Half Moon Bay Memories & El Granada Observer

Hi June-
This is the Odd Fellows Building, 526 Main Street, then & now, top & bottom

(further down) Across from City Hall

next door to the HMB Bakery. M.Coffee and Tokenz are on the ground floor.

The Ocean View Lodge has been active, but many people in town have never seen the upstairs, which remains close to the way it was in 1870.

Before there was a city government, the fraternal organizations ran most towns, including Half Moon Bay. All five of the original city councilmen in HMB were members. The city government was formed right in our hall.

The hall was also the social center of town, hosting dinners, meetings of various groups - Mason, Son of Italy, Scouts, 4-H, etc. I remember quite a lot of activity there as a boy. San Mateo County History Museum Founder Dr. Frank Stanger writes about it in his book, “South from San Francisco,� published in 1963.

The Half Moon Bay lodge was chartered in 1868 (when the town was called Spanishtown), the same year that the first church arrived in town. I have been compiling a lot of information about all of this for some time.. There are meeting minutes

dating back to the beginning- a whole history of Half Moon Bay– still unknown.

Take care,

Tony

During this month, April 2008, Ocean View Lodge celebrates its 140th anniversary.

(Photo: Tony Pera points out items of historical interest.)

with Cunha’s Country Grocery Store in the background (left hand side), later heading for and arriving at the old Catholic Church.

Throughout the decades the Chamarita has grown to include Festival Queens from Tracy, Newark and Santa Clara participating in the celebration at Half Moon Bay. But the Chamartia remains a small town festival sporting a carnival atmosphere with a Ferris Wheel and carousel.

Originally, Pescadero and Half Moon Bay jointly celebrated the Chamarita, but in 1900, apparently after a series of squabbles, ties between the sister-communities were severed. Since then–with only one interruption during WWII when soldiers occupied the I.D.E.S. building on Main Street, Pescadero has sponsored its own Chamarita.

Although the Chamarita has been celebrated on the Coastside for more than 100 years, many people remain unaware of the colorful pageant.

(photos courtesy Bill Claudino, below)

(Photo: Courtesy Larry Teixeira)

(Photo: Cunha’s Country Grocery on Main Street in the background, the location of a woman dentist’s office. There’s some interesting trim on the building, too; never noticed that before.)

The Coastside Bed & Breakfast

The Coastside Blacksmith

The Coastside Newspaper Office

The Coastside Cafe

Gone now—but here’s the Purissima House–saloon, restaurant, overnight rooms–south of Half Moon Bay.

The Purissima House was the business anchor for the potato-growing town of Purissima, a place that competed with Half Moon Bay for political power. When a blight wiped out the crops, the economy collapsed and Purissima finally turned into a ghost town. At the end of Prohibition, when the buildings fell into disuse, they vanished from the country landscape. Today you’d be lucky to find any remnants of the past (other than a very cool and hard-to-find “antique” cemetery).

Top to Bottom: Half Moon Bay at Highway 92; Half Moon Bay at Kelly & Main; Montara, off Highway 1; Moss Beach, Etheldore; & San Gregorio on the San Gregorio Road.