Donate to the Pacifica Historical Society and Coastside Museum

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Exhibits
  • Gift Shop
  • Rentals
  • Hobo_Dinner
  • More
    • Home
    • About
    • Contact
    • Join
    • Events
    • Resources
    • Exhibits
    • Gift Shop
    • Rentals
    • Hobo_Dinner
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Exhibits
  • Gift Shop
  • Rentals
  • Hobo_Dinner
Pacifica Historical Society

PRESERVING AND CELEBRATING PACIFICA'S PAST

PRESERVING AND CELEBRATING PACIFICA'S PAST PRESERVING AND CELEBRATING PACIFICA'S PAST PRESERVING AND CELEBRATING PACIFICA'S PAST

Pacifica Period

Pacifica Period 1957-present

  •  City of Pacifica
  •  Clubs & Organizations
  •  Miss Pacifica
  •  Pacifica Mayors
  • Famous Pacificans
  •  Pacifica Memories: Community Access Channel 8, by Jim Schrempp  
  •  Photos of the little Brown Church Coastside Museum
  •  Schools
  •  Sports
  •  Statues
  •  Street Names (Footprints Video #8)
  •  The Tom Lantos Tunnel
  •  Fogfest 2013
  •  Whales               

NEIGHBORHOODS

PACIFICA NEIGHBORHOODS

Pacifica is framed by the ridges of the  Coast Range on the east and the Pacific Ocean on the west. With over six  miles of beaches punctuated with tiny pocket coves, rolling dunes and  rocky headlands, Pacifica offers an ever-changing scenic panorama. 

Over  half of the land in this small city is protected open space with  numerous city, county and state parks. More than one thousand acres  belong to the famed Golden Gate National Recreation Area. These  bountiful parklands give Pacifica a spaciousness rarely found in  suburban areas, yet it is only three miles from San Francisco’s southern  border and less than 20 minutes to downtown. 


The  natural world of beaches, headlands and hills provides a wide range of  recreational opportunities. These include surfing, scuba, fishing,  paragliding, hiking, birding, mountain biking, boating and horseback  riding. Pacifica also offers golf, tennis, bowling, archery and loads of  team sports. Several miles of coastal and ridgetop trails tie Pacifica  to neighboring communities. Because Pacifica evolved  as several separate beach communities, there is no town center, but  rather a string of small shopping centers and commercial areas. Many of  the homes are hidden along peaceful valleys tucked away from the busy  Coast Highway. To see Pacifica, you’ll follow Highway 1 but to discover  its secrets, you’ll need to exit the main road and explore its byways. (Photo by Deb Wong)


FAIRMONT and EDGEMAR

We  begin our Pacifica tour in Fairmont where Highway 1 begins its  spectacular descent down the coast. This community, built mostly by  developer Henry Doelger, displays some of the best views in the city.  The neighborhood is served by a large shopping center at the  intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 35 on Hickey Boulevard, and is  blessed with two excellent playground parks. 

Edgemar  dates back to early railroad days and was the first Pacifica stop on  the Ocean Shore RR.  Though many of its homes were built in the forties,  Edgemar has several pocket communities of newer homes as well as  cliffside condominiums perched above the dunes. A pocket park sits at  the very edge - a perfect spot for whale watching. 





PACIFIC MANOR AND WESTVIEW(PACIFIC HIGHLANDS)

Next  comes Pacific Manor. Mostly developer-built in the late forties and  early fifties, Pacific Manor has many tree-lined streets with cozy homes  perfect for young families. Several apartment complexes sit on the  blufftops overlooking the ocean. 

On the hills above Pacific Manor sits Westview (Pacific Highlands). With Cape Cod-style  homes built in the late forties, and Scottish street names like  Lockhaven Drive and Heather Court, the community stresses its connection  to the highland moors. Many of the homes boast valley or ocean views  (or both). (Photo by Deb Wong)


SHARP PARK

Continuing along Highway 1, we reach Sharp  Park, an older neighborhood with many ties to Ocean Shore Railway days.  Among the buildings dating back to 1906 is The Castle, a turreted  fortress built on a hillside overlooking the beach. Sharp  Park contains a mixture of homes ranging from converted summer cottages  to modern custom-built homes. It also has Pacifica’s only mobile home  park perched on the cliff just above the roaring surf. Many of the  streets are narrow and one-way and bordered with wind-worn Monterey pine.  

