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Half Moon Bay
Sign in to saveAlso known as Half Moon Bay, California, Half Moon Bay, CA
city in San Mateo County, California, United States
Key facts
- Country
- United States
- State
- California
- County
- San Mateo
- Incorporated
- July 15, 1959
- Mayor
- Robert Brownstone
- City manager
- Matthew Chidester
- Total
- 6.25 sq mi (16.20 km )
- Land
- 6.24 sq mi (16.17 km )
- Water
- 0.012 sq mi (0.03 km ) 0.17%
- Elevation
- 75 ft (23 m)
- Density
- 1,889/sq mi (729.4/km )
- Time zone
- UTC−8 ( PST )
- Summer dst
- UTC−7 (PDT)
- Fips code
- 06-31708
- Gnis feature ids
- 277528 , 2410685
- Website
- www .halfmoonbay .gov
via Wikipedia infobox
~19 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco. Its population was 11,795 as of the 2020 census. Immediately north of Half Moon Bay is Pillar Point Harbor and the unincorporated community of Princeton-by-the-Sea. Half Moon Bay is known for Mavericks, a big-wave surf location. It is called Half Moon Bay because of its crescent shape.
Originally an agricultural outpost to Mission San Francisco de Asís, the town was founded in the 1840s first as San Benito, and then as its Anglo fishing community grew, it was renamed Spanishtown. In 1874, it was again renamed Half Moon Bay. After rail and road connections in the early 1900s, the town grew. The foggy weather of the coast made the town a popular destination for booze-running during Prohibition.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Half Moon Bay” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.