| Crescent City, California | |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Nickname: | The Redwood Gate to the Golden State |
| Pushpin Map: | California |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in the state of California |
| Pushpin Relief: | 1 |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | California |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Del Norte |
| Established Title: | Incorporated |
| Established Date: | April 13, 1854[1] |
| Government Type: | Mayor/Council |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Jason Greenough[2] |
| Leader Title1: | State senator |
| Leader Name1: | [3] |
| Leader Title2: | Assemblymember |
| Leader Name2: | [4] |
| Leader Title3: | U. S. rep. |
| Leader Name3: | [5] |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Area Footnotes: | [6] |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 2.42 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 1.96 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 0.45 |
| Area Water Percent: | 18.7 |
| Elevation Ft: | 43 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 6673 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 3399.39 |
| Timezone: | Pacific |
| Utc Offset: | -8 |
| Timezone Dst: | PDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 95531, 95532, 95538 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 707 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature IDs |
| Blank1 Info: | , |
| Area Total Km2: | 6.25 |
| Area Land Km2: | 5.09 |
| Area Water Km2: | 1.17 |
| Population Density Km2: | 1312.26 |
Crescent City is the only incorporated city in Del Norte County, California; it is also the county seat. Named for the crescent-shaped stretch of sandy beach south of the city, Crescent City had a total population of 6,673 in the 2020 census, down from 7,643 in the 2010 census.
The population includes inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison, also within the city limits, and the former census-designated place Crescent City North annexed to the city.
The city is also the site of the Redwood National Park headquarters, as well as the historic Battery Point Light. Due to the richness of the local Pacific Ocean waters and the related catch, and ease of access, Crescent City Harbor serves as home port for numerous commercial fishing vessels.
The city is on the Pacific coast in the upper northwestern part of California, about south of the Oregon border.
Crescent City's offshore geography makes it unusually susceptible to tsunamis.[7] In 1964 much of the city was destroyed by four tsunami waves generated by the Great Alaskan earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska. In 2011 the city's harbor suffered extensive damage and destruction from tsunamis generated by the March 11, 2011, earthquake off Sendai, Japan. Several dozen vessels and many of the docks they were moored to were destroyed as wave cycles related to the tsunamis exceeded .
The climate of Crescent City is moderate, with cool summers for its latitude as a result of intense maritime moderation. Nearby inland areas behind the mountains have substantially warmer summer temperatures.
Crescent City was founded on the site of Tolowa Indian Settlements at Battery Point and Pebble Beach south of Point St. George, and north of Point St. George. In Tolowa: Taa-’at-dvn.[8] In the Yurok it is Kohpey,[9] and in Wiyot: Daluwagh).[10]
In 1855, the U.S. Congress authorized the building of a lighthouse at "the battery point" (a high tide island on the coast of Crescent City) which is still functioning as a historical landmark.[11]
Europeans began moving to the area in the 1850s. Crescent City was incorporated as a city in 1854.[12]
The population includes inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison, also within the city limits, and the former census-designated place Crescent City North annexed to the city.
The city is also the site of the Redwood National Park headquarters, as well as the historic Battery Point Light.
Due to the richness of the local Pacific Ocean waters and the related catch, and ease of access, Crescent City Harbor serves as home port for numerous commercial fishing vessels.
Crescent City was a schooner built in 1848 by Joshua T. Foster of Medford, Massachusetts.[13]
A 1906 ship named Crescent City was the former Jim Butler, a steam schooner built by Lindstrom Shipbuilding Company in Aberdeen, Washington,[14] that wrecked in the Channel Islands, off Santa Cruz Island, in 1927.[15]
Two notable shipwrecks happened off the coast, in 1865 and then at the start of World War II in December 1941, when a Japanese submarine hit a US oil tanker.
