Lots of fun still to be had in the Golden State
California has been getting a bad rap recently. From the wildfires and floods plaguing the Los Angeles area to the municipal dysfunction that is San Francisco, the Golden State is looking a little tarnished lately.
But there are hidden nooks of beauty and tranquility still to be found, including San Mateo County in Northern California.
Located 20 miles south of San Francisco and easily accessible by California Highway 1, the county — which covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula with its varied habitats ranging from marine to redwood forests — has a bit of everything for the visitor with the time and inclination to explore along its coast.
There are beaches aplenty offering opportunities to surf, paddleboard, kayak or just take in the view of the Pacific Ocean.
Mavericks Beach is a big wave surf location and well known for the surfing competitions it hosts.
Mavericks Beach is close to Half Moon Bay, whose downtown area offers shoppers the chance to sample its many restaurants, stores and wine bars featuring local wines for tasting and bottles for sale.
Half Moon Bay’s long and varied history is illustrated by the colorful murals on many of its downtown buildings ranging from its settlement by the Spanish and Portuguese through its Gold Rush, whaling and agricultural phases.
Agriculture is still important, as shown by the town’s annual Art and Pumpkin Fest every October. For the last 50 years, this event includes a parade, costume contest, pumpkin carving, pumpkin-infused drinks, a pumpkin pancake breakfast, the Great Pumpkin Run 5K, 10K and half-marathon races and displays by hundreds of artists and crafters.
The event is kicked off by the world championship pumpkin weigh-off which attracts growers and gourd enthusiasts from around the country. Last year’s winner was Travis Gienger of Ankoa, Minn., whose mega-pumpkin tipped the scales at 2,560 pounds.
The town’s fishing heritage can be recaptured at Sam’s Chowder House on Highway 1 just north of Half Moon Bay. The restaurant sits just steps from the Pacific at Surfers Beach.
Its waterfront patio allows those dining al fresco to view surfers, whales or just the colorful boats coming and going from Pillar Point Harbor. Indoor customers can watch from the dining room’s large picture windows.
The menu, naturally, leans toward seafood, with clams, lobster rolls and the catches of the day listed. Sam’s Chowder House claims it popularized the lobster roll, a New England favorite, on the West Coast. The restaurant’s owners make it a point to obtain all ingredients from local farmers and fishermen.
Another standout restaurant in Half Moon Bay is Pasta Moon at 845 Main St., which for 30 years has been serving its patrons its homemade pasta.
Again, the restaurant owners work with local farmers and ranchers to provide fresh ingredients for Pasta Moon’s versions of traditional Italian dishes.
Visitors wishing to sample the products of California vineyards can stop in at either the Barterra Winery at 314 Main St. or Half Moon Bay Wine & Cheese Co. at 421 Main St.
Both have wine-tasting bars and offer flights of different vintages, which give visitors a chance to sample wines from around the region and the world. Vinoteca on the north end of town often has live music to enjoy while sampling wine.
Half Moon Bay is making an effort to publicize local vineyards by staging the Half Moon Bay Wine and Jazz Festival in early May in its downtown. Sponsored by the Downtown Association, the event is in its second year and drew thousands who sampled wines and listened to jazz musicians placed up and down Main Street.
Spirits of a different sort may be on hand at the Moss Beach Distillery on the cliffs above the secluded beach that gives the restaurant its name. During Prohibition, the county’s coast with its many hidden inlets and foggy nights was perfect for rum runners, who landed their cargoes of illegal liquor at night from ships offshore. The illicit booze, brought down from Canada, was then sold at speakeasies.
One of those speakeasies was Frank’s Place, built by Frank Torres in 1927. Because Torres had excellent social and political connections, as the stories go, Frank’s Place flourished. It was never raided by the police and became popular with movie stars, politicians and even mystery writer Dashiell Hammett, who used the location in one of his detective stories.
Once Prohibition ended, Torres converted the speakeasy into a restaurant and renamed it the Moss Beach Distillery. But, according to local legend and the TV show “Unsolved Mysteries,” there is one holdover from the building’s old lawless days. A ghost known as the Blue Lady — a woman dressed in blue — haunts the building still, perhaps pining for the old days of bathtub gin and flappers.
Traveling south from Half Moon Bay, motorists will be greeted with the sight of cows grazing in pastures that end at the edge of a cliff with the Pacific Ocean visible beyond. Taking Highway 1, the traveler will arrive in Pescadero, a former resort town that once boasted two hotels and two saloons.
Now the only saloon in town is Duarte’s Tavern, which began in the 1890s when founder Frank Duarte brought a barrel of whiskey into town and set up a bar to sell its contents at 10 cents a shot. The building burned down in 1926, but the original bar is still in use at Duarte’s, which is still run by Duarte descendants.
Today Duarte’s is famous for its artichoke soup and its ollalieberry pie.
The olllalieberry is a cross between a loganberry, a blackberry and a youngberry first created in 1935. Its flavor is tart and subtly sweet. When grown in Calfornia, the berries are ready to pick in June. Many farms around Pescadero grow the berry and sell it at fruit stands during the ollalieberry’s six-week season.
Another local Pescadero product is goat cheese made at the nearby Harley Farms Goat Dairy. The farm offers walking tours of the whole farm or just a goat, cheese and wine variation. The farm also hosts farm-to-table dinners and weddings.
Goat milk at the farm is pumped from its milking parlor into a round tank where the raw milk is cooled and then sent to a pasteurizer, where it is made into cheese. The dairy produces 100 pounds of cheese a day.
So don’t hesitate to visit all the hidden gems and out-of-the-way finds that San Mateo County has to offer. Its year-round mild weather that rarely gets hot makes it perfect for exploratory rambles.
