Long-time nationally prominent residents include birth control pill inventor and novelist Carl Djerassi; billionaire investor, Forbes columnist, and local historian Kenneth Fisher; and rock 'n' roll legend Neil Young.

Today the Kings Mountain Volunteer Fire Brigade responds to over 160 calls a year, many of them to assist weekend bicyclists and hikers who are enjoying the redwood forest.

Due to the presence of communication antennas and microwave equipment, the gravel road leading to Sierra Morena is behind a chain link fence and closed to the public.

Heavy fog is very common in the area, especially in the summer months, and usually clears back to the coast from the late morning to early evening.

An annual fine arts fair is held on Labor Day weekend, primarily to support the operations of the Kings Mountain Volunteer Fire Brigade.

More recently, however, since the building of Interstate 280 in the 1960s and '70s, making San Francisco only a 40-minute commute, and with a booming Silicon Valley economy, Kings Mountain has become a full-time residential community, with million-dollar homes now outnumbering rustic cabins.

In 1953, BCPA Flight 304 crashed into Kings Mountain, killing all passengers aboard, including pianist William Kapell and eighteen others.