Lake Arrowhead is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in the San Bernardino Mountains of San Bernardino County, California, surrounded by the San Bernardino National Forest, and surrounding the eponymous Lake Arrowhead Reservoir. Lake Arrowhead is located 13 miles north east of the San Bernardino city limits. The population of the CDP was estimated at 12,424 in the 2010 census. It was formerly called "Little Bear Lake", until around 1920, when a group from Los Angeles, the Arrowhead Lake Company, bought the lake and the land surrounding it, and changed its name to Arrowhead Lake.
Tourism is the primary economic generator for the area, contributing several million dollars per year to the county and providing hundreds of full-time and part-time jobs for local residents. The area is host to over four million visitors a year. There are 400 guest rooms in hotels, motels and bed and breakfasts, vacation cabin rentals, condos, and rustic cabin lodges and resorts.
Economy
As a scenic mountain resort in the San Bernardino Mountains, Lake Arrowhead's economy is almost completely supported by tourism, both by casual vacationers and part-time residents. The primary tourism industries include real estate, lodging, dining, recreation, and retail sales.
While Lake Arrowhead has no official town center, the Lake Arrowhead Village serves as the main commercial area for both locals and tourists and includes a number of factory outlets, boutiques, restaurants, two banks, a post office and a supermarket. One author visiting in 1978 described it as a "clean, Swiss-like community with many chalets." Lake Arrowhead Village also hosts events all year long including a free Summer Concert Series, the county's largest free Oktoberfest and many other themed events such as car shows, dog shows, the Tour de Lake Arrowhead, Home Expo, and the popular Antique Wooden Boat Show.
The University of California, Los Angeles operates the nearby UCLA Conference Center, a full-service conference facility with lodging and meeting space. Other major employers include Mountains Community Hospital and Rim of the World Unified School District.
Logging in the San Bernardino Mountains was once done on a large scale, with the Brookings Lumber Company operation one of the largest. It operated on between Fredalba and Hunsaker Flats (present-day Running Springs), between 1899 and 1912. It built a logging railroad to bring logs to the mill at Fredalba. The Shay locomotives had to be disassembled and hauled by wagon up the mountain, since the railroad operated in the high country but did not connect to other railroads in lowlands. Finished lumber was hauled by wagon down the steep grades to the Molino Box Factory in Highland, California.
Geography
Lake Arrowhead is located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, about 20 minutes north of the San Bernardino city limits. Its economic center is at the intersection of State Routes 173 and 189. The CDP has a total area of 19.0 square miles (49.1 km), of which 17.7 square miles (45.9 km) is land and 1.2 square miles (3.2 km; 6.46%) is water.
Lake Arrowhead is a private lake governed by the Arrowhead Lake Association and is for restricted use by Lake Arrowhead property owners.
Lake size: (capacity) Shoreline: Elevation: 5106.70 (capacity) Maximum depth: Lake width: Lake length:
Outside of Lake Arrowhead Village there are several residential communities, which include Cedar Glen, Blue Jay, Rimforest, Skyforest, Twin Peaks, Crest Park, Hook Creek Tract, Deer Lodge Park, Arrowhead Villas, Grass Valley, and Agua Fria. There are three elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school in the area. north of Lake Arrowhead is the Pacific Crest Trail.
Santa's Village at Lake Arrowhead was a popular theme park from 1955 to 1998, and reopened in 2016. It was the first franchised one in the United States, with two others in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Illinois.
Demographics
2010
At the 2010 census Lake Arrowhead had a population of 12,424. The population density was . The racial makeup of Lake Arrowhead was 10,729 (86.4%) White (73.0% Non-Hispanic White), 95 (0.8%) African American, 93 (0.7%) Native American, 152 (1.2%) Asian, 33 (0.3%) Pacific Islander, 847 (6.8%) from other races, and 475 (3.8%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2,709 persons (21.8%).
The census reported that 12,389 people (99.7% of the population) lived in households, 16 (0.1%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 19 (0.2%) were institutionalized.