The Brother Jonathan, a paddle steamer, crashed on an uncharted rock near Point St. George, off the coast of Crescent City, California, on July 30, 1865.[16]
The SS Emidio, a tanker of the General Petroleum Corporation (later Mobil Oil), was the first casualty of the Imperial Japanese Navy's submarine force action on California's Pacific Coast on December 20, 1941. The damaged tanker broke up on the rocks off Crescent City. The remaining pieces of the ship are now California Historical Landmark #497.[17]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which (81.3%) is land and (18.7%) is water. Fishing and crabbing, tourism, and timber are the major sources of income in Del Norte County.[18] Elk Creek flows into the Pacific Ocean at Crescent City. Its nearest Californian place of any size to its interior is Happy Camp separated by roughly by air, but, due to the unsuitable terrain, it is much farther by road. The nearest city is fellow coastal city Brookings, Oregon, around to its north. The Humboldt Bay area encompassing Eureka and Arcata is more than to its south. Crescent City is as far north in latitude as Chicago, Middle Island in Ontario, Canada, as well as New England on the Atlantic side. It is as much as nine degrees latitude north of San Diego at the southern tip of the state. Crescent City is closer to Vancouver, Canada than to Los Angeles .[19]
Crescent City has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csb). The wettest months are from October to March; the wettest month is December with and the driest month is July with . The average high and low temperatures in December are and . The average high and low temperatures in August are and . On average, four mornings each winter fall below .
The highest temperature recorded in Crescent City was on September 20, 1989, and September 21, 1939. The lowest temperature on record was on January 20, 1937, and December 21, 1990. The maximum monthly precipitation was in November 1973. The wettest year was 1904 when fell and the driest year was 2013 with . The maximum 24-hour precipitation was on January 9, 1995. The highest snowfall recorded for any period in 24 hours was on January 26, 1972. The 30-year average annual precipitation in Crescent City has decreased from 64inches in the 1980–2010 period to about 58inches over the 1990–2020 period.
The warmest ever overnight low was 68F in 1929 and the mean between 1991 and 2020 was at the modest 59F. Cold winter days are also rare. The coldest daytime temperature was 30F in 1924, which remains the last time Crescent City did not climb above the freezing point for 24 hours. Between 1991 and 2020, the coldest maximum temperature averaged 44F.
The bathymetry of the sea floor surrounding Crescent City has the effect of focusing tsunamis. According to researchers at Humboldt State University and the University of Southern California, the city experienced tsunami conditions 31 times between the years 1933 and 2008.[20] Although many of these incidents were barely perceptible, eleven events included wave measurements exceeding one meter, four events caused damage, and one event in particular is commonly cited as "the largest and most destructive recorded tsunami to strike the United States Pacific Coast."[21]
On March 27, 1964, the Great Alaskan earthquake off Anchorage, Alaska, set in motion local landslide tsunamis, as well as a trans-Pacific wave. The tsunami wave travel time to Crescent City was 4.1 hours after the earthquake, but it only produced localized flooding.[22] The second and third waves to hit Crescent City were smaller, but the fourth wave struck with a height of approximately after having drawn the harbor out nearly dry.[22] The next morning the damage was counted: 289 buildings and businesses had been destroyed; 1,000 cars and 25 large fishing vessels had been crushed; 12 people were confirmed dead, over 100 were injured, and more were missing; and 60 blocks had been inundated, with 30 city blocks destroyed. Although most of the missing were later accounted for, not all were tracked down. Insurance adjusters estimated that the city received more damage from the tsunami on a block-by-block basis than did Anchorage from the initial earthquake.[23]
The tsunami raced down the West Coast with more deaths and destruction, but no other location was hit as hard. Crescent City bore the brunt, due to its offshore geography, position relative to the earthquake's strike-line, underwater contours such as the Cobb Seamount, and the position of rivers near the city.[24] Although houses, buildings, and infrastructure were later rebuilt, years passed before the city recovered from the devastation to lives, property, and its economy. Since the 1980s, the breakwater has been protected from normal storm waves by hundreds of Dolos armor units, 38 ton concrete shapes.[25]
The city is deemed to be tsunami-ready today. Its preparedness was tested on June 14, 2005, when the 2005 Eureka earthquake measuring 7.2 on the moment magnitude scale hit offshore; much of the city (an estimated 6,000 people)[26] was evacuated when a tsunami warning was issued, and a tsunami wave hit the area.[27]
