Pixley

Pixley is a city in Tulare County. With a population of 3,300 (2010) and a dry climate, it shares many of the features found in small towns in the southern part of the Central Valley.

Understand

History

The town began as a real-estate-speculation in 1884. Frank Pixley was a partner in the Pixley Townsite Company. The company purchased additional land in the vicinity. When the Southern Pacific extended its tracks to the townsite, the town prospered. Special railroad fares were offered to people in other areas of California and as far away as Boston in order to bring potential customers to see the new lands and the investment possibilities near Pixley.

In the early 1890s, Chris Evans and John Sontag robbed a Southern Pacific Railroad train at Pixley.

In 1933, Pixley was one of the towns in California involved in the San Joaquin cotton strike, a labor action by agricultural workers seeking higher wages. A violent clash between strikers and growers left two workers dead and eight wounded. Five thousand workers gathered in Tulare for the dead strikers' funerals, one of the largest agricultural demonstrations in California's history. Eight cotton growers were indicted in the violence against the workers, but were later acquitted.

Get in

By car

Pixley is on California State Route 99 and can be reached via SR-99 from Fresno to the north and Bakersfield to the south.

By bus

TCAT (Tulare County Area Transit) Route 20 provides bus service from Tulare to the north and Delano to the south.

See

• 1 Pixley National Wildlife Refuge (from SR-99 take exit 56 5.7 miles west), ☏ +1 661 725-2767. This wildlife refuge is the winter home to up to 6000 sandhill cranes from September to March, with numbers peaking in January. The refuge's habitat also supports a variety of raptors and waterbirds, accessible via a single 1.5-mile loop trail that leads to an overlook of the wetlands. Visitors hoping to see cranes should use their ears as much as their eyes - the cranes have a distinctive call, and will often be found outside of the refuge in nearby fields during daylight hours.  

Do

• Pixley Vernal Pools, ☏ +1 661 387-9453, gwarrick@cnlm.org. 40 acres containing one of the last remaining sections of seasonal wetlands in the San Joaquin Valley. Open year-round to the general public. Contact Greg Warrick, the Preserve Manager, for access. 

Eat

• Billar Y Restaurant, 500 S. Main St., ☏ +1 559 757-1960. 
• 1 Burger Planet, 655 E. Terra Bella Ave., ☏ +1 559 757-1580. 
• Carmen Restaurants #2, 109 N. Main St., ☏ +1 559 757-1577. 
• 2 Three Brothers Drive-In, 1187 N. Park Dr., ☏ +1 559 757-3713. 

Sleep

• 1 American Motel, 255 W. Terra Bella Ave, ☏ +1 559 757-3442. 

Stay safe

Dial 911 for any emergency

Law enforcement is handled by the Tulare County Sheriff's Department from the Pixley Substation. 161 North Pine Street. ☏ +1 559 757-3526.

Fire and Emergency Medical Service is provided by the Tulare County Fire Department from the Pixley station. 200 North Park Drive. ☏ +1 559 757-3025.

The nearest hospital is south of Pixley in Delano or north of Pixley in Tulare.

Go next

• Porterville - 99 North to 190 East. About 35 minutes away.
• Lake Isabella - 99 South to 155 East. About 2 hours away.
• Bakersfield - 99 South. About 45 minutes away.
• Fresno - 99 North. About 1 hour away.

Routes through Pixley

Fresno ← Tulare ←

N  S

→ Delano → Bakersfield