Mount Baldy, California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mt Baldy, California
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 Mount Baldy, California
Location in the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Mount Baldy, California
Location in California
Mount Baldy, California
Location in the United States
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| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County |  San Bernardino Los Angeles |
| Elevation | 1,278 m (4,193 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| ZIP code |
91759
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| Area code(s) | 909 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1660300 |
Mount Baldy or Mount Baldy Village, formerly Camp Baynham and Camp Baldy, is an unincorporated community in the San Gabriel Mountains located in San Bernardino County and Los Angeles County in Southern California, with the county line running through the community. It is located below Mount San Antonio, commonly known as "Mount Baldy", hence its name.
Contents
Geography
It is located below Mount San Antonio (Mt Baldy) in San Antonio Canyon. San Antonio Creek flows through the community. It is surrounded by Angeles National Forest. Mt Baldy is 12 miles (19 km) north of Ontario.
History
Around the turn of the twentieth century, when the Baldy Bowl was transitioning from resource extraction and toward recreation, a series of bitter conflicts took place there between the San Antonio Water Company and various camp owners. Pollution of the watershed and an 1899 brush fire led the company to wrest legal control of the road through the canyon away from Charles Baynham, close off the canyon with locked gates, and station armed guards to keep out intruders. But after some time and various legal battles, the company decided to profit from recreation rather than discouraging it. It bought Baynham's Camp in 1907 but then hired Baynham to manage it, charging tolls on the road from 1908 to 1922. The camp was renamed Camp Baldy in 1910, and in the following year the canyon became accessible by automobile. By the early 1920s there were numerous trail camps and resorts in the area. When the area became a national forest in 1908, the forest service began offering 99-year leases of plots of land, including at Camp Baldy.
During Prohibition, the area became known as a place where one could get a drink away from the watchful eyes of the police. Former Yosemite concessionaire Foster Curry, his wife Ruth Curry, and Ruth's second husband, movie star Edmund Burns, turned Camp Baldy into a playground for affluent residents of Los Angeles, with a swimming pool, casino, and a dance pavilion.
In 1935–1936 the Civilian Conservation Corps built a wide trail along the Devil's Backbone from Mt. Baldy Notch to the summit, a route which had previously been narrow and dangerous due to the precipitous drops on one, or in some areas both, sides.
Aurelia Harwood, the first female president of the Sierra Club, was active in the area. Mount Harwood, a subsidiary peak of Mount Baldy, is named for her. The Sierra Club built a lodge, also named after her, at Manker Flats in 1930. It is open to Sierra Club members. In 1935 the club added a mountain hut, known as the "ski hut," by the base of the Baldy Bowl near the headwaters of San Antonio Creek. The ski hut burned down that year but was immediately replaced and remains standing today.
The Los Angeles flood of 1938 destroyed most of the human-made structures in Camp Baldy. The casino was destroyed, but the hotel (today's Buckhorn Lodge) survived. Camp Baldy was rebuilt and later became Mt. Baldy Village.
Buildings
Mt Baldy has a post office with ZIP code 91759. The community was established as Camp Baynham in 1906; it changed its name to Camp Baldy in 1910 and became Mt Baldy in 1951. Its post office was established in 1913.
The Mt Baldy School District operates the Mt Baldy School in town. The Mt Baldy Zen Center is located in the area.
The Mt Baldy Ski Lifts are above the town on the slopes of Mt Baldy.
Utilities and services
The town of Mount Baldy is served by privately-owned utilities. Public services are by county and state governments.
Mt. Baldy is located in California's 8th congressional district, represented by Republican Jay Obernolte.
Electricity
Cable TV and internet
- Charter Communications (Charter Spectrum)
- Frontier Communications
Natural gas
Gas is propane, as no natural gas lines are available.
Law enforcement
- San Bernardino County Sheriff
- Los Angeles County Sheriff
Fire
- San Bernardino County Fire Department
- Los Angeles County Fire Department
Schools
- Mount Baldy School District
Municipal governments
Roads
- Caltrans
Climate
Mt Baldy has relatively cold and very wet winters with moderate snowfall. Temperatures often fall to 30 °F (−1 °C) at night. It is usually 39–49 °F (4–9 °C) during the day during the winter, and 25–35 °F at night. Annual snowfall is about 42 inches (110 cm). Summer temperatures are mild to warm, and can get chilly at night. Daytime temperatures are 76–86 °F (24–30 °C), with lows of 49–62 °F (9–17 °C). Thunderstorms are not common, on occasion they brew in the mountains in and surrounding Mt Baldy. They usually occur in the afternoon, and clear up by late evening.
| Climate data for Mt. Baldy | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °F (°C) | 50 (10) |
49 (9) |
54 (12) |
61 (16) |
68 (20) |
76 (24) |
83 (28) |
84 (29) |
80 (27) |
69 (21) |
58 (14) |
49 (9) |
65 (18) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 30 (−1) |
30 (−1) |
32 (0) |
36 (2) |
42 (6) |
49 (9) |
57 (14) |
57 (14) |
51 (11) |
42 (6) |
35 (2) |
30 (−1) |
41 (5) |
| Average precipitation inches (mm) | 8.20 (208) |
9.54 (242) |
6.08 (154) |
2.73 (69) |
1.00 (25) |
0.25 (6.4) |
0.10 (2.5) |
0.21 (5.3) |
0.69 (18) |
2.51 (64) |
3.41 (87) |
5.21 (132) |
40.83 (1,037) |
| Average snowfall inches (cm) | 4.2 (11) |
2.5 (6.4) |
4.5 (11) |
1.8 (4.6) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.5 (1.3) |
3.4 (8.6) |
16.9 (42.9) |
