Chualar, California
Chualar is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California. Chualar is located 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of 115 feet (35 m). The population was 1,190 at the 2010 census, down from 1,444 at the 2000 census.
Geography
Chualar is located at 36°34′14″N 121°31′07″W / 36.57056°N 121.51861°W / 36.57056; -121.51861.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 0.6 square miles (1.6 km2), all of it land.
In her Spanish and Indian Place Names of California (1914) Sanchez states that Chualar was the indigenous word for an abundant and native goosefoot. This plant could possibly be Chenopodium californicum, the California goosefoot (also known as pigweed). In his 1500 California Place Names (1998), William Bright writes that the name is Spanish for "where the chual grows," chual being Mexican Spanish for pigweed or goosefoot, and derived ultimately from Nahuatl tzoalli.
History
The Chualar post office opened in 1871, closed in 1873, and re-opened in 1874.
