Several weeks ago, I stood by my wife at the edge of a golf course in a bone-chilling wind, waiting for a bagpiper to appear as waves crashed on rocks below. All we lacked was a wee dram of single-malt whisky.
No, we weren’t in Scotland. We were visiting Half Moon Bay, about 380 miles north of Los Angeles, just 30 miles south of San Francisco.
The town feels much removed from both big cities, thanks to the green, rugged hills just inland and downtown’s modest scale and measured pace. Despite growing numbers of weekend visitors and remote workers from San Francisco and Silicon Valley, Half Moon Bay is a community with agricultural roots, a feed store on Main Street and a population that has remained at around 11,000 for the last 20 years.
Oh, and there’s the Ritz-Carlton, about 3 miles south of town, where a bagpiper is booked to play every sunset.
In other words, if you’re visiting, you’ll encounter a coast that feels like Scotland (especially in February) and a town reminiscent of Mayberry, the idyllic community with one traffic light from “The Andy Griffith Show.” Of course, no place is really that simple, but if you’re looking for a few days’ escape between L.A. and S.F., heading here is a good start.
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If you don’t begin at the water’s edge, you’ll probably head straight for Main Street, which we did the next morning. There, within 100 steps of Half Moon Bay Feed & Fuel (founded in 1911), you’ll find a couple of art galleries, a gourmet olive oil retailer, the Barterra Winery tasting room and the beloved Garden Deli Cafe, where locals line up before the 10 a.m. opening time to get fresh bread and sandwiches.
A block farther south, in Mac Dutra Park at Main and Kelly Avenue, we found a great heap of flowers, along with condolence notes in English, Chinese and Spanish — the aftermath of the worst crime Half Moon Bay has suffered in years.
In late January, a farmworker — apparently angry over being bullied and billed $100 for damaging a fork lift — allegedly shot and killed seven people at two mushroom farms. He later pleaded not guilty and a trial is pending. The deaths prompted intense discussion about the proliferation of mass shootings throughout the U.S. and the hardships faced by agricultural workers in a community where two-bedroom apartments rent for $3,000 and the median home value has risen to $1.26 million.
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After the deaths, investigators found that California Terra Garden, one of the shooting locations, had housed about 27 workers and family members in grim, unpermitted conditions. California Terra Garden has vowed to build new housing with proper permits, but substandard farmworker housing remains a statewide problem, now worsened by the winter’s flooding.
We spent a quiet moment in the park with the flowers and notes.
Later, we joined the many walkers on the 7.5-mile Half Moon Bay Coastside Trail, watching surfers work waves and thinking about the West Coast’s most famous big-wave surf break, Mavericks, an offshore phenomenon near Pillar Point that depends on fluctuating tidal conditions and is invisible from the coast highway.
Just getting to Mavericks Beach is tricky (read on for more about that), but when conditions are right, surfers paddle half a mile beyond that beach to catch waves that can reach 60 feet in height. As just about everyone who paddles out can tell you, one of those waves killed celebrated surfer Mark Foo in 1994, and the break’s menacing power has inspired documentaries, including Stacy Peralta’s “Riding Giants,” and books such as Mark Kreidler’s “The Voodoo Wave.”
Even if you never get your feet wet, it’s mesmerizing to stand by the jetty just south of Pillar Point Harbor and watch the swells at Surfers Beach surge, crest and crash.
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After that, load up on seafood at Sam’s Chowder House, which has a dining room and big deck overlooking the waves. Your dietitian might not recommend the prawns stuffed with crab and wrapped in bacon at Sam’s, but I do. It’s a flavor riot of the finest kind.
Tourism heats up here in spring and summer, and traffic can get tough on weekends. That’s also true in fall, when Half Moon Bay’s Art & Pumpkin Festival culminates with a pumpkin weigh-off.
Since our visit, storms have felled trees and caused other damage in the area, briefly closing California 92, perhaps the busiest route into and out of town. That route is open again. But in weeks to come, it makes sense to check the Caltrans website for highway conditions before driving any place in Santa Cruz or San Mateo counties.
Half Moon Bay may be a small town, and a slow one (in the best possible sense). But it also punches above its weight — there’s more to explore (and eat) than in most destinations this size. In fact, we’ve been noodling around itinerary ideas for the next trip. Sunday afternoon jazz at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society? A pint at Cameron’s Pub? We’ll be back before long.
