Pacifica (Spanish : Pacífica, meaning "Peaceful") [5] is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay.
The City of Pacifica is spread along a 6-mile (9.7-kilometer) stretch of sandy coastal beaches and hills in north central California. The city comprises several small valleys spread between Sweeney Ridge in the east, Montara Mountain to the south, and the Pacific Ocean's rocky bluffs to the west.
Pacifica is well known regionally as a popular surfing destination. Surfers and families often visit Linda Mar Beach. Rockaway Beach is a scenic location and offers recreation, shopping and dining. 2005 marked the opening of the top ranked Pacifica Skatepark. Pacifica is also a popular mountain biking destination, with many trails crossing the hillsides that surround the city, including Pedro Mountain Road, Sweeney Ridge, and areas of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. [6] Fishermen frequent the local beaches and the Pacifica Pier, often catching striped bass and salmon. Pacifica is also a popular place to hike, with many trails that wind along the beaches and bluffs, including Mori Point, San Pedro Valley County Park, Frontierland Park, the Sanchez Adobe, Milagra Ridge, and the privately owned Rockaway Quarry. [7] For live local theater and performing arts, Pacifica Spindrift Players is a local and popular favorite, in addition to Pacifica Performances which regularly provides both musical presentations and performing arts as well. [8] [9] Pacifica is also home to the Sharp Park Golf Course, [10] which was designed in 1931 by architect Alister MacKenzie. The world class bromeliad nursery, Shelldance Orchid Gardens is located just off Highway 1 in Pacifica, adjacent to the Sweeney Ridge hiking trailhead. [11]
Pacifica is divided into roughly eleven districts from north to south:
Before European settlers arrived, Pacifica was home to two significant Ohlone Indian villages: Pruristac located at San Pedro Creek near present-day Adobe Drive, and Timigtac on Calera Creek in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood.
Pacifica is the location of the oldest European encounter with the San Francisco Bay. An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà sighted the bay by climbing the hills of Sweeney Ridge in Pacifica on November 4, 1769. [17] Before then, earlier Spanish maritime explorers of the California coast Juan Cabrillo and Sebastian Vizcaino had missed the San Francisco Bay because heavy fog so frequently shrouded its entrance from the Pacific Ocean (the Golden Gate). Sighting the San Francisco Bay accelerated the Spanish colonization of Alta California because it was the only large, safe, centrally located harbor on the Alta California coast. The Spanish had known about Monterey Bay since the sixteenth century, but, unlike San Francisco Bay, it was too exposed to rough currents and winds to be used as major harbor for their trade between Asia and Mexico. In the Spanish era, Pacifica was the site of the San Pedro Valley Mission Outpost (1786–1793) of Mission Dolores. That was dissolved when a newly independent Mexico secularized the mission system. Pacifica is also the site of the still-extant Mexican-era Sánchez Adobe, built in 1846. The city is located on a part of the Mexican land grant Rancho San Pedro given to Francisco Sanchez in 1839.
During World War II, the area around the present-day Sharp Park recreational area held the Sharp Park Detention Station, an INS processing facility for Japanese Americans, Japanese nationals, and other "foreign enemies" during Japanese internment. [18] [19] The Stanford professor Yamato Ichihashi spent six weeks in Sharp Park. He described the facility, writing, "The ground is limited by tall iron net-fences and small in area; barracks 20' x 120' are well-built and painted outside and inside and are regularly arranged; there are 10 of these for inmates, each accommodating about 40, divided into 5 rooms for 8 persons each; if double-decked (beds), 80 can be put in." [20]
On February 20, 1956, the Hazel's Inn raid occurred in Sharp Park. [21] Sheriff Earl Whitmore told the San Mateo County Times at the time, "The purpose of the raid was to let it be known that we are not going to tolerate gatherings of homosexuals in this county." [22] Ninety people were arrested that night, and the majority were San Francisco residents.
