Bolinas

History

Prior to the European colonization of California, the Coast Miwok lived in the area, possibly calling the area "Bali-N". Bolinas and present-day Stinson Beach were once encompassed by Rancho Las Baulines, a Mexican land grant given by Governor Pío Pico to Gregorio Briones in 1846. The first post office in the town of Bolinas opened in 1863. In 1927, a former dairy farm on the Big Mesa was subdivided into a grid of streets and 5,336 lots measuring . Many of these lots were sold for $69.50 by the San Francisco Bulletin as a subscription promotion. Portions of the mesa, including sections of Ocean Parkway, have since eroded into the sea. A few streets on the mesa are paved and maintained by the county, but many are unpaved, and either maintained by adjoining property owners or completely unmaintained. The Big Mesa doesn't have sewer system, and houses on the mesa have individual septic systems. The Bolinas beaches were hit hard by the 1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill, with the community coming together to clean the beach of crude oil. The Bolinas Museum was founded in 1983. It contains five galleries featuring contemporary art, historical information, and works from local artists.

Geography

Bolinas sits at an elevation of above sea level. to the point where county officials offered a ballot measure to which the voters responded by stating a preference for no more signs. Bolinas lies west of the San Andreas Fault, which runs the length of Bolinas Lagoon and continues northward through Olema Valley and Tomales Bay. Bolinas and the Point Reyes peninsula are on the Pacific Plate, moving north relative to Stinson Beach and the North American Plate at an average rate of approxiamtely per year. Point Reyes National Seashore borders Bolinas to the northwest. Duxbury Reef State Marine Conservation Area encompasses Bolinas' western shoreline. Bolinas experiences warm (occasionally hot) and dry summers, with some average monthly days in summer months above . According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Bolinas has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. Like much of the California coast, summer afternoons are often cool and windy (and sometimes foggy) as winds blow in off the ocean. It receives more rain than other coast cities in the San Francisco Bay Area in this latitude with of rain.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Tamalpais High
  High · Mill Valley · 1,540 students · 20.3:1 ratio
• Archie Williams High
  High · San Anselmo · 1,224 students · 19.4:1 ratio
• Mill Valley Middle
  Middle · Mill Valley · 797 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• White Hill Middle
  Middle · Fairfax · 615 students · 17.6:1 ratio
• Anthony G. Bacich Elementary
  Elementary · Kentfield · 541 students · 19.3:1 ratio
• Adaline E. Kent Middle
  Middle · Kentfield · 513 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Sun Valley Elementary
  Elementary · San Rafael · 473 students · 22.5:1 ratio
• Hall Middle
  Middle · Larkspur · 469 students · 18:1 ratio