La Honda, California is an area and a community rather
than a city or a town. It has no local government as it is in "unincorporated"
San Mateo County. For the purposes of La Honda NEST, La Honda covers
approximately 100 square miles - the response area of the La Honda Fire
Brigade. An estimate of the population would be about 700 homes, half of which
are within one or two miles of the "center of town".
(To learn more about
La Honda, please click here.) 
La Honda is located on the west side of the Santa Cruz
Mountains along CA State Highway 84. (To view a map of the region, please click
here.) It is roughly 40 miles
south of San Francisco, CA and about 20 miles from any city or major population
center. Access to La Honda is by Highway 84 or by a few minor county roads. The
geology is mountainous with many hills, canyons, creeks and streams as well as
many miles of sloping open ranch land where cattle graze and cut flowers are
grown.
The weather in La Honda is typical of that in the Santa Cruz Mountains. There are storms during the winter months of January, February and March with heavy rain and strong winds. The weather is usually totally dry weather from August through October. Thus in the winter, there is risk of flooding, flash floods, mud slides, landslides and debris flows. In the fall, there is the threat of wildland fires. During all seasons, there is the possibility of seismic activity.
Communications from La Honda is best done by telephone or amateur radio (with human or electronic relay points at the top of the surrounding mountains). Cellular telephones do not operate in the area and television and radio (AM and FM) signals are mostly carried by cable. Communications for emergency personnel (law enforcement, fire and medical) are by radio, provided through a series of electronic repeaters at the top of the surrounding mountains.
The population of La Honda is a mixture of ranchers, some of whom have been in La Honda for decades, high tech people who work in Silicon Valley, medical people who work at Stanford, Mills and other area hospitals, academicians, artists, writers and retirees. Some people understand the special requirements of living in a rural area that is a distance from government services. Some people don't.
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Honda NEST Home Page |
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