Gorda
Unincorporated community
Gorda, California.
Gorda, California.
Gorda is located in California
Gorda
Gorda
Location in California
Coordinates: 35°52′35″N 121°26′46″W / 35.87639°N 121.44611°W / 35.87639; -121.44611
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
CountyMonterey County
Elevation
[1]
148 ft (45 m)
ZIP code
93920
Area code805
GNIS feature ID271364

Gorda (Spanish for "Fat") is a hamlet in Monterey County, California.[1] It is located 3 mi (4.8 km) south of Cape San Martin,[2] at an elevation of 148 ft (45 m).[1] It is one of the three small settlements of filling stations, restaurants, and motels located along State Route 1 on the Big Sur coast. The ZIP Code is 93920, but mail must be addressed to Big Sur,[3] and the community is inside area code 805.

History

View of Pacific Ocean at Gorda, California.

The fresh springs in Gorda were used by Native American tribes. By the time the first Europeans arrived in 1878, the Native Americans were no longer present. The settlement expanded with the gold rush in nearby Manchester during the 1880s.[4] A stagecoach stop was built and a post office operated at Gorda from 1893 to 1923, moving in 1910.[2] Government surveyor James M. Hill described the town in February, 1921 as "a small ranching settlement on the coast about midway between Monterey and San Luis Obispo."

Gorda was the location of a hippie commune from 1962 to 1968 on land owned by Amelia Newell.[5]

Services

Roland H. Chivers was a heavy equipment mechanic and operator. He graded the site for the restaurant and made numerous improvement to the coastal property.[6]

Road-side services include a small hotel and cottages, restaurant, gas station, deli, espresso bar, and convenience store.[7] In 1979, the town attracted national attention after most of the land was purchased by Kidco Limited Ventures, a corporation owned by four minor children from Ramona, California who were heirs of the family that owned the Cessna Aircraft company.[8] After funding the company, $500,000 was invested as a tax shelter to purchase the town's land. At the time, Dickie Cessna was 14 years old and the other three siblings were June (16), Bette (13) and Nene (11).[9][10] The Cessna children were paid for rights to a movie about these events and the comedy film Kidco was released by 20th Century Fox in 1984.[11]

Mud Creek slide

The May 22, 2017, mud slide at Mud Creek covered Highway 1 for more than a quarter-mile.

On May 20, 2017, the largest slide in the Big Sur Coast Highway's history at Mud Creek buried more than a quarter-mile of Highway 1 1 mile (1.6 km) southeast of Gorda. The highway was closed for more than a year. This had a considerable negative economic impact for tourism between Monterey and Morro Bay. A CalTrans study concluded that rerouting the highway around the slide was preferred over other alternatives.[12][13] The only route in and out of Gorda beginning in the south was via a lengthy detour over the narrow, winding Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. On August 2, 2017, CalTrans decided to rebuild the highway over the slide instead of clearing it.[14] It was reopened on July 18, 2018, at a cost of $54 million.[15][16][17]

Etymology

Gorda is derived from the Spanish word for "fat" or "well-fed".[18]

High fuel prices

Gorda is occasionally mentioned as having the highest gasoline prices in the United States. This is due in part to the cost of a diesel generator that provides electricity to the gas station and town. It's also due to the limited availability of fuel in the area and the distance from suppliers, who must deliver fuel to Gorda from as far as Santa Maria and Paso Robles, from 80 to 100 miles (130 to 160 km) away.[19][20] In 2008, the price was $6.70 per gallon.[19][21][22] In October 2021, the prices were $7.59 for unleaded and $8.49 for premium gas.[20] On March 10, 2022, the price of unleaded was reported to be $9.159 and the price of premium gas was $10.159.[23]

Geography

Under the Köppen climate classification, "dry-summer subtropical" climates are often referred to as "Mediterranean". This climate zone has an average temperature above 10 °C (50 °F) in their warmest months, and an average in the coldest between 18 and −3 °C (64 and 27 °F). Summers tend to be dry with less than one-third the rainfall of the wettest winter month, and with less than 30 mm (1 in) of precipitation in a summer month.[24]

