Arcata is a city, adjacent to Humboldt Bay, in Humboldt County, California,
United States. The population was 16,651 during the 2000 Census. This college town is home to both the Humboldt State
University and the Humboldt Crabs, a successful semi-professional baseball team.
Government
Arcata is notably progressive in its political makeup, and is the first city in the United
States to elect a majority of its city council members from the Green
Party.
In an exercise of their growing political power, progressives pushed through laws in Arcata to limit the number of
chain restaurants allowed in the city. Residents hotly debate major issues, including
protection of the physical environment, the domination of America by corporate
culture, legalization of marijuana, and the statue of President William McKinley that is located in
Arcata's downtown plaza. Arcata was the first city in the nation to pass a resolution purporting to nullify the USA PATRIOT Act in said city [1]. The legality of the resolution has not yet been tested. Arcata was also the first municipality to ban the
growth of any type of Genetically Modified Organism within city limits,
with exceptions for research and educational purposes.
Geography
Arcata is located at 40°52′22″N, 124°4′58″W (40.8728,
-124.0828)1. According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.6
km² (11.0 mi²). 23.8 km² (9.2 mi²) of it is land
and 4.8 km² (1.9 mi²) of it (16.76%) is water.
There are several neighborhoods, or geophysical areas, that are within Arcata, including Aldergrove, Alliance, Bayside, the
"Bottoms", California Heights, Greenview, Northtown, South G Street, Sunny Brae, Valley West, Westwood, and others.
Climate
Arcata's climate is dominated by marine influences associated with Arcata Bay and the Pacific Ocean. On average, Arcata
experiences 40 - 50 inches of rain per year, mostly falling between October and April. Northerly winds keep the springs feeling
very cold, and create a coastal upwelling of deep, cold ocean water. This upwelling in turn results in foggy conditions
throughout the summer, with high temperatures commonly in the 50's and low 60's. Yet just a few miles inland the temperatures may
be up to 50 degrees warmer in the summer and fall. Winter high temperatures average in the low 40's to mid-50's, with lows in the
mid-30's to lower 40's. Temperatures rarely dip below 30 degrees Fahrenheit in winters, and infrequently climb to the 70's or low
80's Fahrenheit in late summer and fall.
| Weather averages for Arcata, California |
| Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Year |
| Average high °F |
53 |
54 |
54 |
55 |
57 |
60 |
60 |
61 |
62 |
60 |
57 |
55 |
|
| Average low °F |
42 |
42 |
42 |
44 |
48 |
51 |
52 |
52 |
51 |
48 |
45 |
43 |
|
| Precipitation inch |
8.6 |
6.3 |
5.3 |
2.5 |
2.3 |
0.9 |
0.1 |
0.2 |
0.8 |
3.5 |
4.9 |
6.7 |
|
| Average high °C |
11 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
13 |
15 |
15 |
16 |
16 |
15 |
13 |
12 |
|
| Average low °C |
5 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
|
| Precipitation cm |
21 |
15 |
13 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
12 |
17 |
|
| Source: Weatherbase[1] May 2007 |
For more climate graphs and averages: [2]
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 16,651 people, 7,051 households, and 2,813 families residing
in the city. The population density was 699.6/km² (1,812.1/mi²). There were 7,272
housing units at an average density of 305.5/km² (791.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 84.51% White, 1.56% Black or African American, 2.65% Native American, 2.27% Asian, 0.20% Pacific Islander, 3.49% from other races, and 5.31% from two or more races. 7.22% of the population
were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Hispanics are a rapidly growing ethnic subgroup in
Arcata and Humboldt County.
The composition of Arcata's households reflect the large number of unrelated college-age students living together. Of the
7,051 households in Arcata, only 19.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, only 25.9% were married couples living together, 10.4% had a female householder with no husband present, while 60.1% were
non-families. 34.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or
older. The average household size was 2.16 and the average family size was 2.81.
Arcata's age cohorts are also distorted by a large percentage of college-age students. Only 15.3% of Arcata residents are
under the age of 18, while nearly a third (32.3%) fall between ages 18 and 24, and 27.8% are 25 to 44 years old. Among older age
cohorts, 15.9% are 45 to 64 years old, and 8.7% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females
there were 99.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.9 males.
