Two Eras in Montara: Home of a Ranchero’s Son & Monument

to the Spanish Explorers erected by Montara Publisher Harr Wagner

Photos: At left, the decaying remains of this building were once home to the Victor Guerrero family. Victor’s dad, Francisco, had been granted ownership of the northern part of the Corral de Tierra. In later years, Charlie Nye turned the Guerrero home into a small hotel. At right, About 1912, possibly to attract media publicity for his Montara Artist’s Colony, and new hotel, built at the foot of the signature mountain, book publisher Harr Wagner dedicated an impressive monument to the explorer Portola. In 1769 the Portola expedition pitched camp near Martini Creek. The next day the men climbed steep Pedro Mountain and discovered San Francisco Bay from Sweeney Ridge.

(Photo: Vic Guerrero’s home was a hotel run by Charlie Nye, of “The Reefs” fame.)