Discover

'Pacifica' is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. According to City Limits signs in the year 2006, the population was 40,401.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

Neighborhoods

Points of Interest

History

School Programs

Notable People

Minor history

External links

Geography

The City of Pacifica is spread along a six mile stretch of the north central California coastal hills, nestled in several small valleys spanning between Sweeney Ridge above on the east, Montara Mountain to the south, and the Pacific Ocean's sandy beaches and rocky bluffs to the west.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 32.8 km² (12.7 mi²). 32.7 km² (12.6 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.24%) is water. Latitude and Longitude: (37.622, -122.485).

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 38,390 people, 13,994 households, and 9,655 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,173.6/km² (3,038.9/mi²). There were 14,245 housing units at an average density of 435.5/km² (1,127.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 69.51% White, 3.27% African American, 0.49% Native American, 15.29% Asian, 0.69% Pacific Islander, 4.18% from other races, and 6.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 14.61% of the population.
There were 13,994 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.5% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.0% were non-families. 21.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.21.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.2% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 26.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 97.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $71,737, and the median income for a family was $78,361. Males had a median income of $50,761 versus $40,261 for females. The per capita income for the city was $30,183. About 1.2% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.2% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.
The oldest person to ever live in Pacifica is Rose G. Rosenthal who was born on April 8, 1901, and is still alive today.
The Reverend Herschell Harkins Memorial pier was constructed in 1973 and was designed to carry sewage piping out to sea. It was closed in 1992 due to corrosion of some of the structure. Since then the pier has been repaired and is a well known fishing spot; on July 8-9, 1995, over 1000 salmon were caught from the pier.

Neighborhoods

Pacifica is divided into roughly twelve distinct neighborhoods from north to south:
#Fairmont
#Westview (Pacific Highlands)
#Pacific Manor (Manor)[1]
#Edgemar
#Sharp Park[2]
#Fairway Park[3]
#Vallemar and Rockaway Beach
#Pedro Point[4] and Shelter Cove[5] in the south west,
#Linda Mar, Linda Mar Valley, (formerly Pedro Valley or San Pedro Valley) in the south.
#Park Pacifica in south east portions of the city (called the Back of the Valley).

Points of Interest

Pacifica is well known regionally as a popular surfing destination with Pacifica State Beach/Linda Mar Beach often crowded with surfers. Rockaway Beach is a scenic location and offers recreation, shopping and dining. 2005 marked the opening of the top ranked [6] Pacifica Skateboard Park. Pacifica is also a popular mountain biking destination, with many trails crossing the hillsides that surround the city, including, Pedro Mountain Road, Sweeny Ridge, part of the Golden Gate National Recreational Area. Fisherman frequent the local beaches, and the Pacifica Pier, catching fish including Striped Bass and Salmon. Many people also enjoy hiking and going barefoot in Pacifica, either along the many beaches and bluffs including Mori Point, or on the hillsides including San Pedro County Park, the Sanchez Adobe and Milagra Ridge. For live local theater arts, Pacifica Spindrift Players is consistently popular, in addition to Pacifica Performances which regularly serves up both musical presentations and performing arts. Pacifica is also home to the Sharp Park Golf Course[7] designed in 1931 by famous golf architect Alister MacKenzie.

History

Pacifica was incorporated in 1957, relatively recently in history of San Mateo County, as the union of nine previously separate, unincorporated communities, including Edgemar, Sharp Park, Pacific Manor (or just Manor), Vallemar, Rockaway Beach, Pedro Point, and San Pedro Valley, stops on the short lived Ocean Shore Railroad. But Pacifica is also the location of the oldest European history of San Mateo County, discovered by Gaspar de Portola October 31, 1769, and is home of the Sanchez Adobe originating in 1842 and of the San Pedro Valley Mission Outpost (1786-1793) of Mission Dolores. Prehistorically, Pacifica was home to two significant Ohlone Indian villages including Pruristac located at San Pedro Creek near present day Adobe Drive and Timigtac on Calera Creek in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood.

School Programs

The school program, now known as Pacifica School District, formerly Laguna Salada School District, consists of Vallemar, Cabrillo, Ingrid B. Lacy, Sunset Ridge, Ortega, and Ocean Shore schools, as well as the administration office adjacent to Vallemar School. Each school enrolls about 550-600 students.
Pacifica has two high schools which are part of the Jefferson Union High School District. Oceana High School in the central part of the city and Terra Nova High School in the south. Many children in the northern part of Pacifica attend Jefferson High School or Westmoor High School nearby in adjacent Daly City. Oceana's teaching paradigm is geared toward longer classes, senior exhibitions, and mandated community service. Much larger Terra Nova is a traditional institution.

Notable People

★ Robert Dollar, at one point ranked the 88th most wealthy man in the world. Famous for establishing the Dollaradio radio broadcasting site in 1926 near present day Mussel Rock in Pacifica.

★ United States Congressman Pete McCloskey has strong Pacifica ties; his family home, built in 1908 by his grandfather Henry McCloskey, is the Pacifican landmark known as the McCloskey Castle.

★ NFL football player of 14 years Kevin Gogan.

★ Poet, Geri Doran.

★ Ruth Atkinson, cartoonist.

★ Steve Leialoha, a comic book artist.

★ Alan Gordon, a comic book artist.

★ Water skiing champion, Mike Avila.

★ Actor Mel Stewart, most famous for playing a character in the television show All in the Family.

★ Kevin Kelly, editor, founding executive editor of ''Wired'' magazine, and a former editor/publisher of the ''Whole Earth Catalog''.

★ Convicted murderer and award winning prison author, Michael Wayne Hunter.

★ Mike Lockwood, professional wrestler with the stage name ''Crash Holly''.

★ Miami Beach based Real Estate Developer, R. Donahue Peebles purchased the controversial Quarry property in 2005.

★ Actor/comedian Rob Schneider grew up in Pacifica, graduating from Terra Nova High School in 1981. He supports Pacifica music students through The Rob Schneider Music Foundation.

★ Jef Raskin, the computer interface expert who launched the Macintosh project for Apple Computer.

★ Mary Robinson, former President of the Republic of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, lived in Pacifica in the 1960's as an exchange student.

★ ZZ Packer, an award-winning African-American author, currently lives in Pacifica.

Minor history

★ The final scene of the movie Harold and Maude, where Harold drives a car off a cliff, was filmed at Mori Point in Pacifica.

★ The house in the novel House of Sand and Fog is set in an unnamed coastal town, but the movie scouted Pacifica locations and then rebuilt them in Southern California for the actual filming. The scenes in the movie resemble older parts of Vallemar or Sharp Park near the McCloskey Castle.

★ Pacifica is also home to the only Taco Bell restaurant (which was an A&W until the early 1980s) located directly on a beach (Pacifica State Beach); this Taco Bell was rated #9 on The Travel Channel's World Best Fast Food Stops.

★ In 1971, Pacifica gained worldwide attention as the popular St. Peter's Catholic priest, Father Bob Duryea, was excommunicated, after a defiant confrontation with the church, for being married[8].

External links

★ City of Pacifica Home Page

★ City of Pacifica Commissions, Committees, and City Council meeting agendas

★ Pacifica Public Libraries (Sharp Park and Sanchez) - branches of the San Mateo County Library