As of 2002, there were 8,210 employed persons living in Arcata [3] and an
unemployment rate of 7.2%. For many years the timber industry dominated Arcata's economy. Today the majority of Arcata jobs come
from government (including schools and Humboldt State University), the city's many owner-resident small businesses, some lumber
and food manufacturing, and a wide variety of service industries (ranging from professional services to restaurant and
hospitality). A large but unmeasurable cannabis economy employs many in Arcata and the surrounding area. The area's economy and
population are both growing more slowly than the State of California overall.
Median reported household income in Arcata was $22,315, and the median income for a family was $36,716. Males had a median
income of $26,577 versus $24,358 for females. The per capita income for the city was
$15,531. About 14.3% of families and 32.2% of the population were below the poverty
line, including 22.4% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Arcata is the site of Humboldt State University, the northernmost campus of
the 23-campus California State University system. With a student body
equaling nearly half the city's total population, Arcata is a classic example of a traditional "college town" — with all the
concomitant cultural advantages, but also with the inevitable tensions that arise between year round residents and the student
population.
Unique cultural attributes
The heart of Arcata is the Plaza. This area has green lawn, the controversial statue of President McKinley, and it is
surrounded by stores, coffee shops, restaurants, and live music venues. The plaza is a quirky slice of liberal post-modern hippie
America. The plaza is a place where business people, HSU students, hippies, and homeless, tourists, and the lost pilgrims of the
world all mix. Groups playing hacky-sack, a lone guitarist, a bongo drum duet, a juggler, and families having a picnic are all
common sights. The Plaza is also the center of the summer time farmer's market. There is also sidewalk chalk painting, an oyster
festival, Godwit days, the Kinetic Sculpture Race, Christmas open houses, and several other activities throughout the year. One
thing you will not see is smoking since the city has banned it from the Plaza. All in all, it is a colorful and usually friendly
environment. Community members have coined the colloquial term "plazoid" or "spanger" for them because of their concentration in
Arcata's central Plaza and their frequent requests for spare change.
Arcata is a prominent stop along the old West Coast hippie trail connecting Eugene, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz, California. Today's itinerant young
nomads represent a spinoff or mutation of the deadhead
phenomenon associated with the Grateful Dead. This is a relatively homogeneously white
subculture. Arcata is a popular stop, and hosts a higher-than-average share of these young vagrants, perhaps due to Arcata's tolerant culture and easy access to cannabis. Many of these nomads
temporarily reside in illegal crash pads within old redwood
stumps in the Arcata Community Forest.
Arcata also features a large number of original Victorian structures, many of
which have been lovingly restored, and is home to one of the three oldest movies-only theaters in the United States which is
still in operation (the Minor theater of Arcata)[4]. For its size, the city has
many bookstores, coffeehouses, restaurants, galleries and music venues, yet remarkably few
bars.
History
Indigenous cultures
The local tribes refer to themselves as "Indians" and generally prefer that designation in favor of the more politically
correct "Native American" or "Indigenous People" and the popular Canadian designation of "First Nation" is almost never used. As
in most areas with high concentrations of "Indians", problems come along with the advantages of the diverse cultural influences.
Alcohol and drug abuse is rampant and crime of all sorts is much higher than in the population as a whole. The tribes struggle
with high unemployment, high secondary school drop out rates, high teen pregnancy rates, high crime rates, and domestic
violence.
