Carmel-by-the-Sea Gives 3,000 Residents Street Addresses After 110 Years
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Carmel-by-the-Sea Gives 3,000 Residents Street Addresses After 110 Years
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Summary
Last month, Carmel-by-the-Sea assigned mailing addresses to its buildings and roughly 3,000 residents for the first time since the city was incorporated in 1916.
Emergency access and delivery needs drove the shift: officials said ambulances needed clearer location data, while an aging population increasingly relies on package and prescription drop-offs.
For decades, the 1-square-mile city functioned without home delivery, giving every resident a free P.O. box at the downtown post office instead of numbered street addresses.
Some residents called the move practical but lamented another loss of Carmel’s long-defended eccentric character, rooted in a tradition of describing homes by landmarks rather than numbers.