Pacifica was incorporated in 1957, relatively recently in the history of San Mateo County. Its first elected mayor was Jean Fassler, one of the first women mayors in California. It was the union of nine previously separate, unincorporated communities–Fairmont, Westview, Pacific Manor (or just Manor), Sharp Park, Fairway Park, Vallemar, Rockaway Beach, Linda Mar and Pedro Point–some of which were stops on the short-lived Ocean Shore Railroad. [23] The name "Pacifica" was chosen from Thomas Barca, by vote[ citation needed ]; "Coastside" was a close runner-up[ citation needed ]. In 1960, the city seal was designed by resident Ralph Barkey, who was inspired by Ralph Stackpole's towering "Pacifica" statue produced for the 1939–1940 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in the San Francisco Bay. [24]
Pacifica straddles San Pedro Creek which flows from the western slope of Sweeney Ridge. The far eastern portion of Pacifica includes San Andreas Creek which flows down the eastern slope of Sweeney Ridge. The Portola expedition followed these two creeks in the discovery of San Francisco Bay. Calera Creek runs through Pacifica Quarry and is protected as ESHA Environmentally Sensitive Habitat.
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Pacifica has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb) typical of coastal areas of California. [25] The National Weather Service has maintained a cooperative weather station in Pacifica since November 1, 1983. Based on those records, average January temperatures range from 45.8 to 56.7 °F (7.7 to 13.7 °C) and average September temperatures range from 53.9 to 71.8 °F (12.2 to 22.1 °C). There are an average of 3.0 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher and an average of 0.2 day with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The highest temperature on record was 102 °F (39 °C) on October 5, 1987, and the lowest temperature was 23 °F (−5 °C) on December 22, 1990. Annual precipitation averages 30.29 inches (769 mm) and has ranged from 15.88 inches (403 mm) in 1990 to 43.17 inches (1,097 mm) in 1996. The most rainfall in one month was 18.05 inches (458 mm) in February 1998 and the most rainfall in 24 hours was 5.00 inches (127 mm) on December 27, 2004. There are an average of 66 days annually with measurable precipitation, most of which falls from October through May. Summer fogs often produce light drizzle in the night and morning hours. Condensation from the fogs also produces fog drip from trees overnight. No measurable snowfall has been recorded since records began. [26] The southeastern portions of the municipality, such as Park Pacifica, are known to be much sunnier than the rest of the city. [27]
Climate data for Pacifica, California (Pacifica 4 SSE averages: 1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 74 (23) | 78 (26) | 82 (28) | 93 (34) | 95 (35) | 98 (37) | 100 (38) | 96 (36) | 98 (37) | 102 (39) | 81 (27) | 73 (23) | 102 (39) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 58.1 (14.5) | 60.1 (15.6) | 61.4 (16.3) | 63.9 (17.7) | 66.9 (19.4) | 68.8 (20.4) | 69.4 (20.8) | 71.0 (21.7) | 72.3 (22.4) | 70.1 (21.2) | 64.1 (17.8) | 58.8 (14.9) | 65.4 (18.6) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 45.3 (7.4) | 46.0 (7.8) | 46.1 (7.8) | 47.6 (8.7) | 49.4 (9.7) | 50.8 (10.4) | 52.3 (11.3) | 53.3 (11.8) | 53.4 (11.9) | 52.3 (11.3) | 49.7 (9.8) | 46.2 (7.9) | 49.4 (9.7) |
Record low °F (°C) | 32 (0) | 27 (−3) | 33 (1) | 37 (3) | 38 (3) | 44 (7) | 42 (6) | 40 (4) | 45 (7) | 40 (4) | 37 (3) | 23 (−5) | 23 (−5) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 6.14 (156) | 6.48 (165) | 4.45 (113) | 2.36 (60) | 1.00 (25) | 0.25 (6.4) | 0.01 (0.25) | 0.08 (2.0) | 0.11 (2.8) | 1.50 (38) | 2.86 (73) | 6.64 (169) | 31.88 (810) |
Source 1: [28] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: [29] |
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
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1960 | 20,995 | — | |
1970 | 36,020 | 71.6% | |
1980 | 36,866 | 2.3% | |
1990 | 37,670 | 2.2% | |
2000 | 38,390 | 1.9% | |
2010 | 37,234 | −3.0% | |
2020 | 38,640 | 3.8% | |
U.S. Decennial Census [30] |
At the 2010 census Pacifica had a population of 37,234. The population density was 2,941.1 inhabitants per square mile (1,135.6/km2). The racial makeup of Pacifica was 55.6% white, 16.8% (6,243) Hispanic or Latino of any race, 976 (2.6%) African American, 206 (0.6%) Native American, 7,230 (19.4%) Asian, 315 (0.8%) Pacific Islander, 1,703 (4.6%) from other races, and 2,638 (7.1%) from two or more races. [31]
The census reported that 37,052 people (99.5% of the population) lived in households, 64 (0.2%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 118 (0.3%) were institutionalized.