The Wiyot People and Yurok People lived in this area
prior to Russian and European arrival. "Kori" is the name for the Wiyot settlement that existed on the site of what would become
Arcata[2]. The natives of this region are the
farthest-southwest people whose language has Algonquian roots. The traditional
homeland of the Wiyot ranged from the Little River in the north and continues south through Humboldt Bay (including the present cities of Eureka and Arcata) and then south to the lower
Eel River basin. The traditional homeland of the Yurok ranges from Mad River to
beyond the Klamath River in the north. Due to several factors, including the effects of
disease, loss of traditional sources of food, and attempted genocide against the Wiyot people[citation needed], their population was reduced to
less than 5% of pre-European numbers. See the article on the Wiyot people for more on their history in the region. The Yurok
managed slightly better. The native languages of all local tribes have been almost completely lost and the tribes are no longer
truly distinct groups. The Yurok Tribe was granted fishing rights on the lower Klamath river as salmon and steelhead are
traditional food stuffs for them and of great cultural significance. In the years since gaining the rights to one half of the
salmon that spawn in the Klamath River, the fish stocks have plummeted due to the tribe members using mono-filament nets and jet
boats rather than tradition fishing techniques. Today the tribal lands on the north coast are some of the most continuously
polluted areas in the state. Due to the tribes rights to manage wildlife on their lands, the various reservations are also
grossly over hunted and almost devoid of several keystone species. The environmental movement that is strongly rooted in the
surrounding communities has not taken hold with the Indians. California does not have any true sovereign nation Indian
reservations and anyone can own land in the various reservations. Unlike sovereign nations reservations, the state and county
governments maintain jurisdiction over the tribes lands with the exception of civil proceedings and wildlife management.
Generally, the reservations are not popular tourist destinations and are not to be considered among the safer locations for non
tribe members. Today, two tribes operate gaming casinos in the greater Arcata area. The casinos are points of controversy for the
community.
Euro-American arrival
Arcata was originally founded as the town of Union (the permanent name change occurred in 1860). Union was created as a port
and re-provisioning center for the gold mines in the Klamath/Trinity/Salmon mountains to the east. It was slightly closer to the
mines than Eureka, which gave Union an early advantage. What was to become the first
significant town on Humboldt Bay began as Union Company employees laid out
the plaza and first city streets in the Spring of 1850. By later in the 1850's redwood timber replaced the depleted gold fields
as the economic driver for the region, and Eureka became the principal city on the bay, gaining the county seat by the end of the
decade. [3]
Recent history
In August 1989, the voters of Arcata passed the Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Act,
prohibiting activities benefiting nuclear weapons contractors within city jurisdictional limits.
In 2003 the city passed a law making it illegal to voluntarily cooperate with enforcement of the USA PATRIOT Act, making it the first to take such a step. [4]
On January 4, 2006, the Arcata city council adopted the New Year's Resolution, demanding the impeachment or the resignation of
President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard B. Cheney for violations of
Constitutional and International law,
making it the first city to pass such a resolution. This is the second time the City Council has passed a resolution calling for
the impeachment of President Bush.
Arcata is also known for its progressive involvement in environmental politics and environmental activism. As an example, in 1981, Arcata constructed the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. The Arcata Marsh has multiple uses including recreation, wildlife
habitat, education, and wastewater treatment. In 1996 Arcata elected the first-ever Green Party city council majority. This majority was lost two years later, restored in 2004
and lost again in 2006.
Transportation
Roads
U.S. Route 101 extends north and south and bisects the city. The downtown has several
overcrossings, Arcata is considered a fairly walkable community[5]. California State Route 299 connects to U.S. Route 101 at the northern end of Arcata. SR-299
begins at this point and extends easterly towards Weaverville, Redding, Alturas, and Nevada.
The highways connecting Arcata to areas outside Humboldt County contain segments of winding two-lane road traversing remote
mountains and river canyons, portions of which can become restricted or closed for short periods after extensive rain and wind
storms. Arcata, Eureka, Fortuna and the
Redwood Coast region is one of the most remote locations along the continental US west coast.
Transit
Redwood Transit System (RTS) is the major provider of public bus
transportation in Humboldt County with several stops in Arcata. Arcata and
Mad River Transit Service (AMRTS) is the local bus and serves Arcata and a small surrounding area. Dial-A-Ride service is
available from Humboldt Senior Resource Center through an application process.
Transit and longhaul bus services including Amtrak and Greyhound use the Arcata
Transit Center as their central interchange point for Arcata.
Bicycling
Arcata is the home of the Arcata Bike Library[5] Program, a non-profit lending library for refurbished bicycles. Limited bicycle
lanes affect safety of the many students and others who utilize them as primary and secondary transportation.
