1. History
    Disasters  Floods  Santa Clara Waste Water plant industrial disaster  Wild Fire 

2. Geography

3. Demographics
    2010  2000 

4. Economy
    Tourism 

5. Infrastructure
    Fire department  Law enforcement 

6. Notable people

7. Education

8. Popular media

9. See also

10. Notes

11. References

12. Further reading

13. External links

Santa Paula is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amidst the orchards of the fertile Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World".^[11] Santa Paula was one of the early centers of California's petroleum industry. The Union Oil Company Building, the founding headquarters of the Union Oil Company of California in 1890, now houses the California Oil Museum.^[11] The population was 29,321 at the 2010 census, up from 28,598 at the 2000 census.

History

The area of what today is Santa Paula was originally inhabited by the Chumash, a Native American people. In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, came down the Santa Clara River Valley from the previous night's encampment near Fillmore and camped in the vicinity of Santa Paula on August 12, near one of the creeks coming into the valley from the north (probably Santa Paula Creek). Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, had previously named the valley Cañada de Santa Clara. He noted that the party traveled about {{convert|9|to|10|mi|km|0}} that day and camped near a large native village, which he named San Pedro Amoliano.^[12] The site of the expedition's arrival has been designated California Historical Landmark No. 727.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Franciscan missionaries, led by Father Junipero Serra, became active in the area after the founding of the San Buenaventura Mission and established an Asistencia; the town takes its name from the Catholic Saint Paula. Santa Paula is located on the 1843 Rancho Santa Paula y Saticoy Mexican land grant.

In 1872 Nathan Weston Blanchard purchased {{convert|2700|acre|km2|1}} and laid out the townsite. Considered the founder of the community, he planted seedling orange trees in 1874.^[17] Several small oil companies owned by Wallace Hardison, Lyman Stewart and Thomas R. Bard were combined and became the Union Oil Company in 1890.^[18][19]

In April 1911, Gaston Méliès moved his Star Film Company from San Antonio, Texas to a site just north of Santa Paula.^[20]

The large South Mountain Oil Field southeast of town, just across the Santa Clara River, was discovered by the Oak Ridge Oil Company in 1916, and developed methodically through the 1920s, bringing further economic diversification and growth to the area. While the field peaked in production in the 1950s, Occidental Petroleum continues to extract oil through its Vintage Production subsidiary and remains a significant local employer.

A major expansion began in 2016 when construction started on a {{convert|500|acre|ha|adj=mid}} master-planned community of 1,500 homes.^[21]

Disasters

The town has been devastated twice by floods and was affected by a nearby truck explosion that resulted in an industrial disaster. Most notable, the town faced an out of control wildfire that took well over a month to completely put out.

Floods

The Great Flood of 1862 began on December 24, 1861 when it rained for almost four weeks, reaching a total of {{convert|35 |inch}} at Los Angeles. The failure and near complete collapse of the St. Francis Dam took place in the middle of the night on March 12, 1928. The dam was holding a full reservoir of 12.4 billion gallons (47 billion liters) of water that surged down San Francisquito Canyon and emptied into the Santa Clara River. The town was first hit by the waters at approximately 3:00 a.m. Though hundreds of homes and structures were destroyed, the loss of life would have been greater if it were not for two motorcycle police officers that noisily warned as many people as possible. A sculpture called "The Watchers" in downtown Santa Paula depicts this act of heroism.^[22]

Santa Clara Waste Water plant industrial disaster

A vacuum truck exploded at the Santa Clara Waste Water plant in the early morning hours of November 18, 2014. Two workers were injured in the initial explosion, three responding fire-fighters were injured by the fumes from the spill of a highly volatile chemical mixture, and 50 others were exposed to fumes and required treatment at local hospitals.^[23][24] The driver was transporting waste from a temporary storage drum to a processing center when he stopped to take a meal break.^[25] The rear of the truck exploded, spreading a white liquid over a {{convert|300|by|400|ft|m|adj=mid|area}} that spontaneously combusted as it dried and was sensitive to shock, pressure and the application of water or oxygen. The tires of the first fire truck on the scene and the boots of three firefighters sparked small explosions when they drove and walked over the substance as they went to help the injured workers.^[26][27] The incident evolved into a disaster when later in the morning additional materials began to burn and explode, which resulted in a {{convert|3|mi|km|spell=in|adj=mid|-long plume of toxic smoke}} and the closing of Highway 126.^[28] Chemical smoke drifted over the area and nearby residents and businesses were required to evacuate.^[29]

