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Paradise Park, California

32 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1998. It stands in the Santa Cruz census division. It lies in ZIP code area 95060. It stands on Powder Mill Creek. The Survey maps it on the Felton quadrangle. 367 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 92 feet above sea level.

Paradise Park within Santa Cruz County

Then and now

1902 to 1998

The same ground, surveyed 96 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Paradise Park, surveyed 1998
Topographic sheet of Paradise Park, surveyed 1902

Population over time

2 figures

Paradise Park fell from 389 to 367 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010389
2020367-22 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

15 surveys from 32 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

642 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 642 fires within 5 miles of Paradise Park between 1992 and 2020, burning about 318 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 70 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined307
Equipment and vehicle use109
Arson/incendiarism70
Recreation and ceremony41
Smoking37
Debris and open burning30
Misuse of fire by a minor27
Power generation/transmission/distribution13
Railroad operations and maintenance4
Other causes2
Natural1
Firearms and explosives use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire ProtectionHERMON
9 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
9 September 1994Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitP.G.&E.#14
8 September 2006Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 September 1997Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitROAD
8 September 1993Arson/incendiarismunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitQUAIL HOLLOW
8 September 1992Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitPG&E #4
7 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreSan Mateo-Santa Cruz UnitHWY 9 FELTON

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Santa Cruz County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 44 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 44 workings within 5 miles of Paradise Park: 22 past producers, 10 producers, 8 occurrences, 4 unknowns. 10 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Felton QuarryStoneProducer
Bachellor Ranch QuarryGraniteOccurrence
Calplatti QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence
Decomposed Granite PitGraniteOccurrence
Felton PitStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Henry Cowell Lime & Cement CoLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Henry Cowell Lime & Cement CoLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Holmes Lime & Cement CoLimestone, DimensionPast Producer
Ixl QuarryLimestone, DimensionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Santa Cruz County

Storms near this place

3 since 2017

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paradise Park in 3 storm reports between 2017 and 2026: 2 flood, 1 debris flow. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 2026FloodParadise Park-Flooding was reported on both lanes of Empire Grade at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School.
December 2024FloodParadise Park-Mud, dirt, and rocks were blocking half of the southbound lane of State Highway 9 near Paradise Park.
January 2017Debris FlowParadise Park-Large boulders blocking one lane of hwy 9 and several other boulders falling into roadway junction of old times rd.

Every storm recorded in Santa Cruz County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Rincon0.5 miles32
Pasatiempo1.0 miles32
Beulah Park1.1 miles32
Pueblo de Figueroa (historical)2.3 miles16
Camp Evers2.4 miles32
Santa Cruz2.6 miles16
Allegro Heights2.7 miles16
Mount Hermon2.9 miles32

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Paradise ParkAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q6060803The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1656207. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.