Live Oak, Santa Cruz County, California

Live Oak is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California between the towns of Santa Cruz and Capitola. Live Oak sits at an elevation of 102ft. The population was 17,158 at the 2010 census.GeographyLive Oak is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.2 square miles, all of it land.HistoryFor several thousand years, the Awaswas-speaking Ohlone people inhabited the area from Half Moon Bay to Aptos, including the area now known as Live Oak. When missionaries established the Mission Santa Cruz in 1791, they noted "an area to the east of the San Lorenzo River "in sight of the Sea" that was crisscrossed by "steep gulches containing running water" and three "reed-lined" lagoons. Spanish colonial settlers, who later established the secular pueblo of Villa de Branciforte on the east side of the San Lorenzo, ran their herds of cattle and horses in the "common lands" of this area.In 1834 and 1837, territorial governors divided these lands between two brothers, Alejandro and Francisco Rodriguez. Alejandro Rodriguez was granted Rancho Arroyo del Rodeo, named for the rodeo (cattle roundup) area located in a low-lying natural amphitheater along Rodeo Creek. (These grounds were later filled in during the construction of Highway 1.) Francisco Rodriguez was granted a rancho bearing the name "Los Esteros" (never patented) because of the sizeable estuaries forming two of its boundaries. Originally known as Twin Lakes, the western-most of the "twins" is now the Santa Cruz Harbor.