Bolinas is an unincorporated coastal community in Marin County, California, United States. It is located on the California coast, approximately (straight line distance) northwest of San Francisco, and by road. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined that community as a census-designated place (CDP). As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,483.
History
thumb|220px|Bolinas Museum, 2013
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 were once encompassed by Rancho Las Baulines, a Mexican land grant 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. The Big Mesa doesn't have sewer system, and houses on the mesa have individual septic systems.
The Bolinas beaches were hit hard by the 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill, with the community coming together to clean the beach of crude oil.
The Bolinas Museum was founded in 1983. It contains five galleries featuring contemporary art, historical information, and works from local artists.
Geography
thumb|Bolinas Peninsula from Panoramic Highway
Bolinas sits at an elevation of above sea level. to the point where county officials offered a ballot measure to which the voters responded by stating a preference for no more signs.
Bolinas lies west of the San Andreas Fault, which runs the length of Bolinas Lagoon and continues northward through Olema Valley and Tomales Bay. Bolinas and the Point Reyes peninsula are on the Pacific Plate, moving north relative to Stinson Beach and the North American Plate at an average rate of approxiamtely per year.
Point Reyes National Seashore borders Bolinas to the northwest. Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area 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
thumb|220px|Bolinas Peninsula from
Bolinas first appeared as a census designated place in the 1980 U.S. census.
!Pop 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |Pop 2020
!% 2000
!% 2010
!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020
|-
|White alone (NH)
|1,101
|1,258
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,182
|88.36%
|77.65%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |79.70%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|22
|8
|style='background: #ffffe6; |12
|1.77%
|0.49%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.81%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|4
|3
|style='background: #ffffe6; |6
|0.32%
|0.19%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.40%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|22
|15
|style='background: #ffffe6; |25
|1.77%
|0.93%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.69%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|4
|4
|style='background: #ffffe6; |5
|0.32%
|0.25%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.34%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|3
|2
|style='background: #ffffe6; |10
|0.24%
|0.12%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.67%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|27
|70
|style='background: #ffffe6; |88
|2.17%
|4.32%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |5.93%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|63
|260
|style='background: #ffffe6; |155
|5.06%
|16.05%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |10.45%
|-
|Total
|1,246
|1,620
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1,483
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Bolinas had a population of 1,483. The median age was 54.5 years. 14.0% of residents were under the age of 18 and 37.3% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 95.1 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.2 males age 18 and over.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
There were 660 households in Bolinas, of which 16.2% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 34.1% were married-couple households, 24.1% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 32.6% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 37.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 22.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The population density was . The racial makeup of Bolinas was 1,406 (86.8%) White, 27 (1.7%) African American, 10 (0.6%) Native American, 17 (1.0%) Asian, 14 (0.9%) Pacific Islander, 64 (4.0%) from other races, and 82 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 260 people (16.0%).
The census reported that 88.4% of the population lived in households and 11.6% lived in non-institutionalized group quarters.
There were 698 households, 144 (20.6%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 259 (37.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 54 (7.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 32 (4.6%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 49 (7.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and nine (1.3%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. There were 280 households (40.1%) made up of individuals, and 98 (14.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.05. There were 345 families (49.4% of all households); the average family size was 2.65.
The age distribution was 234 people (14.4%) under the age of 18, 76 people (4.7%) aged 18 to 24, 385 people (23.8%) aged 25 to 44, 642 people (39.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 283 people (17.5%) 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% were owner-occupied and 42.6% were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 2.6%. 54.1% of the population lived in owner-occupied housing units and 34.3% lived in rental housing units.
2000 census
thumb|220px|Bolinas CDP, California (dark yellow)
right|thumb|220px|94924 ZIP Code Tabulation Area (bright yellow)
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% non-Hispanic White, 0.5% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.9% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.1% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. 16.0% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
Of the 486 households 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.9% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.3% were non-families. Of all households, 32.1% were one person and 4.5% 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% under the age of 18, 4.7% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 40.3% from 45 to 64, and 8.0% 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% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.7% 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, the Tamalpais Union High School District, and the Marin Community College District. Students in primary grades (kindergarten – grade 2) attend Stinson Beach School, while elementary grade students (grades 3–8) attend Bolinas School. 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, 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. The advisory measure called for the following language to be adopted as a policy of the Bolinas Community Public Utility District:
Parks and recreation
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, and borders on the Point Reyes National Seashore to the north. Alamere Falls, 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 lies offshore from Bolinas. As 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.
Wildflowers, a 1999 film starring Daryl Hannah, was partly filmed in Bolinas.
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.
Notable people
See also
- Lighter Wharf
- California Historical Landmarks in Marin County
References
Further reading
External links
- Bolinas Beach from the air, 2005 (California Coastal Records Project)
- Bolinas Library
- Bolinas Community Land Trust (BCLT) (Affordable, community housing, preserving the human ecosystem, and the natural ecology of Bolinas.)
- Bolinas Museum
- Bolinas Community Center
- Bolinas Literary History by Kevin Opstedal
- Dreaming As One: Poetry, Poets and Community in Bolinas, California, 1967-1980 by Kevin Opstedal