Editing Bolinas, California (section)

== History ==
{{see also|Rancho Las Baulines}}
[[Image:Bolinas Museum2.jpg|thumb|220px|Bolinas Museum, 2013]]

Prior to the European colonization of California, the [[Coast Miwok]] lived in the area, possibly calling the area "Bali-N".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kalw.org/post/bolinas-hidden-town-history|title=Bolinas: a hidden town with history|first=Steven|last=Short|website=www.kalw.org}}</ref>

Bolinas and present-day [[Stinson Beach, California|Stinson Beach]] were once encompassed by [[Rancho Las Baulines]], a [[Ranchos of California|Mexican land grant]] given by Governor Pío Pico to Gregorio Briones in 1846.<ref name=CGN /><ref>Ogden Hoffman, 1862, Reports of Land Cases Determined in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Marin County Rancho Map |url=http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/MarinRanchosMap.swf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081114181514/http://www.co.marin.ca.us/depts/lb/main/crm/maps/MarinRanchosMap.swf |archive-date=2008-11-14 |access-date= |website=County of Marin}}</ref>

The first post office in the town of Bolinas opened in 1863.<ref name=CGN /> The post office closed on March 3, 2023, leaving the town more isolated. The town's residents have petitioned for it to reopen.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Branson-Potts |first=Hailey |date=2024-06-10 |title=Dear USPS: This Marin County town wants its post office back |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-06-10/dear-usps-this-marin-county-town-wants-its-post-office-back |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Branson-Potts |first=Hailey |date=2025-05-10 |title='We Did It, Bolinas!!!' Remote Northern California town gets its post office back |url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-05-10/la-me-rural-california-post-office-bolinas |access-date= |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1927, a {{cvt|300.|acre}} former dairy farm on the Big Mesa was subdivided into a grid of streets and 5,336 lots measuring {{cvt|20.|x|100.|ft}}. Many of these lots were sold for $69.50 by the [[San Francisco Bulletin]] as a subscription promotion. Portions of the mesa, including sections of Ocean Parkway, have since eroded into the sea. A few streets on the mesa are paved and maintained by the county, but many are unpaved, and either maintained by adjoining property owners or completely unmaintained.<ref name="bcpud.org">"A Plan for the Bolinas Gridded Mesa", Bolinas Planning Council and The Marin County Planning Department, 1984. [http://www.bcpud.org/BGMP.pdf]</ref> The Big Mesa has no sewer system, and houses on the mesa have individual septic systems.<ref name="bcpud.org"/><ref name="Community Public Utility District 2008">"Sewer System Management Plan". Bolinas Community Public Utility District, April 2008. [http://www.bcpud.org/BCPUD%20SSMP.pdf]</ref>

The Bolinas beaches were hit hard by the [[1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill]], with the community coming together to clean the beach of crude oil.

The Bolinas Museum was founded in 1983. It contains five galleries featuring contemporary art, historical information, and works from local artists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bolinasmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/archive/general_info.html|title=Bolinas Museum|website=Bolinasmuseum.org|access-date=2017-12-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053122/http://bolinasmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/archive/general_info.html|archive-date=2017-12-22|url-status=dead}}</ref>