Hope Ranch, California

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The eastern entrance to Hope Ranch, showing the main thoroughfare through the unincorporated community

Hope Ranch is an unincorporated suburb of Santa Barbara, California, located in Santa Barbara County. As of the 2000 census, the area had an approximate population of 2,200.

Since it is not a census-designated place, the boundaries are informal, except where they coincide with incorporated regions. On the east Hope Ranch is bounded by the City of Santa Barbara, on the north by Modoc Road, Hollister Avenue, and Vieja Drive, on the west by a vacant tract of land known as More Mesa, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean.

Hope Ranch occupies a hilly area immediately adjacent to the coast; the highest elevation is 691 feet. The northern boundary of the hilly area is Cieneguitas Creek, which flows down the topographic expression of the More Ranch Fault; this ravine also helps define the informal northern boundary of the suburb. Native vegetation is mostly oak woodland and chaparral, and many of the homes have been constructed to blend in with the oaks; the area retains much of its tree canopy. Residential roads are narrow and winding, not always signed, and interweave with an elaborate network of horse paths. A road to a private beach is open to residents only (although the beach itself is accessible from public beaches on either side).

The local homeowner's association manages the properties of private roads, horse paths, and the private beach. The region is not governed by conventional police. Instead the law enforcement of the region is the privately enrolled "Hope Ranch Patrol," who have only limited law enforcing powers. This group is controlled by the board of Hope Ranch and is in no way connected to either the City of Santa Barbara Police Department or the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

The main stretch of road through Hope Ranch is Las Palmas/Marina Drive, a beautiful palm tree-lined stretch of roadway along which runs the coastal bike route. Hope Ranch is home to La Cumbre Country Club and Laguna Blanca School, an independent day school, which was founded in 1933.

Hope Ranch is one of the wealthiest areas in California; in 2003 the median home price reached 2 million dollars.

[edit] Popular culture references

Hope Ranch is also the name of a 2004 Animal Planet TV movie, starring Bruce Boxleitner, Barry Corbin, and Lorenzo Lamas.