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John Vonderlin has the scoop, please click here

In the dreams of those who lived in Half Moon Bay in the 1970s, Pescadero rated high on their “To Do” lists. This image of Duntroon in New Zealand is much more than Pescadero ever was. So “peaceful looking”. No stress from cars that can’t seem to drive fast enough getting nowhere. I’m sure some of you know what I mean and enjoy watching the cars go nowhere fast, and remember their own parents complaining about the same thing. 

This is not a country for old men and women, is it?

From Ron Laughlin

Email Ron: [[email protected]

[Ron’s Image: Duntroon]

From Deb Wong

was the cottage called “the Happy Cottage,” with a Volkswagen Bus” parked in the driveway. I was a young woman fresh out of college, and I loved this house in El Granada. It still stands, someone has removed the “y” from the original word, “Happy.” The house stands across the way from the artist Chuck Bodin was was killed in a car accident on Highway 1992 back in the 1970s.

That was El Granada originally looked like when I arrived: many small cottages, summer cottages.

Here they are:. In pen and ink or pencil, the most important men of Half Moon Bay in 1895 .

From John Vonderlin
Email John ([email protected])

Sam’s Chowder House on Highway One is very “hot,” by  which I mean if you are a people-watcher, this is your kind of place. I knew the owner, Paul, from other restaurants he was involved with in Half Moon Bay. Everything Paul touches turns into a success. He’s got the formula down.

Sam’s was the location of Ida’s  Seafood Restaurant, unforgettable for its merry band of characters, and Ida’s had moved her popular place several times from locations around Princeon, ending up where Sam’s is today. But Paul has done such a remarkable remodeling job that Ida’s image has been buried and Sam’s Chowder House has made its mark. The views are bigger than life, the scene youtful and upbeat. Often, you can’t even get in, but you could walk on the beautiful beach below and wait for a reservation to open up.

Here’s what I’m getting around to:  Sam’s has opened a gift shop and my book, Princeton by the Sea, published by Arcadia, is available for sale. Wow. Thank ou. I’m a local author and it’s great to know that my work is in Sam’s Gift Shop. Thank you again; I practically live across the street. Go—you’ll love it.

At the new indoor mall at Princeton-by-the-Sea there’s  a bookstore owned by artist and bookstore lover, Carol Bremmen. (Carol, I hope I spelled your last name correctly. Please let me know if I did not.) I love this bookstore. She has books, obviously, including my Princeton book, of course, but she also displays local art, including her own. I loved buying a couple of her pieces and talked to Linda Montalto Patterson about acquiring her work, which was also on display. Linda also does “wedding vows” at her beautiful home overlooking the sea in Miramar.

At Carol’s bookstore, there are unique cards made by local artists ,and it’s fun walking around the harbor area, where fishing boats and fancy yachts stand shoulder-to-shoulder.

Yes, it’s not the old Princeton we were used to. It’s changed with the times. That’s what is happening now. Crab Landing Restaurant is a delightful place to introduce friends to, What some of my more critical friends have objected to is the look of the restaurant from the outside, but once inside they appreciate  the detail work put into Crab Landing.

Me, a lover of good architecture, has to admit that all of it, is much better than what we all feared. Locals, please take a close look and realize that somebody put their money into this project. It’s quite impressive.

Crab Landing, followed by coffee and homemade gelato at Mezza Luna Cafe and a walk through the mall, which isn’t filled yet, but it has such a desireable look that it will b soone. The mall opens onto the Oceano Hotel, which has a cozy bar and other interesting details.

And you can aways toward Mavericks and discover more of what’s happening in Princeton which will be a big success.

Personally, the weather around her become too sunny for my tastes: I do long for the fog that used to be hallmark. It’s sunny almost the time ow.

——-

I am at home now all the time. But when I run into people at the El Granada Post Office, with the friendliest clerks honestly, (they make you laugh),  I hear about other horrible illnesses—-and the death of a 16-year-old teenager recently, with his whole life in front of him.

I remember being 16, they used to call it “Sweet Sixteen.” I thought when I reached that age,  I was such a big “girl” ….I didn’t realize how many summers and winters were still  coming along with love, pain, and the great disappointments  perpetrated by human beings. To be balanced, there were a lot of good things to come, of course. 

I’ve experienced some of it but managed to dodge the heavy duty love, pain and disappointment because I am anti-social. Yes. I am a writer and  a lot of writers like to do their work without someone else sitting next to them. I don’t know about the famous writers–they probably hire help and have an entirely different lifestyle. 

I also managed to dodge the heavy duty bad stuff by not going “out there” to find it. I’m the type you have to give a couple of glasses of wine to before I talk about my projects. Which any writer knows is dangerous, as ideas are often taken that way. Other real writers will know exactly of what I speak.