A one-mile beach promenade with fishing pier adds  to the community’s amenities. Palmetto Avenue is a quaint  shopping district for those who like to stroll and snack. Visitors  entering from the east travel along Sharp Park Road, a winding route  that follows a former cow path down the mountainside. At the top of  Sharp Park Road are two new housing developments with hawk-eye views of  the spectacular coastline. 

Dividing Sharp Park from  the next community to the south is an 18-hole public golf course, often  referred to as "the poor man's Pebble Beach." The course was designed by  noted golf architect Alexander McKenzie and landscaped by Golden Gate  Park's John McLaren. (Photo by Deb Wong)



FAIRWAY PARK and VALLEMAR

Fairway Park was built in the  late fifties, though many of the homes show recent upgrades. Framed by  the golf course, ocean, and the headlands of Mori Point and backed by  the protected Coastal Range, residents are surrounded by nature. In  addition to the golf links, Fairway Park also shelters an outdoor  archery range and a baseball field. 

Vallemar, a  rustic wooded community is home to one of the few remaining Ocean Shore  Railway stations, now a popular restaurant. Noted for its majestic tall  trees, many planted nearly a century ago, Vallemar homes follow  meandering Calera Creek. There are an eclectic variety of homes ranging  from small bungalows to custom-built estate homes. You’ll find Vallemar  shady and bucolic, and may even spy a horse barn. (Photo by Deb Wong)


ROCKAWAY BEACH

On  the west side of Highway 1 lies Rockaway Beach, Pacifica’s best-known  tourist area, with several restaurants and hotels, small shops and a  visitor’s center. The beach is lit at night for romantic surf watching.  Tucked below the headland is a small pocket beach popular with surfers.  Across the highway, the residential area of Rockaway Beach wends east  into the hills along Rockaway Beach Avenue. Each home is custom-built  and many are contemporary in design. (Photo by Deb Wong)


LINDA MAR & PARK PACIFICA

Our next stop is  crescent-shaped Pacifica State Beach, rated among the best surfing  beaches in the state. The beach fronts Pacifica’s largest neighborhood,  sunny Linda Mar. To explore its riches, head inland.

About  a mile east on Linda Mar Boulevard stands the oldest home in San Mateo  County, the Sanchez adobe ranch house. Built in 1846, the adobe was the  country home of Don Francisco Sanchez, then Mayor of San Francisco. Now a  pleasant county park and museum, the site hosts many living history  events and activities for all ages.

Much of Linda Mar  is tract homes, built in the fifties and sixties. Here, as elsewhere in  Pacifica, the potential sameness of the homes is avoided by lush  landscaping and other additions. With its numerous parks and  playgrounds, the community is ideal for families. Linda Mar also houses  the Pacifica Community Center, a theater arts complex and an outdoor  skate park. 

Farther back in the valley is Park  Pacifica, with large modern homes built in the seventies. At the very  end of the valley is an equestrian center as well as San Pedro Valley  Park, a wilderness parkland with miles of sunny hiking and riding  trails. (Photo by Deb Wong)


PEDRO POINT

Pedro Point is a charming  hillside neighborhood that climbs the slopes of San Pedro Mountain on  the west side of Highway 1. It’s an area of one-of-a-kind homes,  reminiscent of Carmel. Super-narrow streets, bordered by twisted cypress  and Monterey pine, cling to the hillsides and afford grand views from  nearly every home site. At the foot of the mountain, hidden from view to  all but walkers, is a tiny fisherman’s village that looks like it  stepped off the pages of a Cabot Cove thriller.by June Langhoff,  Pacifican and author of "The Telecommuter's Advisor"      (Photo by Michael A Wong)

SHELTER COVE

 Shelter Cove is a 17-acre (6.9 ha) beach neighborhood at the southerly edge of Pacifica, California consisting of seventeen rustic rental cottages.  

Historically the cove has been a recreational beach and popular San Francisco tourist destination. Shelter Cove was a picnic day stop along the Ocean Shore Railroad during its heyday, and later through the Prohibition Era up until the 1940s.[2] A restaurant and bar, the Clipper Ship, operated at Shelter Cove for many years during this period. Ever since the access road washed out during a 1983 storm, this neighborhood and beach is accessible only by footpath or boat.[3] Public access to the Shelter Cove beach from this road and footpath was closed in 1975. (Photo by Deb Wong)



Copyright © Pacifica Historical Society - All Rights Reserved.

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Join
  • Events
  • Resources
  • Exhibits
  • Rentals