About Freedom
Freedom is a small census-designated place in Santa Cruz County near Watsonville that was originally called Whiskey Hill and known to be the wildest bunch of brothels and saloons in the area. Its collection of shanties popped up where the Santa Cruz Road (now Freedom Boulevard) met the Green Valley Road and business was booming by 1852. The primary cliental of this rough and tumble collection of drinking establishments were vaqueros from the San Andreas and Los Corralitos Ranchos. They served whiskey and aguardiente offered lonely cowboys the opportunity to lose all their money at gaming tables and in the pursuit of the area’s “soiled doves.” The town’s reputation as a place for only the roughest of scoundrels spread far and wide by claiming to be the favorite drinking destination for the likes of Joaquin Murrieta, Tiburcio Vasquez, Juan Soto, Faustino Lorenzana, Jose Rodriguez and Ignacio Tejada.
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95019
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While there is not any tourism industry in Freedom, visitors who know the town’s history may find it an interesting place to visit.Upcoming Events In Freedom
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The residents of Whiskey Hill changed the name to the more dignified Freedom in the hopes of making the village just as well-heeled. Unfortunately, the name change did nothing to change the town’s behavior; it remained quite the wild place into the 1900s.
Freedom is now a quiet town that suffers from high unemployment rates and decreasing home values. The population is primarily made up of low-income households supported by jobs in construction and agriculture. The majority of the population has graduated from high school, but very few have gone on to earn a college degree. Freedom’s population is predominantly Hispanic, with a third of that population made up of immigrants.
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