Spreckels, California

Spreckels, California
Spreckels in 2018
Spreckels in 2018
Location in Monterey County and the state of California
Location in Monterey County and the state of California
Spreckels is located in the United States
Spreckels
Spreckels
Location in the United States
Coordinates: 36°37′19″N 121°38′49″W / 36.62194°N 121.64694°W / 36.62194; -121.64694
Country United States
State California
CountyMonterey
Government
 • State SenatorShannon Grove (R)[1]
 • AssemblymemberDawn Addis (D)[1]
 • U. S. Rep.Jimmy Panetta (D)[2]
Area
 • Total0.122 sq mi (0.316 km2)
 • Land0.122 sq mi (0.316 km2)
 • Water0 sq mi (0 km2)  0%
Elevation62 ft (19 m)
Population
 (2020)[5]
 • Total692
 • Density5,700/sq mi (2,200/km2)
Time zoneUTC−8 (PST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP Code
93962
Area code831
FIPS code06-73612
GNIS feature ID1659842

Spreckels is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States.[4] Spreckels is located 3 miles (5 km) south of Salinas, at an elevation of 62 ft (19 m).[6][4] Its population was 692 at the 2020 census.[5]

Spreckels is one of the best-preserved company towns in the United States.[citation needed] It was built to house workers for the Spreckels Sugar Company plant, which operated there from 1899 until 1982, named after its founder "Sugar King" Claus Spreckels. When it opened, the Spreckels plant was the world's largest sugar beet factory, each day consuming 13,000,000 US gal (49,000,000 L) of water—with much of it pumped from wells—to process 3,000 short tons (2,700 t) of beets.

Spreckels is associated with the writer John Steinbeck, who lived and worked there for a time, and used it as a setting in his novel Tortilla Flat. Spreckels was used as a location for the 1955 Steinbeck movie East of Eden.

  1. ^ a b "Statewide Database". UC Regents. Retrieved December 30, 2014.
  2. ^ "California's 19th Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC. Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  3. ^ "2022 U.S. Gazetteer Files: California". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Spreckels, California
  5. ^ a b "P1. Race – Spreckels CDP, California: 2020 DEC Redistricting Data (PL 94-171)". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  6. ^ Durham, David L. (1998). California's Geographic Names: A Gazetteer of Historic and Modern Names of the State. Clovis, Calif.: Word Dancer Press. p. 962. ISBN 1-884995-14-4.