About June Morrall
I’ve lived on the San Mateo County Coastside, in El Granada, for more than 35 years. Some call me a “local historian”–I think of myself as a writer. I have written two books about the Coastside, “Half Moon Bay Memories: The Coastside’s Colorful Past” and “The Coburn Mystery”, a true story set in picturesque Pescadero, south of Half Moon Bay. I’ve written historical columns for the “Half Moon Bay Review” and “The San Mateo County Times”.
In 1980 I wrote/produced an hour documentary for KCSM-TV called “The Mystery of Half Moon Bay”. I hope to post some outtakes from that show.
The best times I’ve had in the world of writing were spent as a stringer working for Time Magazine at their San Francisco Bureau on Bush Street. I worked with the most terrific people including Dick Thompson, Bob Buderi, Olivia Stewart (personality everywhere she goes), Dianna Waggoner (Activist-environmentalist)–and Michael Moritz. Sadly the bureau chief, Bill Doerner, passed in the last year. More about all that later.
I have been proud to serve on the boards of historical museums, including the Spanishtown Hist. Society (Half Moon Bay) and the San Mateo County Historical Museum (Redwood City). I strongly urge you to visit both museums. The Spanishtown Historical Society is located in a colorful two cell jail on Johnston Street in Half Moon Bay. You’ll find the county museum in Redwood City, in the glorious old courthouse–fun to look at the collections in a building that has witnessed so many headline making court trials and divorce cases involving the local rich and famous.
Born and raised in San Francisco, I left home to attend San Jose State, graduating with a BA in Social Science/Psychology. Moved to El Granada in 1972 and have been here ever since.