Hitch-hiking
The transient population and some students frequently hitch hike in and out of the area.
Air
The closest airport is the Arcata-Eureka Airport and is located in
McKinleyville. This airport was built by the Army Air Corps in World War II in
a particularly foggy location, as a site to test fog dispersal techniques. No successful dispersal method appears to have been
found, and after demobilization the airfield was given to the County of Humboldt as a civilian airport. This airport is one of
the foggiest in the world, which can affect flights. Some flights are canceled or diverted to Redding, a three hour drive to the
east.
Water
There is a deep water port in nearby Eureka. In 1854, the Union Wharf and Plank Walk Company built redwood plank and rails 2.7
miles out into the deeper water of Arcata Bay, providing Arcata with a deep-water seaport. This was initially a horse-drawn
railroad, though it was later converted to steam. This eventually became the Arcata and Mad River Railroad (now defunct). Arcata's wharf is long gone, and only a few
piers can be seen at low tide. Some very small recreational boats can be launched from the foot of I street at the Arcata Marsh
at high tide. However, at low tide Arcata Bay becomes a vast mud flat and a challenge to boaters.
Media
The newspaper with the largest circulation produced in the city is the regional weekly publication known as the
North Coast Journal. The paper is free and circulates 21,000 [6] papers a week throughout the northcoast
region. The Arcata Eye, with a circulation of around 5,000, is the only paper that
covers Arcata solely and extensively. HSU also has a weekly student-run paper called The Lumberjack. Regional publications covering Arcata include the two main rival dailies --
Times-Standard and The Eureka Reporter. Arcata also has a number of small
'zines and blogs that cover a variety of issues important to
Arcatans, such as youth culture and homelessness.
The Northcoast Environmental Center, located in Arcata, publishes the Econews, a monthly
journal dedicated to "educate, activate, and when necessary litigate on behalf of the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion." [citation needed]
Arcata Community Access Channel served the area for many years.
Environmentalism
The city is known worldwide in the scientific community for its revolutionary marsh-based wastewater treatment system, the
Arcata Marsh, started in 1979 as a natural way of processing the city's wastewater. The
marsh was built on a retired municipal solid waste dump and has received many awards, including the Innovations in Government award from the Ford
Foundation/Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. Despite being effectively a
series of open air sewage lagoons, passer's by would not notice unless told as there is only minimal stench. The marsh is a
popular destination for cyclists, bird watchers, transients, and joggers. Arcata has an innovative waste water treatment facility
that uses nature to clean the water. The process replaces smelly and unsightly plants of municipalities with a series of
controlled mashes that separate heavy metals and use bacteria and algae to clean the water. This facility is just south of town
and is surrounded by walking trails and birding stations.
Arcata is also one of the several North Coast "nuclear free" zones. The area is rich with rugged coastlines, sandy beaches, and
redwood forests. The community is very environmentally minded and has been active in saving the Headwaters Forest from
logging.
Sports
Arcata is home to the Humboldt Crabs, the nation's longest continuously operated semi-pro baseball team,[6] who frequently play for sold-out crowds (of c. 1500) each summer.
Notable people
Sister city
Tourism
Organizations
See also
References
- ^ Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Arcata, California, United States of America (English). Retrieved on May 1, 2007.
- ^ Gudde, Erwin (August 1998).
California Place Names: The
Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. University of California Press, 13. ISBN
978-0-520-21316-6.
- ^ Van Kirk, Susan. (1986).The Plaza. White City Publishing. Arcata,
CA.
- ^ Stuart, Catriona. "Freedom First: Arcata, CA Rejects USA Patriot Act", The Indypendant, July 4, 2003. Retrieved
on September 12, 2007.
- ^ Arcata Bike Library. Retrieved on September 12, 2007.
- ^ Humboldt Crabs. Retrieved November 23, 2006 from http://www.humboldtcrabs.com/
- The Plaza, by Susan Van Kirk, 1986. White City Publishing. Arcata, CA.
External links
Coordinates:
40.8728° N 124.0828°
W
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