;Cause

What was initially reported as sewage was found to be about {{convert|1000|USgal|l impgal|}} of a chemical mixture consisting of some sort of organic peroxide.^[30] In the first days of the investigation, officials speculated that two inert chemicals accidentally mixed in the truck and created an organic peroxide substance with sulfuric acid appearing to be part of the mix.^[31] Organic peroxide combines unstably bound oxygen together with hydrogen and carbon in the same molecule and ignites easily and then burns rapidly and intensely. While field testing was performed on the reactive material for initial identification, the county hazardous materials manager found that laboratories would not test the chemicals over concerns that lab personnel could be injured or their equipment damaged. Three weeks after the incident, the substance was still highly susceptible to friction and seemed to react to something as slight as wind.^[32] Sodium chlorite was identified in an internal investigation by the firm in the months following the disaster. They claimed that the chemical was being using as a water treatment agent for the first time and was stored in the same type of storage container as wastewater.^[36]{{dead link|date=May 2017}} The worker combined the chemical with wastewater in the vacuum truck where the chemical interacting with organic material caused an explosion that blew off the back of the truck. A former county district attorney, retained by a company attorney, issued a report in March 2015 that provided an explanation of events indicating that the worker may have accidentally combined the chemicals.^[33][34] Later, investigators found that an inspection by a Defense Logistics Agency contractor was scheduled for that morning and officials of the firm had directed the transfer of these hazardous materials to another location.^[35]

;Aftermath

Although the explosion and resulting fumes caused injuries including the lungs of three fire-fighters who remained off-duty indefinitely, the material scattered around the site was found to be non-hazardous for clean-up purposes.^[36] The two fire engines that arrived first remained out of service for months and may ultimately have to be scrapped. The Ventura County Sheriff declared a local emergency so the Ventura County Board of Supervisors could ratify the action and allow the county to seek reimbursement for its costs from state disaster relief funds.^[34]{{dead link|date=May 2017}}^[37][38] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency oversaw the decontamination of the site. The material was neutralized and solidified on site.^[36] Tons of material were eventually taken to the Chiquita Canyon Landfill in nearby Castaic. Almost three months later on February 10, 2015, the County Supervisors ended the emergency declaration.^[39] With the permit to operate suspended, the firm needed to finish removing the waste materials and provide a plan that would show how another such incident would be prevented before being allowed to start accepting liquid waste again. County regulators and county supervisors also wanted the city of Oxnard to agree to accept the waste water again after an analysis of the safety of the pipeline.^[40]

On August 7, 2015, a Ventura County grand jury indicted the Santa Clara Waste Water Co. and 10 other defendants. Following the indictment, the district attorney had the 10 defendants arrested on suspicion of several felonies and misdemeanors, including filing a false or forged instrument, dissuading a witness from reporting a crime, known failure to warn of serious concealed danger, withholding information regarding a substantial danger to public safety, conspiracy to commit a crime, causing impairment of an employee’s body, and disposal of hazardous waste.^[41]

;Site

The facility at 815 Mission Rock Road, Santa Paula, provided service to over 30,000 waste generators. At the time, it had received and processed over {{convert|2000000000|USgal|l|}} since it opened in 1959.^[48] The company says they treat about 100 different streams of waste.^[32] The owner of facility said that they never had a major problem such as this since the plant only takes non-hazardous waste.^[42] The capacity of the facility was increased to handle up to {{convert|100|USgal|l impgal|adj=mid|-per-minute}} or {{convert|140000|USgal|L|adj=mid|-per-day}} by 2014.^[43] The facility provides an environmentally safe and legal means of treating, disposing and recycling of contaminated but non-hazardous waste as an alternative to dumping untreated wastes into municipal sewer systems or into the environment. The plant uses centrifuges, electrocoagulation, carbon and micron filtration, ozone injection, dissolved air flotation, and chemical treatments. Treated waste water is sent through a pipeline to the Oxnard municipal treatment plant.

