Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass
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The Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass is a section of California that includes Frazier Park, Lebec, Lake of the Woods, Cuddy Valley, Pinon Pines, and Pine Mountain (all in Kern County), Gorman and Neenach (in Los Angeles County), and Lockwood Valley (in Ventura County), [1] all within or near the Tejon Pass, which links Southern with Central California.
To these may be added the communities of Wheeler Ridge and Los Padres Estates (Kern County) and a large undeveloped territory owned and marked for development by the Tejon Ranch. [2]
Although the Mountain Communities are divided by governmental jurisdiction, they are tied together by the local weekly newspaper, the Mountain Enterprise; the Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, and the Ridge Route Communities Museum and Historical Society. There is a local telephone directory, Mountain Communities Connection. The Mountain Communities Town Council is a liaison with government agencies.
Grapevine is within the claimed coverage area of the local newspaper, and the telephone directory includes the community of Mettler (both in Kern County), but the two are actually in the Central California basin north of the Mountain Communities foothills. [1] and [2].
All the communities are unincorporated areas, and all are served by their respective county agencies, such as sheriff's departments and county fire departments.
The 2000 census
The source for this section is the U.S. Census Bureau, American FactFinder.
Population
A total of 6,066 people lived within the four areas of the Mountain Communities that were counted in the March 2000 U.S. census — 2,348 in Frazier Park, 1,600 in Pine Mountain Club, 1,285 in Lebec, and 833 in Lake of the Woods. There were 3,931 housing units — houses, apartments, trailers, etc. — of which only 2,392 were occupied.
Pine Mountain Club was the “oldest” community — the median age being 45 and 15 percent of the residents being older than 65. Lake of the Woods’s median age was 39, with 14 percent of its population over 65, Frazier Park’s median age was 38, with 10 percent of its residents over 65, and Lebec had a median age of 36, with 13 percent over 65.
By another measurement, Lebec was the “youngest" town. Eight percent of its residents were under age 5, compared to six percent in Frazier Park and five percent in Pine Mountain Club and Lake of the Woods.
The Mountain Communities were overwhelmingly white — 91 percent in Pine Mountain Club, 87 percent in both Frazier Park and Lake of the Woods, and 79 percent in Lebec. Latinos or Hispanics of any race amounted to 20 percent in Lebec, 12 percent in Frazier Park, 11 percent in Lake of the Woods, and nine percent in Pine Mountain Club.
Reported yearly incomes for each person in the labor force were $25,465 (in 1999 dollars) in Pine Mountain Club, $19,302 in Frazier Park, $17,983 in Lake of the Woods, and $14,895 in Lebec.
Pine Mountain Club also had the highest household and family incomes (at a median of $45,250 and $62,750, respectively), Frazier Park was next with $40,721 and $46,857, Lake of the Woods showed $42,742 and $43,468, and Lebec trailed with $39,063 and $40,972. To measure the income of a household, the pre-tax money receipts of all residents over the age of 15 over a single year were combined. Family income measured households with two or more people related through blood, marriage, or adoption.
Educational levels correlated to a large degree with income: Thirty-one percent of Pine Mountain Club residents had bachelor’s degrees or higher, compared to 22 percent in Lake of the Woods, 15 percent in Frazier Park and 12 percent in Lebec.
But Pine Mountain Club had the highest percentage of people whose incomes were below the poverty level — 17 percent (193 people), with Lake of the Woods following at 14 percent (119 people), Frazier Park at 12 percent (291 people) and Lebec last at eight percent (100 people). (Go to this Wikipedia article for a discussion on problems with the official measurements of poverty in the United States.)
Housing
The utilization by Mountain Community property owners of residences as second homes, vacation homes or seasonal rental properties can be shown by the fact that 61 percent of the 1,737 Pine Mountain Club houses (1,069) were vacant in March 2000 when the census was taken. In Lake of the Woods, the vacancies were 27 percent (or 129 of 475 housing units); Frazier Park, with 23 percent (or 281 of 1,203 units) and in Lebec, there were only 60 vacancies of 516 units, or 12 percent.
The vacancies correlated with the elevation of the communities — 5,554 feet for Pine Mountain Club, 5,121 feet for Lake of the Woods, 4,767 feet for Frazier Park, and 3,481 feet for Lebec. Elevation generally corresponds to snow levels in the winter.
Lebec had the highest valuation of single-family owner-occupied homes. The median, as identified by the census respondents, was $163,600 for 104 houses in Lebec, $144,500 for 453 houses in Pine Mountain Club, $96,800 for 636 such houses in Frazier Park, and $89,700 for 187 in Lake of the Woods. The median is the point at which half the homes were valued for more and half for less. These figures are not the same as actual real-estate sales. Neither do they reflect the value of second or vacation homes, or houses rented out.
Of the occupied residences, Pine Mountain Club, which is a private community, had the highest ratio of owner-occupied units — 84 percent, followed by Frazier Park and Lebec, each with 70 percent, and Lake of the Woods, 69 percent. The rest were occupied by renters.
Picture gallery of the Mountain Communities
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Frazier Park roadside sign welcomes visitors. -
Gorman wildflowers attract spring tourists. -
Lake of the Woods is in the Los Padres National Forest. -
One of the distinctive houses in Lebec.
Click the images to see larger versions of the photos. Click the captions to go to articles about the individual communities.
Notes and references
- ^ These are the communities listed in the masthead of the Mountain Enterprise, along with Grapevine.
- ^ These locations are listed on a "Map of the Ridge Route Communities" posted here by the Ridge Route Communities Historical Society.
See also
- The San Joaquin Valley adjoins the Mountain Communities on the north
- Interstate 5 in California is the major north-south highway
- The communities are within the California Floristic Province
- The area is within the Tehachapi Mountains
- The Transverse Ranges (or more accurately, the Los Angeles Ranges) mark the communities
- The San Emigdio Mountains are part of the Transverse Ranges
- The San Andreas Fault is an earthquake fault that runs in the Mountain Communities
- Mount Pinos is the dominant feature west of Interstate 5
- Los Padres National Forest surrounds or abuts the area
- The California Poppy graces the hillsides in the spring
- The California Condor is an endangered species sometimes seen over the communities
- Much of it the Mountain Communities are within the El Tejon Unified School District
- Frazier Mountain High School serves the area
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