Lebec, California

Lebec
Unincorporated community and census-designated place
A distinctive residential house in Lebec
Location in Kern County and the state of California
Country	United States
State	California
County	Kern
Area
• Total	15.329 sq mi (39.702 km2)
• Land	15.329 sq mi (39.701 km2)
• Water	0 sq mi (0.001 km2)  0.002%
Elevation	3,481 ft (1,061 m)
Population (2,010)
• Total	1,468
• Density	96/sq mi (37/km2)

Lebec is an unincorporated area and census-designated place, located in southwestern Kern County, California.

It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass, in the northeastern San Emigdio Mountains. Lebec is 40 miles (64 km) south of Bakersfield.

Lebec is the home of the Tejon Ranch Company.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Lebec has an area of 15.3 square miles (40 km²). The community, which is near Tejon Pass, lies at an elevation of 3,481 feet (1,061 m).

Interstate 5 is the only highway passing through the community. Local traffic drives on Lebec Road, Peace Valley Road, Frazier Mountain Park Road and adjoining streets.

This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Lebec has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.

Lebec is named in honor of Peter Lebeck or Lebecque, a French trapper killed by a grizzly bear in 1837 in the area that later became Fort Tejon. He was memorialized in an epitaph at the site, found carved in a bare spot on an old oak tree. The epitaph read PETER LEBECK / KILLED BY A X BEAR / OCTR 17 / 1837. The bark of the oak tree eventually grew over the carving. A group from Bakersfield called the Foxtail Rangers removed the bark in the late 19th century and found the inscription in reverse on its underside. The piece is now displayed in the museum at Fort Tejon State Historic Park.