A consortium of six major oil companies (Chevron, Exxon, Mobil, Shell, Texaco and Unocal) established Santa Clara Waste Water to service their internal disposal needs. Eventually the site became a full-service disposal facility for most non-hazardous wastewater and was renamed Southern California Waste Water.^[40][44] The site is located in a {{convert|91|acres|ha|adj=mid| industrial area}} that is surrounded by agriculture and located about {{convert|2|mi|km|adj=mid| southwest}} of the Santa Paula city limits. Green Compass that operates the facility also operates a Class II injection well in Kern County that is tailored toward oilfield production and completion fluids. The only other commercial facility for disposal of oil field waste in the county, operated by Anterra Corp. in Oxnard, temporarily expanded operations after the incident.^[45]

Wild Fire

In early December 2017, a wildfire began south of the Thomas Aquinas College which it was later named after. The fire quickly spread due to the high Santa Ana winds that evening, and destroyed many residential homes that night and well into the morning. The fire was described by officials as fast-moving, and urged locals to take precautions in case an order of evacuation was issued throughout the night. Many left town on their own account, only to return to see their homes gone. The fire later spread to three other Ventura County towns as well as Santa Barbara County. It was finally confirmed to be fully contained on January 12, 2018, and a reported 281,893 acres (440 sq mi; 114,078 ha) had burned within that time. One firefighter and one civilian were the only fatalities directly caused by the fire. The cost of the fire rose to be an estimated $297 million.

Geography

The city of Santa Paula, according to the United States Census Bureau, has a total area of {{convert|4.7|sqmi|km2}}, {{convert|4.6|sqmi|km2}} of it land and {{convert|0.1|sqmi|km2}} of it (2.41%) water. Santa Paula is located in the Santa Clara River Valley on the north bank of the Santa Clara River and is surrounded by fruit orchards. The downtown area is centered around Main Street, which is home to the oldest homes in the city. Homes are often bungalows, cottages, Victorian-style houses and craftsman homes.^[46]

Demographics

2010

The 2010 United States Census^[49] reported that Santa Paula had a population of 29,321. The population density was 6,230.3 people per square mile (2,405.5/km²). The racial makeup of Santa Paula was 18,458 (63.0%) White, 152 (0.5%) African American, 460 (1.6%) Native American, 216 (0.7%) Asian, 24 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 8,924 (30.4%) from other races, and 1,087 (3.7%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23,299 persons (79.5%).

The Census reported that 29,188 people (99.5% of the population) lived in households, 44 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 89 (0.3%) were institutionalized.

There were 8,347 households, out of which 4,087 (49.0%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 4,767 (57.1%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,267 (15.2%) had a female householder with no husband present, 650 (7.8%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 540 (6.5%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 45 (0.5%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,331 households (15.9%) were made up of individuals and 678 (8.1%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.50. There were 6,684 families (80.1% of all households); the average family size was 3.85.

The population was spread out with 8,722 people (29.7%) under the age of 18, 3,295 people (11.2%) aged 18 to 24, 8,012 people (27.3%) aged 25 to 44, 6,193 people (21.1%) aged 45 to 64, and 3,099 people (10.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.5 males.

There were 8,749 housing units at an average density of 1,859.1 per square mile (717.8/km²), of which 4,694 (56.2%) were owner-occupied, and 3,653 (43.8%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.0%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.1%. 15,528 people (53.0% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 13,660 people (46.6%) lived in rental housing units.

2000

As of the census of 2000, there were 28,598 people, 8,137 households, and 6,435 families residing in the city. The population density was 6,214.6 inhabitants per square mile (2,400.4/km²). There were 8,341 housing units at an average density of 1,812.6 per square mile (700.1/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 35.2% White, 5.41% African American, 1.02% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.19% Pacific Islander, .37% from other races, and 4.68% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 61.2% of the population.^[50]

There were 8,136 households out of which 44.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.1% were married couples living together, 13.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.9% were non-families. 17.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.49 and the average family size was 3.86.

In the city, the population was spread out with 31.4% under the age of 18, 10.9% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 17.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $41,651, and the median income for a family was $45,419. Males had a median income of $32,165 versus $25,818 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,736. About 12.2% of families and 14.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.4% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

While agriculture is the most important industry in Santa Paula today, the city experienced an economic boom after oil was discovered in 1880.^[46]

The economy is primarily agriculturally based, originally focusing on the growing of oranges and lemons.^[46] Santa Paula's mediterranean climate combined with an estimated {{convert|20|ft|m}} of topsoil have made it a prime location for growing citrus. Avocado has also become a major crop and an avocado was added to the city's official seal. Calavo Growers, Inc. is headquartered here.^[51]

Santa Paula has very few large retail stores but residents often travel to neighboring cities to purchase hard goods. The Main Street area consists mostly of clothing shops, specialty shops, novelty shops, dollar stores, restaurants, service-oriented businesses and office space. The city also has neighborhood stores and small grocery markets. Many of these small shops and markets have a distinct Latin-American flavor, often selling myriad imported items. In addition some markets also have a meat department which sells a variety of beef, poultry, and seafood.

