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Carmel-by-the-Sea, usually called
simply Carmel, is a small town endowed with a rich artistic
history situated on the Monterey Peninsula in Monterey
County, California. In 1906, the San Francisco Call devoted
a full page to the "artists, poets and writers of Carmel-by-the-Sea" and
in 1910 it reported that 60 percent of Carmel's houses
were built by citizens who were "devoting their lives
to work connected to the aesthetic arts." Early City
Councils were dominated by artists and the town has had
several mayors who were poets or actors including Herbert
Heron, founder of the Forest Theater, and actor-director
Clint Eastwood, who was mayor for one term, from 1986 to
1988. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population
of 4,081. When referring to this city or its attributes,
the name Carmel is pronounced "car-MEL".
Geography
Carmel-by-the-Sea is located at 36°33'16" North,
121°55'16" West (36.554552, _121.921174)[1], on
the Pacific coast about 330 miles north of Los Angeles
and 120 miles south of San Francisco. According to the
United States Census Bureau, the town has a total land
area of 1.1 square miles (2.8 km²), none of which
is covered by water.
The Mission at Carmel, circa 1910.Carmel-by-the-Sea is
permeated by Native American, early Spanish and American
history . Most scholars believe that the
Esselen-speaking people were the first Native Americans
to inhabit the area of Carmel, but the Ohlone people
pushed them south into the mountains of Big Sur around
the 6th century. The first Europeans to see this land
were Spanish mariners led by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo
in 1542, who sailed up the California coast without landing.
Another sixty years passed before another Spanish explorer
and Carmelite Friar Sebastian Vizcaino "discovered" what
is now known as Carmel Valley in 1602, which he named
for his patron saint, Our Lady of Mount Carmel. The Spanish
did not attempt to colonize the area until 1769, when
Gaspar de Portola and Franciscan Father Juan Crespi visited
the area in search of a mission site. They returned one
year later in 1770 to found the Mission San Carlos Borromeo
de Carmelo at the southeastern edge of Carmel. The nearby
colony of Monterey, established at the same time, soon
became the capital of California until 1849. From the
late 18th through the early 19th century, most of the
Ohlone population died out from European diseases against
which they had no immunity, and overwork and malnutrition
at the missions where the Spanish forced them to live.
In 1821, Carmel became Mexican territory when Mexico
gained independence from Spain. A Scottish immigrant,
John Martin, acquired lands surrounding the Carmel mission
in 1833, which he named Mission Ranch. Carmel then became
part of the United States in 1848, when Mexico ceded
California as a result of the Mexican-American War.
In 1902 Frank Devendorf and Frank Powers, on behalf of
the Carmel Development Company, filed the first subdivision
map of the core village that became Carmel; that first
village actually developed in 1904 and was incorporated
in 1916. In 1910, the Carnegie Institution established
the Coastal Laboratory, and a number of scientists moved
to the area.
Demographics
Typical fairytale cottage-style Carmel architectureAs
of the census of 2000, there are 4,081 people, 2,285
households, and 1,108 families residing in the city.
The population density is 3,753.3 people per square mile
(1,445.6/km²).
There are 3,334 housing units at an average density of
3,066.3/sq mi (1,181.0/km²). The racial makeup of
the city is 94.58% White, 0.44% Black or African American,
0.32% Native American, 2.25% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander,
0.91% from other races, and 1.35% from two or more races.
2.94% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 2,285 households out of which 11.6% have children
under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% are married
couples living together, 5.8% have a female householder
with no husband present, and 51.5% are non-families. 44.1%
of households are made up of individuals and 20.1% a single
person who is 65 years of age or older. Average household
size is 1.79 and the average family size is 2.39.
The age distribution is as follows: 9.9% under the age
of 18, 2.9% from 18 to 24, 18.3% from 25 to 44, 38.1% from
45 to 64, and 30.8% who are 65 years of age or older, with
a median age of 54 years. For every 100 females there are
77.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 75.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $58,163,
and the median income for a family is $81,259. Males have
a median income of $52,344 versus $41,150 for females.
The per capita income for the city is $48,739. 6.6% of
the population and 3.6% of families are below the poverty
line. Of the total population, 5.6% of those under age
of 18 and 4.5% of those 65 and older are living below the
poverty line
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