Big Sur Village, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Big Sur Village | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Big Sur Lodge | |
  Big Sur Village Location in California | |
| Coordinates: 36°16′13″N 121°48′27″W / 36.27028°N 121.80750°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Monterey County |
| Founded | 1889 (establishment of post office) |
| Elevation | 135 ft (41 m) |
| ZIP code | 93920[2] |
| FIPS code | 06-44427 |
| GNIS feature ID | 269849 |
Big Sur Village is an unincorporated community in the Big Sur region, in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located along a 1-mile-long (1.6 km) stretch of Big Sur Coast Highway in the Big Sur Valley 24 miles (39 km) south of Carmel, California.[1] The village contains the largest collection of shops and visitor services along the entire 71-mile (114 km) segment of California State Route 1 between Malpaso Creek near Carmel Highlands[3] in the north and San Carpóforo Creek near San Simeon in the south.[4] The population of the entire coastal region is about 1,463.[5] The collection of small roadside businesses and homes is often confused with the larger region, also known as Big Sur.[6]: 2 On March 6, 1915, United States Post Office granted the English-speaking residents' request to change the name of their post office from Arbolado to Big Sur.[7]: 8 [8]: 7 [9] Caltrans also refers to the village as Big Sur.[10][11]
Services along about 1 mile (1.6 km) of the highway include a post office, the Big Sur Bakery, the Big Sur Lodge with 62 rooms, cafe, a bar and grill, a gallery, a pub and restaurant, yoga studio, artists studios, the Big Sur Grange Hall, a few apartments, one of three gas stations along the coast, and a visitor center with tourist information at Big Sur Station, the western terminus of the Pine Ridge Trail.[12]
Transportation
Until about 1924, a rough dirt road that was often impassible in winter connected residents with Carmel and Monterey to the north. The road extended south 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to Posts and Castro Canyon, ending near the present-day location of Deetjen's Big Sur Inn.[13] The 30-mile (48 km) trip from Carmel could take three days by wagon or stagecoach.[14]: 24 The state began constructing a paved two-lane road in 1924. When completed on June 17, 1937, it was initially named the Roosevelt Highway.[15]
Public transportation is available to and from Monterey on Monterey–Salinas Transit. The summer schedule operates from Memorial Day to Labor Day three times a day, while the winter schedule only offers bus service on weekends. Service can be interrupted by high winds and severe weather.[16] There is a single shuttle van that operates during the summer on Thursday through Sunday from the Big Sur Station to Pfeiffer Beach.[17]
Etymology
The name "Big Sur" has its origins in the area's early Spanish history. While the Portolá expedition was exploring Alta California, they arrived at San Carpóforo Canyon near present-day San Simeon on September 13, 1769. Unable to penetrate the difficult terrain along the coast, they detoured inland through the San Antonio and Salinas Valleys before arriving at Monterey Bay, where they founded Monterey and named it the provincial capital.[18]
The Spanish referred to the vast and relatively unexplored coastal region to the south of Monterey as el país grande del sur, meaning "the big country of the south". This was often shortened to el sur grande (the big south).[19][20] The two major rivers draining this portion of the coast were named El Rio Grande del Sur and El Rio Chiquito del Sur.[8]: 7
The first recorded use of the name "el Sud" (meaning "the South") was on a map of the Rancho El Sur land grant given by Governor José Figueroa to Juan Bautista Alvarado on July 30, 1834.[21]
Post office
Big Sur's first post office, named "Posts", was in the home of W.B. Post.[22]
The homesteaders changed the name of their post office to Arbolado (Spanish for woodland) but that was confused by the post office for Alvarado, a street in Monterey. The post office operated at Posts from 1889 to 1910. The residents then petitioned the United States Post Office in Washington, D.C., to change the post office name to Big Sur, and the rubber stamp using that name was returned on March 6, 1915, cementing the name in place.[7][23]: 8 [8]: 7 [9] The ZIP Code is 93920.[2] The community is inside area code 831.[8]