A {{convert|501|acre|ha |adj=mid|expansion}} on the eastern edge of Santa Paula was approved in 2015. This residential and commercial development by Limoneira was known as "East Area One" for the purpose of approval. Officials and residents were hoping this major expansion of the city would create new jobs and increase tax revenue for the cash-strapped city.^[52] When the project was first proposed in 1997, concerns were raised that Limoneira was beginning to develop their extensive holdings of prime farmland. Company officials claimed that 83% of the Teague-McKevett parcel was either unsuitable for agriculture or had a low value because of poor soil and drainage.^[53]

Tourism

The Santa Clara Valley represents one of the best preserved examples of a mature Southern California landscape of citrus groves.^[17][54] Tourists find a town with a main street reminiscent of Middle America in an agricultural setting preserved through Ventura County's greenbelt agreements.^[17] The California Oil Museum,^[55] within the historic Union Oil building, is located downtown, as are the Santa Paula Art Museum^[56] and Museum of Ventura County Agriculture Museum. The Santa Paula Mural Project has completed numerous murals depicting the city's history.^[57][58]

Infrastructure

The Santa Paula Water Recycling Facility was built in 2010 for $63 million to treat the city sewage.^[59] Santa Paula Water, a partnership of two corporations, financed, built and operated the facility under the agreement with the city. The city purchased the facility for $70.8 million in 2015 to take control and end a dispute over the failure of the plant to sufficiently remove chlorides. Although the new plant used modern treatment methods, the treated wastewater contained contaminants called chlorides that must be removed under state law before being discharged into the Santa Clara River.^[60]

Fire department

The Santa Paula Fire Department provided fire protection and emergency medical services at the basic life support level (BLS) from two fire stations. American Medical Response (AMR) is the paramedic ambulance provider for the City. On July 8th, 2018, The Santa Paula Fire Department was disbanded after serving Santa Paula for 115 years. The Ventura County Fire Department now provides fire protection services for the City of Santa Paula. Both fire stations used by Santa Paula Fire were transferred to Ventura County Fire.^[61]

Law enforcement

The Santa Paula Police Department provides law enforcement services for the City. The overall crime rate is low.^[46]

Notable people

• Jim Colborn (b. 1946): former Major League Baseball pitcher and pitching coach; he was a 20-game winner in 1973.
• Laura Diaz: newscaster, most notably with KABC-TV from 1983–2002, KCBS-TV from 2002–2011, and KTTV-TV from 2012–Present.
• Dana Elcar: actor, played Pete Thornton in the MacGyver television series from 1985-1992 and was featured in many films including The Sting; spent later years at his home on Laurel Road in Santa Paula.
• Nola Fairbanks: born Nola Jo Modine, had a notable singing career on Broadway.
• Eric Fleming: actor, star of Rawhide; born as Edward Heddy, Jr., July 4, 1925.
• Danny Flores: musician, a.k.a. Chuck Rio, wrote and played sax on the 1958 song “Tequila”, winner of best R&B song at the 1st Annual Grammy Awards; he became known as the "Godfather of Latino Rock ‘n’ Roll"
• Grupo Bryndis: is an internationally known Mexican musical group. Originated in Santa Paula, California, U.S.A . by their leader and songwriter Mauro Posadas in 1983. Grupo Bryndis is also a Latin Grammy Award winner for best album in 2007.
• Joi Lansing: Actress and pin up model is buried there.
• William Lucking: actor, played Piney on Sons of Anarchy; spent much of his early career as a resident, raising two daughters and serving on the school board.
• Steve McQueen (1930-1980): actor, spent the last two years of his life (1979–1980) in Santa Paula, often flying his biplane from the Santa Paula Airport; he and his soon-to-be wife Barbara lived in his hangar at the airport until they moved into a home on South Mountain Road^[62] just outside town.^[63]
• Richard Pinedo pleaded guilty to one count of identity fraud in connection to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections after allegedly selling stolen bank account information to individuals suspected of interfering in the election through the use of Auction Essistance, an online marketplace.^[64][65][66]
• Charles M. Teague (1909-1974): U.S. Representative from California, was born in Santa Paula and is buried in the local cemetery. He served as director of McKevett Corp. and Teague-McKevett Co.

Education

Education is provided by Santa Paula Elementary District and Santa Paula High School District. Many schools in Santa Paula are scoring low in state tests, scoring below the 30th percentile in statewide comparisons.^[46] Santa Paula Unified School District was established 2013.

