Soquel (/soʊˈkɛl/; Ohlone: Sokel)[3] is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California, located on the northern coast of Monterey Bay.

Osocalis was the Spanish phonetic rendering for the name of the creek which runs through the area, as transcribed from the local Native American Indian language of the Ohlone peoples.

[4][5] The first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolà expedition, passed through the area on its way north, camping at one of the creeks on October 15, 1769.

The expedition diaries don't provide enough information to be sure which creek it was, but the direction of travel was northwest, parallel to the coast.

Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, traveling with the expedition, noted in his diary that "We stopped on the bank of a small stream, which has about four varas of deep running water.

Martina Castro was granted Rancho Soquel by Alta California governor José Figueroa in 1833.

[7] Martina was one of the daughters of Santa Cruz fundadore José Joaquín Castro, who came as a boy with his family to Alta California from Mexico with the second De Anza expedition in 1775.

Uncleared log jams downstream in the city of Capitola have been blamed for the flooding.

Capitola City Planner Richard Steele implemented a debris removal program after the near flooding in 1986.

[9] According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.6 square miles (11.9 km2), all of it land.

[13] Anna Jean Cummings Park is the largest park in Soquel, with playfields for soccer, baseball, and softball, playgrounds, picnic areas, and a large open space of coastal prairie terrace.

Based on a 1990 proposal, a park with a community center is under development on a property known as "The Farm".