Ukiah, California

City of Ukiah, California
City
Location of Ukiah, California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Mendocino
Area
• Total	4.7 sq mi (12.3 km2)
• Land	4.7 sq mi (12.3 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	633 ft (193 m)
Population  (2000)
• Total	15,497
• Density	3,276/sq mi (1,265.0/km2)
Time zone	UTC-8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-7 (PDT)
ZIP codes	95418, 95482
Area code	707
FIPS code	06-81134
GNIS feature ID	0277623
Website	http://www.co.mendocino.ca.us/

Ukiah (pronounced You-kai-ah) is the county seat and largest city of Mendocino County, California. With its accessible location in the Ukiah Valley along the Highway 101 corridor and just several miles south of the junction with Highway 20, Ukiah serves as the city center for Mendocino County and much of neighboring Lake County. In 1996, Ukiah was ranked the #1 best small town to live within California and the sixth best place to live in the United States according to The 100 Best Small Towns in America, by Norman Crampton.

Geography

Ukiah is located at 39°8′56″N 123°12′31″W (39.148761, -123.208612)Template:GR, with an average elevation of 610 feet above sea level.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 12.3 km² (4.7 mi²), all land.

Climate

Ukiah has a temperate Mediterranean climate. Average rainfall for the area is 36.96 inches per year. The average high temperature is 73.5 °F (23.06 °C) with several weeks in the summer at over 100 °F (37.78 °C). Average low temperature is 46.1 °F (7.83 °C) with some freezing temperatures with a snowfall about every other year.

History

Ukiah was founded in 1856. By an act of the State Legislature, Mendocino County was originally under the jurisdiction of the Sonoma County government. With the establishment of a separate county government in 1859, Ukiah was chosen as the county seat.

Ukiah sits in an area known as the Yokayo Rancho, one of several Spanish land grants in Alta California. The Yokayo grant that makes up the majority of the Ukiah valley takes its name from the Pomo word meaning "deep valley" and lends it to the name of the city itself, Ukiah being an anglicized form of Yokayo.

Hops were once a predominant crop grown around Ukiah and, indeed, a refurbished hop kiln can be seen at the north end of Ukiah east of Highway 101 where many of the old fields were. Much of Ukiah's early population was supported by the lumber boom of the late 1940s, with the logging of redwood being a major industry.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, inside the city limits, there were 15,497 people in the city limits, 5,985 households, and 3,656 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,265.0/km² (3,274.9/mi²). There were 6,137 housing units at an average density of 501.0/km² (1,296.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 79.53% White, 0.96% African American, 3.79% Native American, 1.68% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 9.67% from other races, and 4.27% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 19.31% of the population.

There were 5,985 households out of which 33.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.2% were married couples living together, 15.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.12.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.5% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 28.1% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 91.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $32,707, and the median income for a family was $39,524. Males had a median income of $31,608 versus $24,673 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,601. About 13.2% of families and 18.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.4% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.

As a community, Ukiah has roughly twice the number of people (including Redwood Valley, Potter Valley, Calpella, and Talmage) than the census reports. During the business day an average of 40,000 people work inside the city limits, or in the business and residential neighborhoods to the north and south.

Exports

Ukiah is known for wine production and the Ukiah vicinity is now home to some of the most prestigious wine labels in the nation, including Fetzer, Parducci, Frey, and Bonterra. Ukiah vintners are known for innovating with organic and sustainable practices.

Ukiah is also a major producer of pears. The Alex R. Thomas Company owns hundreds of acres of Bartlett pear orchards on the east side of the Ukiah Valley. Many local residents and migrant workers are employed packing the pears for export around the United States and the world. Other, smaller orchards are owned by other local families.

The Ukiah Valley is home to two breweries, the Mendocino Brewing Company and the Ukiah Brewing Company. The Ukiah Brewing Company is America's first certified organic brewpub, and the nation's second organic restaurant. The Mendocino Brewing Company is internationally renowned as a brewer of traditional ales. Established in 1983 as the first California Brewpub in Hopland, they have now relocated to Ukiah with a state-of-the-art brewery.

Other important Ukiah products include grapes (wine and non-wine use) and lumber. The Ukiah area is at the headwaters of the Russian River (California) and its rich bottomland supports many small and mostly organic farms that grow fruits and vegetables and supports sheep and cattle.

Arts and Culture

• Home to the Ukiah Players Theatre
• Home to The Mendocino Ballet
• Home to Ukiah Civic Light Opera
• Home to the Grace Hudson Museum
• Home to the Ukiah Symphony Orchestra
• Home to the School of Performing Arts and Cultural Education (SPACE)

Government

• Mayor- Mari Rodin
• Councilmembers
  • Doug Crane
  • Phil Baldwin
  • John McCowen
  • Benji Thomas
• City Manager- Candace Horsley
• City Treasurer- Allen Carter
• City Clerk- Gail Petersen

Schools

Ukiah Unified School District

• Ukiah High School
• Calpella Elementary School
• Eagle Peak Middle School
• Nokomis Elementary School
• Oak Manor Elementary School
• Pomolita Middle School
• South Valley High
• Yokayo Elementary School
• Frank Zeek Elementary School
• Tree of Life Charter School
• Redwood Academy of Ukiah
• Accelerated Achievement Academy
• Grace Hudson Elementary School

Higher Education

• Mendocino College

Trivia and Facts

• Ukiah is home to the world-famous Vichy Springs, known for their champagne baths. They claim to have the only naturally-carbonated hot springs in North America. Visited by several notable figures of the 19th century, it is advertised as Jack London's 'favorite hot spot'.

• "Ukiah" is the name and subject of a song on the 1973 Doobie Brothers album "The Captain and Me".

• Ukiah is featured prominently in C.D. Payne's novel "Youth in Revolt."

• One of the 6 original locations of an International Latitude Observatory.

• Hometown of Miss Teenage California 2003 & Miss California 2007, Melissa Chaty

• The Ukiah area suffers from naturally-occurring asbestos (NOA) in the soil, as do many parts of California. For more information, see the Air Quality District's page on NOA.

• Just east of Ukiah is the 488-acre City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, one of the largest Mahayana Buddhist communities in the Western Hemisphere. North of town is Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery, a community in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism.

• The alternative-rock band AFI was formed in Ukiah. Lead vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Jade Puget, and drummer Adam Carson were all raised there.

• Nick 13, the lead singer of the band Tiger Army was raised in Ukiah.

• Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Church and The Purpose Driven Life attended Ukiah High School. He serves as senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County.

• The People's Temple took hold in nearby Redwood Valley before moving to San Francisco, later to Jonestown, Guyana, located in South America, where the cult committed the largest mass suicide-murder in recordable history.

• Ukiah is Haiku spelled backwards, and the city has held a "ukiaHaiku" festival annually since 2000.

• Ukiah is the hometown of American singer/songwriter Holly Near

• Ukiah's newspaper is called the Ukiah Daily Journal.

• Home to the improv/sketch groups "Hooligans", "Broken Window Productions", and "Conundrums"

• Serial killer Leonard Lake lived near Ukiah in the early 80s and frequented the town.

• Grammy award nominated guitarist, Alex De Grassi lives in nearby Redwood Valley.

• In July 19 1984, 12 members the white nationalist revolutionary group "The Order" Lead by David Lane robbed a Brink's truck for $3.6 Million in Ukiah.

External links

• City of Ukiah official website
• Ukiah Chamber of Commerce
• KMEC Independent Low Power Radio
• Ukiah Daily Journal
• KZYX & Z Mendocino County Public Broadcasting
• Greater Ukiah Localization Project
• Ukiah, CA Travel Information
• City-Town Info