Seven Elementary Schools:

Barbara Webster Elementary,

Blanchard Elementary,

Thelma Bedell Elementary,

Glenn City Elementary,

Grace Thille Elementary,

McKevett Elementary

One Middle School:

Isbell Middle School

Two High Schools:

Renaissance High School,

Santa Paula High School

One College:

Thomas Aquinas College, outside city limits

One Elementary School:

Olivelands School

One Middle School:

Briggs School

One Elementary School:

Mupu School

St. Sebastian School K-8

Popular media

Santa Paula was the early film capital of California. Gaston Méliès brought his Star Film Company to the city in 1911, filming movies such as The Ghost of Sulphur Mountain.

The city has been featured in Hollywood media on numerous occasions. Some examples include:

On the television drama The West Wing, Santa Paula is the hometown of fictional presidential candidate Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). In early 2005, Santa Paula Mayor Mary Ann Krause began a lobbying campaign to have Santa Paula declared Vinick's hometown. In a publicity move for the town, city officials officially "claim[ed] Senator Arnold Vinick as a resident of Santa Paula," in April 2005, and opened an official campaign headquarters for the fictional Republican Senator in the town's train depot. (Santa Paula for Vinick) On October 14, 2005, NBC released Vinick's official biography and revealed Santa Paula as the town in which he was raised. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060906124343/http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/Campaign/Vinick_Sullivan/]

Santa Paula served as the backdrop for Charterville in the 1996-1998 TV series Big Bad Beetleborgs.

The Santa Paula train depot has been a location for various productions. It was one of the locations for the miniseries The Thorn Birds (1983), starting Richard Chamberlain. Dennis DeYoung, former lead singer of the popular 1970s and 1980s rock group Styx, filmed the music video for Desert Moon, also the title of his first solo album, at the depot in 1984. The depot was used in the season 3 finale of Glee (2012).

Parts of the movie Disorganized Crime (1989), starring Fred Gwynne of the Munsters, was filmed downtown on Main Street.

An episode of the television series Matlock was filmed on Santa Paula St.

Main Street and other locations featured prominently in the 1990 Winona Ryder film Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael.

Chaplin (1992) filmed throughout the surrounding area and held a casting call in town for background actors.

Santa Paula also served as one of the locations for the motion picture Mr. Woodcock (2007), starring Billy Bob Thornton.

A good portion of Joe Dirt (2001) starring David Spade was filmed downtown as well as at the popular restaurant Mary B's.

The Lindsay Lohan movie Georgia Rule (2007) was filmed in Santa Paula.

The majority of the 1997 film Leave It to Beaver was filmed in Santa Paula, with many Santa Paula residents being cast in minor character roles and as extras. The famous scene of Beaver trapped in the giant coffee cup had Main Street blocked off for almost a week while filming continued.

Parts of the Brian De Palma movie Carrie (1976), starring Sissy Spacek, were filmed in Santa Paula.

Other movies that were filmed partially in Santa Paula include The Philadelphia Experiment (1984), the Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes (1990), the Martin Short/Danny Glover buddy comedy Pure Luck (1991), For Love of the Game (1999), Bubble Boy (2001), starring Jake Gyllenhaal, and Bedtime Stories (2008) starring Adam Sandler .

After a 1994 fire destroyed their sets in nearby Fillmore, the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles filmed in various locations including Santa Paula's Ebell Mansion.

The James M. Sharp House is an historical Italian villa-style house built in 1890. It is located on West Telegraph Road, just outside Santa Paula, and has been the setting for several movies including Amityville 4 (1989) and The Black Gate (1995), and How To Make An American Quilt (1995).

Various commercials, including a Super Bowl Budweiser commercial, (The Human Bridge) have been filmed in downtown Santa Paula.

Parts of The Rockford Files episode "Coulter City Wildcat" were filmed in Santa Paula.

See also

• Glen Tavern Inn
• Santa Paula Airport
• Santa Paula Freeway
• Santa Paula Hospital
• Thomas Fire The Thomas Fire is a late season (December) fire, which was part of the 2017 California wildfires season. It was started from a strong Santa Ana wind event and has since (as of December 5, 2017) grown over 50,000 acres (~50 square km). It has grown into the neighboring Ventura, California and has destroyed over 200 homes. There has been one reported death and one reported injury in the area. See the main article for more details.

Notes

References

Further reading

• Santa Paula (Images of America), by Mary Alice Orcutt Henderson. 2006, Arcadia. {{ISBN|0738531243}}

External links

• Official website
• Santa Paula city profile

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