Fallbrook is an unincorporated census-designated place in northern San Diego County, California, United States. The community had a population of 32,267 at the 2020 United States census, making it one of the largest unincorporated communities in the county. Fallbrook lies immediately east of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and is widely known for its avocado groves; the community styles itself the "Avocado Capital of the World" and hosts an annual Avocado Festival on Main Avenue.
History
Fallbrook was first inhabited by the Payomkawichum people, later renamed Luiseños by the Spanish missionaries who arrived in the area in the late 18th century. Large village sites and oak groves were established by the Luiseños; one site became the area today known as Live Oak County Park.
The first permanent recorded settlement dates to the Mexican period in 1846, when Ysidro Alvarado received the Rancho Monserate grant from then-governor of Alta California, Pío Pico. The 13,323-acre grant stretched from the San Luis Rey River near Bonsall in the south to Stagecoach Lane and the Palomares house in the north, bounded by Mission Road on the west and Monserate Mountain on the east.
Pico's nephew, vaquero José María Pico, was recorded in the area now occupied by Fallbrook Union High School in the 1860 census, and his family registered to vote in October 1868 — in time for the first presidential election after the Civil War.
The first known image of the area is an 1870 oil painting by James Walker titled Roping the Bear at Santa Margarita Rancho, depicting Mexican vaqueros capturing a grizzly bear.
Canadian-born settler Vital Reche later established a homestead with his family just north of Alvarado's ranch at the present-day site of Live Oak Park. The Reches named the new community "Fall Brook" after their former homestead in Pennsylvania.
Director Frank Capra purchased the historic 536-acre Red Mountain Ranch in Fallbrook in 1939 on the recommendation of his father-in-law Myron "Pop" Warner, after Warner scouted the property while Capra was directing Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Capra rehabilitated the ranch's neglected 105-acre olive grove, restarted its on-site press, and sold the result by mail order under the label "Fallbrook Olive Oil — Produced by Frank Capra." He served on the board of the Fallbrook Public Utility District from December 1953 until June 1955, during which time he produced the short documentary The Fallbrook Story (1952) for the local Chamber of Commerce in support of the District's Santa Margarita River water-rights litigation against the federal government.
Incorporation as a city was put before voters in 1981 and again in 1987; both ballot measures failed.
On October 21, 2007, wildfires broke out across San Diego County and other parts of Southern California. By October 23, the Rice Canyon Fire had crossed Interstate 15 and spread into eastern Fallbrook along Reche Road, prompting a mandatory evacuation order for all residents. As of October 23, 206 homes, two commercial properties, and 40 outbuildings had burned; these figures included more than 100 homes destroyed in the Valley Oaks Mobile Home Park and Pala Mesa Village condominiums.
Geography
The Fallbrook Community Planning Area encompasses approximately . According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP itself has a total area of , of which is land and (0.10%) is water.
Climate
Fallbrook has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csa/Csb transition), with mild, wet winters and warm, dry summers moderated by ocean breezes from the nearby Pacific.