There were 13,967 households, 4,511 (32.3%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 7,385 (52.9%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,592 (11.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 709 (5.1%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 869 (6.2%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 237 (1.7%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,126 households (22.4%) were one person and 1,098 (7.9%) had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.65. There were 9,686 families (69.3% of households); the average family size was 3.12.
The age distribution was 7,707 people (20.7%) under the age of 18, 2,842 people (7.6%) aged 18 to 24, 10,011 people (26.9%) aged 25 to 44, 12,155 people (32.6%) aged 45 to 64, and 4,519 people (12.1%) who were 65 or older. The median age was 41.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.
There were 14,523 housing units at an average density of 1,147.2 per square mile, of the occupied units 9,545 (68.3%) were owner-occupied and 4,422 (31.7%) were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.9%; the rental vacancy rate was 4.8%. 26,567 people (71.4% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 10,485 people (28.2%) lived in rental housing units.
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At the 2000 census there were 38,390 people in 13,994 households, including 9,655 families, in the city. The population density was 3,038.9 inhabitants per square mile (1,173.3/km2). There were 14,245 housing units at an average density of 1,127.6 units per square mile (435.4 units/km2). [33]
Of the 13,994 households 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. 21.2% of households were one person and 6.4% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.21.
The age distribution was 23.2% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% 65 or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,737, and the median family income was $48,361 (these figures had risen to $52,000 and $62,463 respectively as of a 2007 estimate [34] ). Males had a median income of $50,761 versus $40,261 for females. The per capita income for the city was $30,183. About 1.2% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
The oldest person to ever live in Pacifica is Rose G. Rosenthal who was born on April 8, 1901, and died December 27, 2008.
The Reverend Herschell Harkins Memorial pier was constructed in 1973 and was designed to carry sewage piping out to sea. It was closed in 1992 due to corrosion of some of the structure. Since then the pier has been repaired and is a well known fishing spot; on July 8–9, 1995, over 1,000 salmon were caught from the pier.
According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, [35] the top employers in the city are:
# | Employer | # of Employees |
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1 | Pacifica School District | 499 |
2 | City of Pacifica | 282 |
3 | Safeway | 262 |
4 | Jefferson Union High School District | 137 |
5 | Oceana Market | 55 |
6 | Ace Hardware | 36 |
7 | Recology of the Coast | 35 |
8 | Rite Aid | 34 |
9 | Ross | 31 |
10 | North Coast County Water District | 22 |
Governed by a city council of five elected members, with each council seat in turn serving as mayor for a one-year term. A city manager, city attorney and city clerk are appointed and serve in support of the council to enact the ordinances passed by the council, which meets biweekly on the second and fourth Mondays of the month. [36]
The major City departments, ranked by cost: [37]
As of August 1, 2011, the South San Francisco Police Department took over the Pacifica emergency calls dispatch. [38]
In the California State Legislature, Pacifica is in the 13th Senate District , represented by Democrat Josh Becker, and in the 23rd Assembly District , represented by Democrat Marc Berman. [39]
In the United States House of Representatives, Pacifica is in California's 16th congressional district , represented by Democrat Anna Eshoo. [40]
According to the California Secretary of State, as of February 10, 2019, Pacifica has 25,029 registered voters. Of those, 13,404 (53.6%) are registered Democrats, 3,290 (13.1%) are registered Republicans, and 7,154 (28.6%) have declined to state a political party. [41]
The local weekly newspaper, the Pacifica Tribune , [42] is mailed out every Wednesday. It is part of Coastside News Group, a locally owned California Benefit Corporation that includes the Half Moon Bay Review [43] and Coastside Magazine. It originated as the Coastside Tribune early in the twentieth century.
