| Grapevine | |
|---|---|
| — Unincorporated community — | |
| Entering Grapevine northbound I-5 | |
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Grapevine
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Kern County |
| Elevation[1] | 1,499 ft (457 m) |
| ZIP code | 93203 |
| Area code(s) | 661 |
Grapevine is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California.[1] At an elevation of 1499 feet (457 m),[1] the community is located at the foot of a road grade known as The Grapevine through the Grapevine Canyon to Tejon Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley along Interstate 5 (formerly U.S. Route 99). The village consists mainly of roadside services. The village and grade are named, not for the once-winding road known as the Grapevine that used to climb the steep mountain canyon, but for the canyon it passed through with its wild grapes that still grow along the original road. Its Spanish name was La Cañada de las Uvas. The grade of the Grapevine was infamous for its high accident rate before the road was straightened and widened. There are escape ramps branching off both sides of the downward part of the road for heavy trucks whose brakes fail on this very long, 6% steep and now straight grade. The road is still occasionally closed due to heavy snowfall during winter storms. It has also been closed for fire. As the Grapevine is the major route between Northern and Southern California, any closure is a major disruption to traffic along the West Coast.
To the south of the settlement is the Grapevine Canyon, through which I-5 and the Grapevine Creek run, the latter beginning in the Castac Valley at Lebec.
In 1955, Charlie Ryan wrote and performed a popular song known as "Hot Rod Lincoln", about a kid who races his souped-up Lincoln against a Cadillac up the Grapevine Hill. While he never drove up the Grapevine, this song was inspired by his own experience racing (and getting arrested for it) his buddy between Coeur D'Alene and Lewiston, Idaho. The song was an answer to the 1951 song Hot Rod Race by Arkie Silbey referring to the same stretch of road in central California. In Silbey's song, a Ford and a Mercury raced dead even through the night until both were passed like they were standing still by a kid in a Model A Ford. Charlie Ryan actually owned a hot rod which consisted of a 1948 Lincoln 12 cylinder chassis shortened two feet and clad in a Model A Ford body, a hot rod that likely could trounce the Fords and Mercuries of the day.
The ZIP Code is 93203, and the community is inside area code 661. A post office operated at Grapevine from 1923 to 1960.[2]