About South Lake Tahoe

South Lake Tahoe is the most populous city in El Dorado County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The population was 21,403 at the 2010 census, down from 23,609 at the 2000 census. The east end of the city, on the California-Nevada state line, is mainly geared towards tourism, with T-shirt shops, restaurants, hotels, and Heavenly Mountain Resort with the Nevada casinos just across the state line in Stateline, Nevada. The city extends about five miles (8 km) west-southwest along U.S. Route 50, also known as Lake Tahoe Blvd. The western end of town is mainly residential, and clusters around "The Y" (new intersection October 2008), the X-shaped intersection of US 50, State Route 89, and the continuation of Lake Tahoe Boulevard after it loses its Federal highway designation.

As its name suggests, it is located on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe, right next to the Nevada border and the town of Stateline, Nevada.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 16.6 square miles (43 km2), of which, 10.2 square miles (26 km2) of it is land and 6.4 square miles (17 km2) of it (38.80%) is water. Its elevation is about 6,237 feet (1,901 m).

The city incorporated in 1965 by combining the previously unincorporated communities of Al Tahoe, Bijou, Bijou Park, Stateline, Tahoe Valley, and Tallac Village. A post office was established in 1967. In 1991, Jaycee Lee Dugard was abducted from a bus-stop in South Lake Tahoe, aged 11. She was found in 2009 in Antioch, California 18 years later.

Gambling arrived at the Lake in 1944, when Harvey's Wagon Wheel Saloon and Gambling Hall opened as one of the area's first gaming establishments (technically on the Nevada side of the state border in the South Lake Tahoe (Nevada gaming area). But competition soon sprang up and so did the need for more permanent accommodations. By the 1950s, roads began to be plowed year-round, enabling access to permanent residences. When the 1960 Winter Olympics came to Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe was put firmly on the map as the skiing center of the western United States.