Bonny Doon, California
Bonny Doon is an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of California northwest of Santa Cruz. It was founded in the 1850s as a logging camp. John Burns, a Scotsman living in Santa Cruz, named Bonny Doon after a line in Robert Burns' song "The Banks O' Doon" ("Ye banks and braes o'bonnie Doon..."). Bonny Doon is located in Santa Cruz County. Bonny Doon has no "city center" or shops, but features several wineries, a church, two fire stations, a lavender farm, Bonny Doon Elementary School and a private-use airport. A nude beach of the same name is nearby. Evidence of 2,600 years of occupation by Native Americans has been found in the area.[citation needed]
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[edit] Description
The area is on a slope with higher elevations in redwood forest, maritime chaparral, and lower elevations descending toward the coastal zone, which is occupied by grasslands. There are ocean views from parts of the area on days when fog is not present. The University of California, Santa Cruz is a short drive down Empire Grade, and Bonny Doon is popular with residents both who work there and those who work from home and telecommute in various genres of computing. Even though it is an outlying area, DSL and Cable Modem and television service are available; mobile phone service, however, is very limited due to the mountainous terrain and many trees.
[edit] Wildfires
On June 11, 2008, at 2:54 p.m. a fire broke out at the Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve, a popular hiking spot located on Martin Road in Bonny Doon. The Martin Fire, as it was named, burned 520 acres and destroyed three residences and eight outbuildings. About 1,500 residents of the Bonny Doon area were evacuated as a result of the fire. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency for Santa Cruz County. The blaze cost over US$5.4 million to contain and led off a busy summer of wildfires in California. [1]
A little more than one year later, on August 12, 2009 at 7:16 pm a second fire started in the Bonny Doon area, near the Lockheed facility off Empire Grade. The Lockheed fire burned 7,817 acres, and destroyed 13 outbuildings. More than 2,000 residents had been evacuated as the blaze spread from Swanton south toward Bonny Doon. The blaze cost over $26.6 million and took nearly 2 weeks to be fully contained. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. [2]
[edit] Notable sites
Robert A. Heinlein, noted science fiction author, along with his wife Virginia, was a resident from 1965 until just before his death in 1988, in a house he designed and built himself.[3]
The road to Bonny Doon from State Route 1 crosses an enclosed, unmarked conveyor belt, which carries limestone from a quarry in the mountains three miles east, to the Cemex cement plant at Davenport. This cement plant supplied cement for latter stages of the Panama Canal, and other large projects since its founding in 1906.
[edit] Murder of Jasmine Fiore
Bonny Doon was briefly in the spotlight when model Jasmine Fiore was murdered. Jasmine grew up in Bonny Doon and attended the local elementary, where she was known as Jasmine Lepore.
[edit] Zip/Area codes
The ZIP code is 95060 and the community is inside area code 831.
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=273
- ^ http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=361
- ^ Heinlein's unique circular house can be seen on Google Maps on the east side of Bonny Doon Road, just south of where Shake Mill Road dead-ends into Bonny Doon Road from the west.
[edit] External links
- Santa Cruz Wiki — The People's Guide to Santa Cruz County, California
- Home of Bonny Doon Lavender
- http://www.bonny-doon.info
- Rural Bonny Doon Association
- Bonny Doon Elementary School site
- Boomeria
- Bonny Doon Weather Page
- Saturdoon — Bonny Doon Community Market
- Home of Images For Renewal
- Home of Greetings With Heart
- West Coast Weather Vanes - Custom handcrafted copper weathervanes
Coordinates: 37°02′30″N 122°08′58″W / 37.04167°N 122.14944°W
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