Climate

Climate data for Gorda, CA
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °F (°C) 81
(27)		 85
(29)		 87
(31)		 98
(37)		 96
(36)		 102
(39)		 99
(37)		 101
(38)		 100
(38)		 100
(38)		 90
(32)		 75
(24)		 102
(39)
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) 59.7
(15.4)		 61.5
(16.4)		 63.4
(17.4)		 68.3
(20.2)		 72.6
(22.6)		 75.9
(24.4)		 75.6
(24.2)		 77.3
(25.2)		 77.1
(25.1)		 73.2
(22.9)		 64.5
(18.1)		 59.9
(15.5)		 69.1
(20.6)
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) 42.9
(6.1)		 43.1
(6.2)		 43.4
(6.3)		 43.5
(6.4)		 45.8
(7.7)		 48.3
(9.1)		 50.4
(10.2)		 50.0
(10.0)		 50.3
(10.2)		 47.9
(8.8)		 44.9
(7.2)		 41.9
(5.5)		 46.0
(7.8)
Record low °F (°C) 27
(−3)		 29
(−2)		 27
(−3)		 30
(−1)		 35
(2)		 37
(3)		 41
(5)		 40
(4)		 39
(4)		 36
(2)		 28
(−2)		 27
(−3)		 27
(−3)
Average precipitation inches (mm) 9.10
(231)		 8.65
(220)		 6.49
(165)		 3.11
(79)		 1.09
(28)		 0.24
(6.1)		 0.03
(0.76)		 0.05
(1.3)		 0.42
(11)		 2.03
(52)		 4.85
(123)		 7.62
(194)		 43.70
(1,110)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10.3 11.2 10.3 6.5 3.7 1.1 0.3 0.4 1.3 3.5 7.5 10.3 66.4
Source: NOAA[25]

Government

At the county level, Gorda is represented on the Monterey County Board of Supervisors by Supervisor Dave Potter.[26]

In the California State Legislature, Gorda is in the 17th Senate District, represented by Democrat John Laird, and in the 30th Assembly District, represented by Democrat Dawn Addis.[27]

In the United States House of Representatives, Gorda is in California's 20th congressional district, seat currently vacant.[28]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gorda". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 901. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.
  3. ↑ "USPS.com® - ZIP Code™ Lookup". Archived from the original on November 22, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Gorda Springs Resort, Big Sur, CA - California Beaches". Beachcalifornia.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved December 11, 2011.
  5. ↑ Timothy Miller, The 60s Communes: Hippies and Beyond (Syracuse University Press, 1999), pp. 20-22.
  6. ↑ Roland Chivers
  7. ↑ Resort, Gorda Springs. "Gorda Springs Resort - Lodging, Restaurant, Gas, Groceries". Welcome to Gorda Springs Resort. Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. Retrieved December 16, 2020.
  8. ↑ "Life Is Mellow in a Town Owned by Four Youths; Came Here to Be Left Alone Town Bought as Tax Shelter" Archived 2022-04-16 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, November 6, 1980, pA16
  9. ↑ "A Place of Their Own" Archived 2022-04-16 at the Wayback Machine, photo in Pittsburgh Press, June 6, 1979, pA-6
  10. ↑ Kidco Isn't Kid Stuff— Children's Company Is Big Business Now", by Cilla Brown, Los Angeles Times, April 22, 1979, pI-12
  11. ↑ "'Kidco': The Right-Wing Children's Movie That Shouldn't Be Forgotten". Archived from the original on December 31, 2021. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
  12. ↑ "'Mother Of All Landslides' In Big Sur Buries Section Of California's Highway 1". Npr.org. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  13. ↑ "New road planned to traverse Big Sur slide". Sfgate.com. August 2, 2017. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  14. ↑ Schmalz, David Caltrans announces plan to reopen Highway 1 at Mud Creek Archived 2022-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  15. ↑ Reyes, Juan. "Caltrans sets new target date to reopen Highway 1 in Big Sur at Mud Creek". Monterey County Herald. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  16. ↑ Caltrans, State of California. "SR1 Road Information - California Highway Information". www.dot.ca.gov. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  17. ↑ Forgione, Mary (July 18, 2018). "It's open! The last landslide closure on Highway 1 near Big Sur reopened to traffic earlier than expected". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 20, 2018. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 139.
  19. 1 2 "$5.20 a Gallon? America's Priciest Gas". ABC News. March 31, 2008. Archived from the original on December 24, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2018.
  20. 1 2 Iddings, Reporter Jackie (October 27, 2021). "Sky high gas prices in tiny town of Gorda make national headlines". Paso Robles Daily News. Archived from the original on February 11, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  21. ↑ "Most Stunning View in Town Is the One at the Pump" Archived 2018-08-12 at the Wayback Machine, Jesse McKinley, The New York Times, March 12, 2008
  22. ↑ "NBCNews.com Video Player". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2019.
  23. ↑ "AmeriCo Gas - 67 Cabrillo Hwy - Gorda, CA - GasBuddy.com". www.gasbuddy.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2022. Retrieved March 17, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Big Sur, California Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
  25. ↑ "NOWData - NOAA Online Weather Data". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  26. ↑ "Monterey County Supervisorial District 5 Map (North District 5)" (PDF). County of Monterey. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 1, 2012. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Statewide Database". UC Regents. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  28. ↑ "California's 20th Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved September 24, 2014.
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