The sudden shock of the death of the local teenage boy is indeed shocking, and I don’t know who the young man was, but I send warm love to his family. I send love and I hope you get more than enough from others.

I also hope Joanne (from the Ketch Joanne Restaurant in Princeton-by-the-Sea)  is okay. Nobody seems to have seen or heard from her. She’s such a great gal….one who went “out there in the world,” and experienced life “full on” and took it like a woman! She wasn’t afraid of anybody or anything. What she created from the bottom up is truly amazing. How did she do it?

But back to the sad death of the teenage boy. He reminded me of a young woman, about the same age, the daughter of Michelle whose last name i can’t remember. Michelle, if I even got the first name right, had something to do with an antique store located in what was then the early beginnings of the  San Benito House on Main Street in Half Moon Bay.  So this would be the early 1970s which sounds like ancient history now, doesn’t it?

This young woman ran across Highway 1, just south of HMB, and was struck by a car and  killed. It was a traumatic event for our very small community, different from the one I see here today. Then, HMB and the Coastside was a landscape in search of itself,  so to speak, to find a new personality, if you will. Today, the Coastside is half- suburbia with, thank goodness, a lot of artists working here.

Today I identify the Coastside  as an artistic/surfing community–but it is also a dog and baby friendly place with broad strokes of what I’d call unoriginal  touches of suburbia. At one time the Coastside was a big empty place. To give you a stronger image,  imagine a blank canvas on which to paint a beautiful picture, a place that was new in an original way. 

Lastly, my neighbor across the street is  Connie Phipps, who is  or was a child advocate attorney. Her husband, Bob, was a motorcycle enthusiast and the owner of “Ralph” the German Shepherd  you had to watch out for.(Ralph liked to hide in the bushes and surprise you.)  Bob belonged to a small cliche of real locals  that met regularly at the El Granada Market where Duane was in charge of the meat department (and maybe, for recreation,  some poker games. This was way back in the 1970s, remember. Duane is no longer with us.) 

One other memory about Duane who, I think, at one point, owned the El Granada Market (which, by the way, was built by the Miguel family, the same folks who built the fabulous Palace Miramar Hotel, later known as Alberts.) Duane was a smoker and he wanted to quit, but like so many others he worried about gaining weight. He already was a pretty big guy! 

I was so involved with my sick life partner, that I only noticed Bob being picked up and taken to the Senior Center in Half Moon Bay almost daily. I thought he had lung cancer. But I talked with Connie yesterday and he has, among other serious illnesses, Parkinson’s. We spoke and hugged for a few minutes. It was good to talk to someone who understands the special nuances of the caretaker language.
. Like, “What do I do next? Do I do this or that? ” Believe it or not, these are important questions, things that a caretaker when he/she wasn’t one, didn’t have to bother with. Not so, once you cross that line. It’s a different and confusing world. So to you, Connie, brave woman that you are, I wish you love and strength. She said I could come over anytime and cry in her kitchen. 

At this point in time, the professionals can only give calming drugs or tell you that it is a process that could take a year or more. But there are memories that nobody can forget and the brain stores these images  like the horrific death  “death rattle,”  and brings the unwanted scene up for you to remember.  For anyone, unless you are feeling-less,this is unbelievably painful and I have witnessed medical doctors turn away because they can’t even  take it. And I’m not even referring to the famous “death rattle,” which is exactly what it sounds like, something no living person should have to hear.

P.S. One of my docs told me in the old days when spouses, or children, died, the grievers wore black for at least a year. This black was a symbol to others that they were grieving and to leave them alone because the people in black could not communicate with others until the “process” was over.

. Here is a pix of Galen Wolf, one of the Coastside’s artists.   

Galen’s family were original pioneers, and he enjoyed watercoloring the history of the Coastside from Devil’s Slide to Ano Nuevo. I am anxiously awaiting a new book about Galen written by a lady who owns a large collection of his work.

Doris Gunn writes: Written on the Island of Palma de Mallorca, Summer, 1980 for June

George Sand and Frederic Chopin spent an unfriendly winter here on the island of Palma de Mallorca (1838-39) . Being not at all married, they found an unheartly welcome to the point where they were thrown out from So Vn, near Palma. But here inValldemoasa they did not find the Paradise both were looking for. Besides the very expensive food, they were treated by the local people as if they were sick! Anyhow George wrote Spiriolon [not certain about the spelling]m and “un ? a Palm de Mallorca.”

Frederic was sick (lung) the winter was very cold and the church helped to make life unbearable for the couple. It took a long time before he got his piano from Paris. But after its arrival, F. Chopin composed “La Tempete” . Listen to its beauty. [note: that means she included a tape with the postcards]

I will be posting more of Dorris Gunn’s notes and letters to me because they were so very special and artistic. Where are you Doris?

…more coming,