Best Web Design in Watsonville, CA (2026)

Web Design for Watsonville, California

Watsonville is an agricultural city in the Pajaro Valley of southern Santa Cruz County, wedged between Monterey Bay beaches and coastal farmland and known worldwide for its strawberries. Heavily Latino and rooted in generations of farmworker and immigrant history, it is the birthplace of Martinelli's sparkling cider and a cradle of California's berry industry.

AppWT works with Watsonville, CA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Watsonville

Also known as. Strawberry Capital of the World. The Apple City (historic).

History. The Pajaro Valley was long home to the Ohlone people; the 1769 Portola expedition named the local river Rio del Pajaro ('River of the Bird') after a large stuffed bird found by the water. Watsonville was founded in 1868, and in 1870 Joseph 'Ed' Reiter and his brother-in-law Dick Driscoll cultivated their first strawberries in the Pajaro Valley, seeding what became Driscoll's. In January 1930 the anti-Filipino Watsonville riots saw mobs of hundreds of white men terrorize Filipino farmworkers for five days, culminating in the killing of 22-year-old Fermin Tobera. The Filipino 'manong' generation's history in the valley is now preserved through the University of California's 'Watsonville is in the Heart' oral-history project.

Local economy. Agriculture dominates, with strawberries, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce and raspberries as fundamental crops. Major companies based in Watsonville include Driscoll's and California Giant (together processing about $280 million in fresh produce annually) and Martinelli's (S. Martinelli & Co.). Other significant employers include Monterey Mushrooms (about 870 employees), Granite Construction (about 557) and West Marine. The workforce is heavily Latino, and the population was about 82.3% Hispanic or Latino as of the 2020 census.

Culture and community. The annual Watsonville Strawberry Festival celebrates the signature crop with strawberry foods, live music, vendors and rides. The Santa Cruz County Fair, held at the Watsonville fairgrounds, is a major end-of-summer tradition. Ocean Speedway at the fairgrounds hosts sprint-car and dirt-track racing. Mexican and Filipino heritage strongly shape local food, music and community life.

What makes Watsonville distinct. Martinelli's non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider has been made in Watsonville since the company's 1868 founding by Swiss immigrant brothers, and it remains family-owned. The Driscoll's berry empire traces back to the first strawberries grown in the Pajaro Valley in 1870. Before strawberries, Watsonville was famous for apples and was once a leading apple-shipping and cider region. The 1930 Watsonville riots are among the most notorious episodes of anti-Filipino violence in U.S. history. Watsonville has one of the highest shares of Latino residents of any city its size in the United States, at over 80%.

A predominantly Latino agricultural city on the Monterey Bay known for strawberry and vegetable farming and food distribution.

Watsonville Landmarks and Local Life

• Watsonville Plaza - Downtown public plaza laid out in the 1850s
• Castro Adobe - One of the oldest buildings in the area, preserved as a state historic park
• Fox Theater - Historic downtown theater
• Pinto Lake - Lake park with fishing, boat rentals, and RV camping
• Watsonville Wetlands - Slough wetlands with a nature center and hiking trails

Watsonville at a Glance

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023.

• Median household income: About $74,785
• Adults with a bachelor degree or higher: About 12.7%
• Housing: About 43.6% of occupied housing units are owner-occupied
• Housing: About 54.4% of housing units are single-family homes