Anyone living in Vacaville CA?

March 14, 2006 8:47 AM

Residents of Vacaville CA 95696? Can anyone confirm (or deny) that Belder Street in Vacaville actually exists? The company I run (based in the UK) has received a business enquiry that looks a bit suspect. House number in the 400s. All maps searched return "location does not exist". Grateful for any help. (No more inside!)
posted by JtJ to grab bag (15 comments total)

There's an Elder St in Vacaville. Perhaps it was a typo? Zip code is off though (95688).
posted by yeoz at 8:51 AM on March 14, 2006

If you haven't tried it already, the USPS site's zip code searcher is really good at weeding out addresses that don't exist. Almost all of the time, if it says an address is undeliverable, it's right.
posted by drezdn at 9:08 AM on March 14, 2006

Here is the Ask A Librarian page at the Vacaville Public Library. Sometimes you luck out and you get someone local, sometimes not and they'll run the same Google searches you are running. You might be able to tell them you're from out of the country and they'll make a phone call. The library does have a web form where you can contact them, but it might be a blind alley. They would have access to a gazeteer or other local atlas that would have an alpabetical listing if street names. The US Postal Service has a webtools service that you can register for which will verify address, I'm not sure what is involved with that. Keep in mind that in many places in the US that are growing, there are a LOT of streets that aren't viewable using the online map products because they're brand spanking new. I'd also consider contacting the Vacaville bus service [they'd know the roads, right?] or the local police department who would almost certainly know.
posted by jessamyn at 9:09 AM on March 14, 2006

According to the USPS's Reverse Zip Code lookup, 95696 is the ZIP code for P.O. Boxes in Vacaville, CA.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:23 AM on March 14, 2006

Wow! Thanks guys. That was quick. Lots of leads there. I'll do some digging and see what I can find. Many thanks.
posted by JtJ at 9:25 AM on March 14, 2006

Google live seems to think that Elder Street exists (you can zoom in slightly more if desired).

And mapquest has your Elder Strret too.

Is this what you had in mind? Hope it helps.
posted by bim at 9:28 AM on March 14, 2006

You could google for some realtors in Vacaville and ask them. They have access to all kinds of maps and knowledge which might help.
posted by firstdrop at 9:48 AM on March 14, 2006

I lived in Vacaville, CA for a few years. Elder street does indeed exist.

There is also a lot of construction going on in that area, and sometimes map sites don't reflect that information right away.

Contact City Hall. Link for you. Phone number is right on top. Explain your situation, and someone will help you. Someone in Engineering or City Planning can definitely tell you if the street you're looking for exists or not. But it's likely a typo of "Elder St."

And in case anyone is wondering, no, Vacaville does *not* mean "Cow town." The city was named after the Vaca family.
posted by drstein at 10:05 AM on March 14, 2006

Call the UK Trade Office at the Consulate in LA. They should be able to help you verify the address and the legitimacy of the business.

(YMMV I don't know if they still do this, I used to do it all the time when I worked at the trade office, but that was 4 years ago)
posted by necessitas at 12:35 PM on March 14, 2006

If Vacaville is in N.Ca, call the office in San Fran
posted by necessitas at 12:38 PM on March 14, 2006

Using Melissa's address standardization service, 410 Belder St. in the 95696 zip code is unknown. However, 410 Elder St. standardizes to Vacaville, CA 95688-2624.
posted by bigbigdog at 1:27 PM on March 14, 2006

Drstein gets Best Answer, obviously. But just as an FYI re: trusting Google, I rely on Google's map/satellite hybrid to learn where I'm headed when driving to new locations. It's mostly successful, but there have been a couple occasions where Google plots "225 Main Street" on the right street but miles away from where that number actually falls. It ain't foolproof, and if you require certainty then you really do need on-the-ground intel.
posted by cribcage at 3:04 PM on March 14, 2006

Thanks again, everyone. I guess I'll reply and see what happens.

Some background:
The Email in question was sent to "undisclosed recipients".
It is ALL in capital letters.
The writing style is that of a Nigerian-type spammer.
It has the address as "(House number in the 400s) Belder Street, Vacaville CA 95696".

I find it hard to believe that someone would get their OWN address wrong and not notice (the road AND the Zip!)

But....it makes a specific request for exactly the services that my company offer (ie: it's targeted rather than generic).

They'll probably want to pay us with a cheque for more than our fee and ask that we send them a cheque for the difference!
posted by JtJ at 4:10 AM on March 15, 2006

Yes, drstein, Vacaville may have been named after a person — Juan Manuel Vaca, to be exact — but I'm willing to bet that, at some point or another in history, his ancestors owned cattle, hence their family name. So, perhaps Cow Town is still appropriate! :-)
posted by stst399 at 6:34 AM on March 15, 2006

Me again.

Just to put the lid on this: It turns out the Email I received is a well-known scam aimed at entertainers.

One Clown's experience
....gives the story.
posted by JtJ at 8:29 AM on March 16, 2006