Kasper Beach was a major tourist trap in the 60s and 70s, primarily due to its scenic location and the presence of mating sea lions on the beaches in late Spring and early Summer. Kasper Beach was, and is, located in a particularly rugged part of California’s northern coast. Surrounded by steep hills and dense forests inland with sharp cliffs and savage tides towards the sea, the town of Kasper Beach sits atop an island of relative calm. The cliffs give way to a stretch of pristine beach and the hills smooth into a pocket of fertile farmland spanning roughly ten square miles.
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Kasper Beach was a hub for illegal activities, especially smuggling. The residents of the burgeoning community at the time were largely isolationist farmers who took a dim view of governmental intervention in their business and preferred not to ask questions. As immigration controls tightened, the smuggling trade in Kasper Beach become more and more focused on human, rather than material cargo, primarily from China and, later, Japan, Korea and the Philippines. Although most left Kasper Beach for population centers farther to the south, many stayed on and contribute to the high percentage of Asian Americans in the population today.
Kasper Beach was the target of major outside interest twice during the first half of the twentieth century. First, in 1928 when a major push was made to root out the stream of contraband coming from the town. Federal agents and local police descended upon the town. After several days of martial law in everything but name, the residents fought back, resulting in an estimated 14 deaths, over 300 injuries and the destruction of nearly 1/5 of the town. A permanent constabulary was established in the wake of the tragedy but it only maintained its effectiveness for less than five years before the director drowned under uncertain circumstances and his predecessor opened the way for widespread corruption of the office.
A similar event took place in 1943 with the deportation of Kasper Beach’s Asian American residents. (Expand when I get the book back).
Things to add: Relations to First Peoples (Taboo Lands), Spanish (the Old Mission), The Highway System Scandal, Tourism, Earthquake of 1977, Economic Depression, Corporate Buy Out