Other media include:
Pacifica Community Television, Pacifica's Emmy Award-winning local public-access television cable TV channel 26, has continuously operated for 30 years, featuring community based television. On national television, Guy Fieri visited Gorilla BBQ for the fifth season of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives in 2009. [49]
The final scene of Harold and Maude in which Harold makes the leap off a cliff was filmed at Mori Point in Pacifica. [50] The 2003 film House of Sand and Fog and the 2012 Chasing Mavericks were also filmed in Pacifica. [50]
The 2007 National Book Award finalist Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr is set in Pacifica. [51] In 2017, it was adapted into a Lifetime movie.
The public elementary and middle school district, known as Pacifica School District, (formerly the Laguna Salada School District), consists of Vallemar, Cabrillo, Ingrid B. Lacy, Sunset Ridge, Ortega, Linda Mar and Ocean Shore schools, and also a home schooling program. The administration office is located at 375 Reina del Mar Avenue, adjacent to Vallemar School. Each school enrolls about 550-600 students. There are two private K-8 schools, Good Shepherd School and Pacific Bay Christian School, a K-12 school which was founded as a segregation academy.
Pacifica also previously had an established elementary school from 1969 - 2005 known as Oddstad (Oddstad Andres) Elementary located in the Park Pacifica neighborhood. Though now non-operational, the campus site has been host to numerous community events, and private courses as well as sporting events and leisure.
Pacifica has one private high school and two public high schools which are part of the Jefferson Union High School District. Oceana High School in the central part of the city while Terra Nova High School and Pacific Bay Christian School are in the south. Many students in the northern part of Pacifica attend Jefferson High School or Westmoor High School nearby in adjacent Daly City. Oceana's teaching paradigm is geared toward longer classes, senior exhibitions, and mandated community service. Much larger Terra Nova is a more traditional institution, featuring numerous sports, clubs, and a broad-based and enriching educational experience.
San Mateo County Libraries, a member of the Peninsula Library System, operates the Pacifica-Sanchez Library and the Pacifica-Sharp Park Library. [52]
San Mateo County, officially the County of San Mateo, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, the third-most populated city in the county after Daly City and San Mateo.
Belmont is a city in San Mateo County in the U.S. state of California. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the San Francisco Peninsula about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It was originally part of Rancho de las Pulgas, for which one of its main roads, the Alameda de las Pulgas, is named. The city was incorporated in 1926. Its population was 28,335 at the 2020 census.
Daly City is the second most populous city in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, and immediately south of San Francisco, it is named for businessman and landowner John Donald Daly.
Foster City is a master-planned city located in San Mateo County, California, United States. Foster City is sometimes considered to be part of Silicon Valley for its local industry and its proximity to Silicon Valley cities. There are many notable companies headquartered in Foster City like Gilead Sciences, Zoox, Sledgehammer Games, and Replit. Visa used to be headquartered in Foster City.
Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately 25 miles south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the unincorporated community of Princeton-by-the-Sea. Half Moon Bay is known for Mavericks, a big-wave surf location. It is called Half Moon Bay because of its crescent shape.
Hillsborough is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is located 17 miles (27 km) south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula, bordered by Burlingame to the north, San Mateo to the east, Highlands-Baywood Park to the south, and Interstate 280 to the west. The population was 11,387 at the 2020 census.
Millbrae is a city located in northern San Mateo County, California, United States. To the northeast is San Francisco International Airport; San Bruno is to the northwest, and Burlingame is to the southeast. It is bordered by San Andreas Lake to the southwest. The population was 23,216 at the 2020 census.
Montara is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population was 2,833 at the 2020 census. Nearby communities include Moss Beach and Princeton-by-the-Sea.
