2. Location, History and Economy

The City of Half Moon Bay is located in San Mateo County, covering 6.5 square miles of land approximately 30 miles south of San Francisco and 40 miles northwest of San Jose. Half Moon Bay occupies the ancestral homeland of the Ohlone. The Ohlone is a collective of around 50 separate tribes with related languages from the Northern California Coast. Tribal lands stretched from the coast of San Francisco through Monterey Bay to lower Salinas Valley (Source).

The Ramaytush Ohlone were the original people of the San Francisco peninsula and the San Francisco Bay region respectively. When the Spanish arrived, they referred to the tribal groups collectively as “Costenos,” meaning “coastal people.” The Ohlone people’s subsistence livelihood was heavily reliant on marine resources. The name was eventually changed to “Costanoan.” Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Ramaytush Ohlone numbered approximately 1500 persons, but colonization during the Mission Period left only a few families surviving.

Today, descendants comprise the membership of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone (Source). The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of more than 500 members of surviving American Indian lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region. These members trace their ancestry through the Missions Dolores, Santa Clara, and San Jose; and members of the historic Federally Recognized Verona Band of Alameda County (Source).

The year 1769 marked the first Spanish contact with San Francisco Bay when Gaspar de Portola was searching for Monterey Bay. However, it was not until 1776 that Lieutenant José Joaquin Moraga and Francisco Palóu settled the Mission San Francisco de Asís, also known as Mission Dolores after a nearby creek. The mission was the 7th of 21 missions established by Spain as they colonized California. Spain also established a presidio, or military outpost, at the northern tip of the San Francisco peninsula. The mission settlements were intended to eventually become pueblos or cities, and the mission churches would become parish churches. The Mission Dolores became one of the largest settlements in all of Spanish California. By the early 19th century it is thought to have been home to over 1,000 people (soldiers, clergy, farmers, enslaved ingenious peoples, etc.) (Source). In 1821, Mexico separated from Spain and laid claim to California. The Mexican government soon proceeded to secularize the missions throughout the state and relocate their land to Mexican citizens for ranchos where they raised cattle. San Mateo County became the site of 17 large ranchos. Mexico eventually ceded the area to the United States in 1848 (Source) at the end of the Mexican American War.

In1846, gold was discovered in the area and the population of the San Francisco peninsula grew rapidly. Many of the area’s most influential people purchased land in San Mateo County, and the old Mexican ranchos became home to large mansions for wealthy Americans. In 1856 San Mateo County separated from San Francisco County.

Half Moon Bay is the oldest European settlement in San Mateo County, dating back to 1840. Settlers arriving during the Gold Rush named the area “Spanishtown” but in 1874 the name was changed to Half Moon Bay, after its crescent-shaped harbor (Source). The 20th century brought significant changes to the area. The town was impacted by the 1906 earthquake and lost many brick and adobe buildings. However many of the original stick frame structures remain today. Built in 1907 the Ocean Shore Railroad carried passengers through Half Moon Bay, traveling between San Francisco and Tunitas Glen. A real estate boom followed the railroad’s construction. Neighboring Princeton-by-the-Sea was established between 1906 and 1909 as a result. During the Prohibition Era of the 1920s and early 30s, Half Moon Bay was a popular spot for Canadian rumrunners who sought refuge in its hidden coves and fog. From the 1920s onward, growth in the area has been slow but steady. The City of Half Moon Bay was incorporated in 1959.

Half Moon Bay’s port facilities are located approximately 0.25 miles northwest at Pillar Point, just outside of Princeton-by-the-Sea. The harbor at Pillar Point was once known as “Old Landing” because it was the only place on the San Mateo County coast that was good for boat landings, the rest of the shoreline being too rugged and not as well protected. Originally, the landing was used by schooners that shipped the area’s agricultural bounty to San Francisco. Fisheries in the 19th century were prosecuted primarily by sailboat, and Half Moon Bay/Princeton was too far to reasonably compete in San Francisco’s markets. As boats shifted to gasoline-powered engines in the early 20th-century, commercial fishing became a viable livelihood for the Half Moon Bay/Princeton community. However, it was not until WWII that the area’s fishing industry came to life. Soon Pillar Point was home to three piers, two canneries and a refrigeration plant (Source). By the 1950s, the harbor’s fishers were active in several fisheries including salmon, crab, abalone, rockfish and lingcod. The winters were spent commercial fishing and, in the summers, fishers would run chartered sportfishing trips for income.

Groundfish, salmon and crab have continued to be important fisheries in the port. Declines and eventual fishery disasters in both the salmon and groundfish fisheries in the 1990s-2000s had important impacts on the local industry and processing sector. Pillar Point Harbor has had an active coastal pelagic (anchovy, sardine, and mackerel) fishery as well, but on a much smaller scale than other nearby ports such as Morro Bay and Monterey. The port’s coastal pelagic fishery has been limited by a lack of infrastructure for offloading, and a lack of local processors. Most coastal pelagic species landed in Half Moon Bay are shipped elsewhere for processing, and the distance to the region’s processing and packing facilities has proven a challenge for the fishery (Source).