup throughout Bolinas, and sewer service to the Downtown and Little Mesa. In November 1971, the Bolinas Community Public Utility District instituted a moratorium on new water permits, which halted the construction of new homes. The moratorium was based on the limited local water supply during the summer months and in drought years, and also serves to limit new development in Bolinas. In 1990, the BCPUD enacted a moratorium on new sewer connections, to address the limited capacity of the sewage collection system. Many lots, especially on the Big Mesa, remain undeveloped. In 2003, Bolinas voters adopted Measure G, authored by Bolinas artist Jane "Dakar" Blethen. The advisory measure called for the following language to be adopted as a policy of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District:


Regional recreation and marine protected areas

Besides the public access beach near the downtown area, there is a county park, Agate Beach, which contains extensive tide pools that are protected as part of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. The town also hosts the
Marin-Bolinas Botanical Gardens The Marin-Bolinas Botanical Gardens (14 acres) are botanical gardens specializing in succulents, located in Bolinas, California, United States. They are not open to the public as of 2018. The gardens were created by Dr. Herman Schwartz, a retired ...
, and borders on the Point Reyes National Seashore to the north.
Alamere Falls Alamere Falls is a waterfall in Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California. Alamere Falls is a rare " tidefall", a waterfall that flows directly into the ocean. It is one of only two known tidefalls in California, the other being McW ...
, one of only two beach waterfalls in the continental U.S., is on the California Coastal Trail from Palomarin Trailhead at the end of Mesa Road.
Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) is a marine protected area located about 1 mile (2 km) west of Bolinas in Marin County on California’s north central coast. This marine protected area covers . Duxbury Reef SMCA prohibits t ...
lies offshore from Bolinas. Like an underwater park, this marine protected area helps conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.


In popular culture

Bolinas and its reclusive reputation are featured in the 1981 novel '' Ecotopia Emerging'' by
Ernest Callenbach Ernest Callenbach (April 3, 1929 – April 16, 2012) was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. He became famous due to his internationally successful semi-utopian novel ''Ecotopia'' (1975). Life and work Born i ...
. '' Wildflowers'', a 1999 film starring Daryl Hannah, was partly filmed in Bolinas. Stickers that say "Radio Free Bolinas" were subtly put on a couple of the
Y-wing The Koensayr BTL Y-wing assault starfighter/bomber are a series of fictional spacecraft from the '' Star Wars'' franchise. They are depicted as the star fighters of the Galactic Republic, Rebel Alliance, New Republic, and the Resistance; being ...
pilot helmets seen in '' Return of the Jedi''. Radio Free Bolinas was a pirate radio station that was founded in 1978, and was shut down by the FCC sometime after the station had a call from San Francisco, over 10 miles away and out of their broadcast range. This sticker was put on by the prop makers as they were likely in or around the area listening to the station while making the helmets.Harry L. Helms (January 1981). https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-DX/Miscellaneous/How%20To%20Tune%20The%20Secret%20Shortwave%20Spectrum-Helms.pdf, pg. 129. Retrieved July 8, 2022.


Notable people


References


Further reading

* * * * * *


External links


Bolinas Beach from the air, 2005
(California Coastal Records Project)
Bolinas LibraryBolinas Community Land Trust (BCLT)
(Affordable, community housing, preserving the human ecosystem, and the natural ecology of Bolinas.)
Bolinas MuseumThe Coastal PostBolinas Community Center
* {{authority control Populated coastal places in California Unincorporated communities in California Census-designated places in Marin County, California Census-designated places in California West Marin Artist colonies