Moss Beach is a coastal census-designated place in San Mateo County, California, with a year 2020 census population of 3,214. Located in Moss Beach are the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, a marine sanctuary; the Half Moon Bay Airport, the historic Moss Beach Distillery; and the Seal Cove Inn, a destination lodging property. Moss Beach is a cool coastal microclimate that gives one a sense of separation from the nearby metropolitan San Francisco Bay Area and assures that summer temperatures are generally mild.
Portola Valley is an incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy community nestled on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
San Bruno is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to San Francisco International Airport and Golden Gate National Cemetery; it is approximately 12 miles (19 km) south of Downtown San Francisco.
San Mateo is the most populous city in the county of the same name, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster City to the east and Belmont to the south. The population was 105,661 at the 2020 census.
Captain Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira was a Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the first governor of the Californias from 1767 to 1770. Born in Catalonia into an aristocratic family, he is best known for leading the Portolá expedition into California, which laid the foundations of Spanish rule in the region Californian cities like San Diego and Monterey, and bestowed names to geographic features throughout California, many of which are still in use.
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) is a U.S. National Recreation Area protecting 82,116 acres (33,231 ha) of ecologically and historically significant landscapes surrounding the San Francisco Bay Area. Much of the park is land formerly used by the United States Army. GGNRA is managed by the National Park Service and is the second-most visited unit of the National Park system in the United States, with more than 15.6 million visitors in 2022. It is also one of the largest urban parks in the world, with a size two-and-a-half times that of the consolidated city and county of San Francisco.
Rockaway Beach is a shoreline area of the Pacific Ocean in the southern portion of Pacifica, California, United States, approximately 7 miles (11 km) south of the city of San Francisco. It is located within a gently curving embayment with direct access via Rockaway Beach Avenue and providing easy access to Highway 1.
The Ocean Shore Railroad was a railroad built between San Francisco and Tunitas Glen, and Swanton and Santa Cruz that operated along the Pacific coastline from 1905 until 1920. The route was originally conceived to be a continuous line between San Francisco and Santa Cruz, but the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, financial difficulties, and the advent of the automobile caused the line to never reach its goals, and remain with a Northern and Southern division.
Pedro Mountain Road describes a series of historical road crossings of Pedro Mountain, a promontory ridge located between Montara Mountain and the coastal cliffs of Devil's Slide in San Mateo County, California. This Pedro Mountain headland blocks the easy passage of coastal travelers between the Pedro Valley in Pacifica, California and Montara, California. The most prominent of these Pedro Mountain roads was Coastside Boulevard, the 1914 to 1937 coastal highway 57, which remains in use today as part of the trail network of McNee Ranch State Park.
San Pedro Creek is a perennial stream in the City of Pacifica, San Mateo County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area whose tributaries originate on Sweeney Ridge in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Montara Mountain in the Santa Cruz Mountains.The creek mainstem flows 2.5 miles (4.0 km) through the San Pedro Valley to its mouth near Shelter Cove of the Pacific Ocean The stream is notable as the 1769 campsite for Gaspar de Portolà before he ascended Sweeney Ridge and discovered San Francisco Bay.
Mori Point is a 110-acre (0.4 km2) park located in Pacifica, California, that is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). Mori Point itself is a bluff next to the Pacific Ocean that provides scenic views of the peninsula coastline. In addition to the bluff and ridge, Mori Point contains a few small ponds and wetlands. Trails, many newly built, connect the ridgeline to the entrances to the park and to Sharp Park beach. A portion of the California Coastal Trail will run through Mori Point.
The San Francisco Bay Discovery Site is a marker commemorating the first recorded European sighting of San Francisco Bay. In 1769, the Portola expedition traveled north by land from San Diego, seeking to establish a base at the Port of Monterey described by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602. When they reached Monterey, however, they were not sure it was the right place and decided to continue north. The party reached San Pedro Creek on October 31 and camped there for four nights, while scouts led by José Francisco Ortega climbed Sweeney Ridge, where they could see over the ridge toward the east, and so became the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay on November 1.