City, San Mateo County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 94019
Small town
on the Pacific. In parts quaint. Forever arguing about growth and voting on
this or that measure to control it. Continues to grow but slowly. Population in
1993 broke the 10,000 mark and now stands at 13,046. www.mccormacks.com
Median age
of residents is 39. Children and teens under 18 make up 22 percent of town;
people over 55 years, 20 percent. Middle aged flecked with gray.
Half Moon
Bay wants to shape its growth to provide local jobs and boost the town's
economy without greatly increasing the population. In 2001, Ritz-Carlton opened
a luxury hotel on the ocean, 261 rooms, a spa, two golf courses.
Click for regional or detailed map
One of the
oldest communities in the county. For a long time a farm town that owed its
livelihood to the cultivation of strawflowers, artichokes, cabbages and
sprouts. Farming still counts in Half Moon Bay but not as much as it used to.
Mixed
housing. Apartments down near shore. Older homes east of Highway 1. To south of
town country club estates with fairway homes. Quite pretty, quite expensive.
Some upper-middling housing near Frenchman’s Creek Road.
Downtown
these days is looking like something out of Marin: delis, fine restaurants,
boutiques, bookstores, streets that invite strolling. www.mccormacks.com
Residences
in 2008 numbered 4,483 — single homes 2,827, single attached 536,
multiples 693, mobile homes 427. In the 1990s, Half Moon Bay erected about 300
housing units and between 2000 and 2007 another 349, mostly single homes.
Town is
built on flat land; few, if any, view homes. Ocean is within a few blocks of
any home. State beach runs along the shore. Hills look down on the city.
Fog
country. Often socked in during the summer, clear in the winter. Fog puts off
many people and has limited development.
Commute
not as bad as might be thought. San Francisco, along Route 1, is a long drive
but nearby Route 92, one of the few east-west arterials in the county, takes
you over the ridge and down to Interstate 280 and Highway 101, the roads to
Silicon Valley and San Francisco, and to the Hayward-San Mateo Bridge.
On
weekends and summer days, the coastal roads are often congested with tourists. www.mccormacks.com
Highway 1
going north to Pacifica often washes out at a place called Devil’s Slide.
Tunnel that will solve the problem under construction.
Route 92
has been improved: curves straightened, shoulders widened for cyclists, uphill
and turnout lanes added.
Chamber of
commerce estimates the rush-hour commute to San Francisco as 47 minutes, to
City of San Mateo 24 minutes, to Palo Alto 35 minutes, to Silicon Valley 53
minutes.
Private
airfield north of city. If you have bucks, fly to work.
After
years of protests and legal actions, work was started on condo-hotel-conference
center to north of town on the coast. In 1996, someone torched it and burned it
to the ground. Rebuilt, it opened
in 1997. This will give you some idea of intensity of feeling about development
not only in Half Moon Bay but along the whole San Mateo coast. www.mccormacks.com
Crime rate
low. Zero homicides between 2005 and 1998, one in 1997, and zero in 1996, 1995
and 1994. See Crime.
Cabrillo
Unified School District. Academic rankings, with few exceptions, land between
the 50th percentile and 90th percentile, an indication of strong
parental interest. Hatch Elementary is educating the kids in English and
Spanish. See Schools.
Voters in
1996 passed a $35 million bond to renovate elementary schools and libraries,
build a middle school, expand the high school and upgrade science and computer
labs. But they have turned down several ballots for a parcel tax to improve
programs.
Lots of
outdoorsy things to do: salmon and rock fishing, whale watching, surfing (it’s
cold, wear wet suit), horseback riding, golfing. Up the road is the village of
Princeton with its restaurants, marina and fishing boats. You can buy fish
right from the boats.
When many
in the Bay Area feel like hollowing out a gourd, cutting holes out of it and
lighting it up with a candle, they head for Half Moon Bay. The town’s annual
pumpkin festival draws up to 250,000 people. Even on non-festival October days,
the pumpkin patches take on a carnival atmosphere to lure jack o'
lantern-hunting motorists. www.mccormacks.com
Prize to
the biggest pumpkin. In 2006 the champ weighed 1,223 pounds and measured at its
widest 10 feet-10 inches. It and its competitors were driven to Half Moon Bay
on flatbed trucks.
Other more
sedate festivals are also celebrated, including Heritage Festival (ethnic
diversity). Tourism drives large portion of local economy (restaurants, bed and
breakfast places, shops). Business people are trying to boost coast as place to
visit. Homes in old section have been restored. Walking tours.
Chamber of
commerce (650) 726-8380.
• After
years of shelling out for overtime, grievances and lawsuits, the fire
protection district in 2007 gave up on its fire department and contracted with
a state agency to fight fires and handle emergencies. The local firefighters,
not amused, are picketing and asking voters to overturn the decision.
• The bond
passed in 1995 paid for a new middle school but tangled in arguments over
location, the school never was built. Arguments resolved. Work on the school is
scheduled to start in 2007.
• Seagulls,
some residents argue, are polluting certain beaches. They blame a nearby
landfill that attracts the birds. Study underway. www.mccormacks.com
• Some of
the tallest waves in the world break on “The Mavericks” just north of Pillar
Point. “So heavy, so radical,” murmured a local surfer. And so deadly, killing
a world-class surfer in 1994. Lots of tsk-tsking in the press but the death
only made the place more attractive to surfers.
City web
site: www.half-moon-bay.ca.us