On November 15, 2006, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck off Simushir Island in the Kuril Islands in the western Pacific. A tsunami warning was issued but rescinded hours later. However, a surge from that quake did hit the harbor at Crescent City causing damage to three docks and several boats. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a county state of emergency. Upon that declaration, the area affected was eligible for federal emergency relief funding to repair the damage.[28] [29]
Parts of the city were evacuated on March 11, 2011, after a 9.0 earthquake struck Japan.[30] [31] Thirty-five boats were destroyed, and the harbor suffered major damage.[32] The reported peak surge was over by 9:50am.[33] Five were swept out to sea, and one person was killed.[34] [35] [36]
The 2010 United States Census[37] reported that Crescent City had a population of 7,643. The population density was 3,164.9/sqmi (1,222.0/km2). The racial makeup of Crescent City was 5,052 (66.1%) White, 910 (11.9%) African American, 370 (4.8%) Native American, 333 (4.4%) Asian, 7 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 696 (9.1%) from other races, and 275 (3.6%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2,342 persons (30.6%).
The Census reported that 4,063 people (53.2% of the population) lived in households, 28 (0.4%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 3,552 (46.5%) were institutionalized. The very high institutionalized percentage is a result of the presence of Pelican Bay State Prison, which was annexed into the city limits in the 1990s.
There were 1,707 households, out of which 559 (32.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 512 (30.0%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 314 (18.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 114 (6.7%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 170 (10.0%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 7 (0.4%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 614 households (36.0%) were made up of individuals, and 229 (13.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38. There were 940 families (55.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.13.
The city population contained 1,107 people (14.5%) under the age of 18, 934 people (12.2%) aged 18 to 24, 3,292 people (43.1%) aged 25 to 44, 1,725 people (22.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 585 people (7.7%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34.9 years. For every 100 females, there were 250.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 298.5 males.
There were 1,906 housing units at an average density of 789.2/sqmi (304.7/km2), of which 1,707 were occupied, of which 532 (31.2%) were owner-occupied, and 1,175 (68.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 7.7%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. 1,203 people (15.7% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 2,860 people (37.4%) lived in rental housing units.
In the California State Legislature, Crescent City is in,[3] and .[4]
In the United States House of Representatives, Crescent City is in .[5]
The public schools of Crescent City are part of the Del Norte County Unified School District, which encompasses all of the public schools in Del Norte County. The following are schools within Crescent City or its immediate vicinity.
Highway access is provided by U.S. Route 101, which runs directly through the city, connecting the Oregon Coast to the north and Eureka to the south. U.S. Route 199 begins north of Crescent City and runs northeast to Grants Pass, Oregon. The junction of U.S. Routes 101 and 199 is one of only two junctions of two U.S. Routes in California, the other being the junction of U.S. Routes 6 and 395 in Bishop.
SkyWest Airlines formerly served Del Norte County Airport (also known as Jack McNamara Field) as United Express until April 7, 2015. Most flights connected to San Francisco International Airport.[39] PenAir contracted to begin serving the airport with Saab 340 turboprop aircraft beginning September 15, 2015.[40]
Advanced Air currently operates flights from Crescent City (CEC) to Oakland International Airport (OAK) and Los Angeles-Hawthorne Airport (HHR).
Local public transit is provided by Redwood Coast Transit and by various taxi companies. Crescent City is also served by Curry Public Transit, and POINT.
The Crescent City Harbor serves as a commercial fishing port for salmon, shrimp, tuna, cod, and dungeness crab commercial fishing vessels. The Harbor is also home to multiple fishing- and non-fishing-related businesses and harbor governmental offices. The Crescent City Harbor also has several pleasure boat docks.[41]
See also: List of sister cities in California.
Crescent City is twinned with:
Rikuzentakata, Japan (January 7, 2019)[44] [45]