Quaint mountain town famous for its apple pies is overrun with tourists and long lines after influencers crowed about it on social media

UK Daily Mail ^ | 24 November 2025 | ALEXA CIMINO

[dennisw]

A historic gold-mining town has turned into a crowded hotspot - with locals warning that the once-peaceful retreat had been transformed by TikTok and Instagram.

Julian, a rustic town tucked in the Cuyamaca Mountains about an hour east of San Diego, with a population of roughly 1,500, had long been celebrated for its iconic apple pies and historic streets lined with specialty shops.

But, in recent years, the influx of tourists has skyrocketed, leaving residents and visitors grappling with traffic jams, packed restaurants and hours-long waits on weekends.

David Lewis, who grew up in Julian and now works at the Julian Pioneer Museum, said the surge was unlike anything he had seen before.

'It's on steroids. It's kind of nuts up here,' he told NBC San Diego.

Julian's Main Street, once a quiet mountain escape, became packed with visitors lining up for pies and photo ops.

Locals said social media partly fueled the boom.

'It's been blowing up all over TikTok and Instagram,' Karina Chaire added.

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TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy
KEYWORDS:

[Rural_Michigan]

This is sad but not a surprise. 13 years ago I had to routinely wait in traffic at the intersection to get through town to go down the grade to Ocotillo Wells. Lots of RV and truck traffic has to go through Julian to get to the desert playground below

[Omnivore-Dan]

For apples? Not my cup of tea either. I can get all the apples I want within a short walk, and make a kick ass pie. It would take much more than apple pie for me to visit any crowded place. Now, maybe if Stevie Ray Vaughn was alive and jamming I’d wait for hours, many hours.

[BullDog108]

When I was in high school, late 1960’s, very early 70’s, my sinsimella dealer lived near Julian. He competed with a friend of ours from Fallbrook. Both had the best weed in California at the time. Most folks never even heard about “purple hairy” or knew how to grow polyploid flowers. And me and my friends had a monopoly on the pot trade for high school in La Canada / Flintridge. No one smoked dirt pot from across the border.

[MomwithHope]

Wow 238 people in your town. Sounds like it is ripe for development. I like all your ideas.

[BullDog108]

Never heard anything about apples or pies back then. The Hare Krishnas built a farm out there. But who knows what THEY were doing. lol

[Presbyterian Reporter]

The simple economic solution to this supposed problem is-—

When DEMAND exceeds SUPPLY raise the PRICE.

[dfwgator]

ROBERT REDFORD This is perfect. Why didn't we think of it sooner? This town still has some charm left, not the mess we turned Park City into.

PHYLLIS Forgive me for being observant, but, won't we just end up doing the same thing to this town?

ROBERT REDFORD Yes. And the town after, and the town after that. Like termites, we will move this film festival from town to town until we have used it up. And then move on, until every quiet mountain town is like Los Angeles.

PHYLLIS Why? Why would we do such a thing?

ROBERT REDFORD Because we have to live in L.A. And if we can't live in quiet, simple, peaceful mountain towns, then nobody will! Waitwaitwait. Zoom in to a close-up of my face when I do that. Ready? Then NOBODY will! That's it.

[drwoof]

Correct. The number of places I used to cherish have been destroyed as a direct result of ‘social media’. For example, years ago there was an out of the way USFS ‘tree farm’ of maybe 160 acres near my home. Beautiful creek running through it, etc. For years it was a perfect place for some leash-free dog adventures. A few people knew about it, and all was wonderful. Then Facebook came along. Within less than 90 days, the place was jammed with yayhoos and their yayhoo dogs. Dog fights, dog poop, and garbage everywhere. It all ended. The same has happened to many special places off in the forests I once knew. Not so special anymore. Used to be that one had to have the kind of friends that truly enjoyed nature and its magic in order to know about such places. Now everyone on the planet knows, and just MUST have a selfie there. Quite sad, really.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

One of my all-time favorite bits from The Simpsons is when they’re returning from a small-town apple festival. Marge asks Grandpa Simpson, “Abe, did you sit in that apple pie we bought?”, and he replies, “I sure hope so.”

[dfwgator]

[HartleyMBaldwin]

That’s probably what always brought a lot of the tourists to Julian.

[The Louiswu]

Some folks just want to run a little apple pie shop and make a few bucks and be happy, they don't necessarily have the means to handle large scale increases in business and success. Upscaling to handle more customers comes at a hefty cost most of the time including a decrease in quality and more pressure and stress, not something that everyone wants or can handle. Combine those factors with a few trolls who will crap on you and your livelihood just for laughs and life can take a sudden bad turn.

Sometimes social media is just a pack of locust moving from thing to thing and stripping it of it's quaintness and sometimes it's value

[FreedomPoster]

Publix does a lot right. I am a fan of their fried chicken.

[silent majority rising]

Says the nearby towns who are crying for business.

[Hyman Roth]

Uggh. Hallmark Channel season . 😩

[Dr. Sivana]

That pie loos like crap. The 7-11 has a better looking pie in the microwave rack.

Some of the best pizzas are pretty ugly, too. For some of us, it is all about the taste. I'll take my pie warmed up with a scoop of French Vanilla ice cream and some Redi-Whip, with a hot cup of Colombian coffee with cream, thank you.

Unless there is a good pecan pie available.

[tired&retired]

Julian is a beautiful town. An artist/architect friend of mine lived there until he died this past year. His name was James Hubbel and he is famous for his huge sculpture creations that are around the world, including along the bay in San Diego.

He lost everything a few years ago with one of those huge California wild fires and rebuilt his home and studio. They turned his place into a National Historic site.

Tour architect James Hubbell’s famous compound in Santa Ysabel, California - SDtoday https://share.google/rybogSWDoWfZtt0gI

[greenbrier]

The world is easily influenced.

[catnipman]

the human herd principle is powerful ... it’s even MORE powerful when amplified by social media ...

i personally saw it pre-internet when attending a conference of the National League of Cities in the Big Easy decades ago: word went around about a specific breakfast restaurant and it seemed like almost every conference attendee tried to eat there one morning ... total chaos ...

[catnipman]

“Careful. People might start lining up at 7-11 for their apple pie, due to your influencing.”

ROTFLOL!