Aptos, California
| Aptos | |
|---|---|
| Census designated place | |
Sunset at Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California.
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 Location in Santa Cruz County and the state of California |
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 Aptos
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| Coordinates: 36°58′53″N 121°54′27″W / 36.98139°N 121.90750°WCoordinates: 36°58′53″N 121°54′27″W / 36.98139°N 121.90750°W | |
| Country |
 United States
|
| State |
 California
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| County | Santa Cruz |
| Rancho Aptos | 1833 |
| Area | |
| • CDP | 6.354 sq mi (16.457 km2) |
| • Land | 6.354 sq mi (16.457 km2) |
| • Water | 0 sq mi (0 km2) 0% |
| Elevation | 108 ft (33 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • CDP | 6,220 |
| • Density | 980/sq mi (380/km2) |
| • Urban | 21,000 |
| Time zone | Pacific (UTC−8) |
| • Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC−7) |
| ZIP codes | 95001, 95003 |
| Area code | 831 |
| FIPS code | 06-02378 |
| GNIS feature IDs | 1657939, 2407750 |
Aptos is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, United States. The population was 6,220 at the 2010 census. Aptos is bisected northwest-to-southeast by the State Route 1 freeway.
Aptos is also an unincorporated town defined by ZIP codes 95001 and 95003. The town includes several small communities with a combined population of 24,402:
Aptos is located at 36°58′53″N 121°54′27″W / 36.98139°N 121.90750°W (36.981500, -121.907432).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 6.4 square miles (17 km2), all of it land. The southwestern geographical boundary is Monterey Bay, while the northeast boundary is the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The name Aptos is Ohlone, meaning "the people". Aptos was traditionally inhabited by the Ohlone Awaswas people. The name is one of only three native words that have survived (in Hispanicized form) as place names in Santa Cruz County (the others are Soquel and Zayante).
The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, passed through the area on its way north, camping at one of the creeks on October 16, 1769. The expedition diaries don't provide enough information to be sure which creek it was, but the direction of travel was northwest, parallel to the coast. Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, traveling with the expedition, noted in his diary that, "We stopped on the bank of a small stream, which has about four varas of deep running water. It has on its banks a good growth of cottonwoods and alders; on account of the depth at which it runs it may be that it cannot be utilized to water some plains through which it runs." Crespi diary translator Herbert Bolton speculated that the location was Soquel Creek, but it could have been Aptos Creek.
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