(from “Dar” and friends). Click to enlarge.
Fitzgerald Marine Reserve Newsletter Features Story About Charlie Nye
pix that I took of “The Reef’s” Charlie Nye, a pix of me in front of Nye’s Reefs and lots more. Please check it out!
Cleaning House…And these are the books I haven’t sorted yet…
It’s so hard to get rid of stuff…How do you de-tach yourself from books you’ve had forever? In a way, they are like ex-lovers….I guess you just gotta be tough….
Things Change
(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.)
Dear June
June
Thanks for all the info re the HMB area. I spent many hours roaming the
airport grounds as a kid. You may not be aware that the airport was
often used as an alternate to SF Intl when SF Intl was fogged in. It
was quite an event to see a DC-6 or DC-7 land on that very short runway.
Some of the airlines kept equipment at the airport to handle passengers
when needed.
There were a number of old buildings that were left over from the WW 2
period. They were abandoned and I used to wander through them. They
were at the North end of the airport just off the hwy.
We used to buy produce from japanese farmers who farmed the many little
canyons. Strawberries were a very popular purchase.
We lived in SF in the Castro Street area and every weekend we’d drive to HMB
so my Dad could work on his airplane. He was rebuilding one in a little
shack at the south end of the airport. I hated the ride down Devils
Slide! It really scared me as a kid. I was always greatly relieved
after we passed it.
My dad spent a great deal of time working on the rebuilding of his
plane. He manually rebuilt the wings. The fusilage of the airplane was
kept outside waiting for him to complete the wings. One day, the
airport management decided to do a controlled burn of the weeds and
accidentally burned up his fusilage! He was heartbroken! He was able
to sell the beautiful wings to another guy who came to pick them up in
his truck. Just as he was pulling out on to the hwy, he was broadsided
by another car! The wings were totally destroyed. I guess they were
never meant to fly.
The airport was managed by a Frank Sylvestri. He operated a maintenance
facility too.
I find it hard to believe that the area is so built up now. Having a
Ritz Carlton there really blows my mind! I always thought the weather
was terrible…it always seemed cold and overcast.
John Flynn
Downers Grove, Illinois
In Its Day Half Moon Bay’s “Spanishtown Dons” Were Soooo Famous
(Photos of beautiful severa mini macaw by Leon Kunke)
Walking Along the Seashore….In My Shoes…
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4muJw7rl9M]
Don’t these folks look really small? And the rocks really big?
Dear John
Dear John,
Yes, there were two restaurants. “Frank’s” in Moss Beach, overlooked the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve, the beautiful reefs you speak of. The other was pink in color and stood a mile or so from the foot of “Devil’s Slide,” that dangerous but breathtaking slice of roadway, “a little Big Sur,” that separates Pacifica and San Francisco from the Coastside.
Frank Torres owned both restaurants. Frank’s son, whose name eludes me, did operate the one in Moss Beach for a time. Unfortunately oldtimers report he died youngish of imbibing too much.
Frank’s has gone through several sets of ownership since Mr. Torres death ( he was rumored to have been a power during Prohibition). It’s now called the Moss Beach Distillery and the former roadhouse is publicized as the home of the “Blue Lady,” a ghost who roams about at night. You get the idea.
The other Torres restaurant, the pink one, was torn down (but leaving one wall to satisfy the Coastal Commissionâs rules) and replaced by the very modern, sort of abstract-ty Chart House restaurant which changed management several times before suddenly closing down a year or so ago. The empty building overlooks a spectacular view of Montara beach.
The reefs you recall (at Moss Beach, where the Distillery is located)l are as breathtaking as ever–but now there is a new element. A local young surfer named Jeff Clark “discovered” a fantastic surfing cauldron that is called “Mavericks,â? and is NOT named after Clark’s dog as is sometimes said.
When conditions are ideal, the waves are enormous, sometimes as tall as a six-story building– and Maverick’s is now listed as one of the best surfing venues in the entire universe–and the yearly contests where world-class surfers are summoned when the waves are awesom–draw thousands upon thousands of observers and fans to the little fishing village of Princeton.
In recent years so many people have come to view the surfing contest that there are rumors of banning the hordes because the landscape is so fragile, lots of erosion. One plan is to have the public watch the surfing events on closed circuit tv at the old Candlestick ballpark in S. San Francisco,
Princeton, which borders the airport you remember so well, is also adapting to changing times.. A large hotel and indoor mall is being built. I don’t mean to give you the idea that this a city -size hotel and mall; it’s not, but it’s big enough for us Coastsiders.
The airport is still home to pilots learning to fly and other small aircraft bringing visitors to the Coastside, perhaps to play golf at the pretty Ritz Carlton Hotel, south of Half Moon Bay. Or to wind surf, kayak or hike to the peak of glorious Montara Mountainâand drink in the Coastsideâs natural beauty.
Yes, during WWII the airport was also a training sites for the Womenâs Army Corps (WACS) and I have some extraordinary photos of them on my site–and there are pictures of many of the other places you speak of.
In the 1950s the airport hosted drag strip racing featuring big stars like âBig Daddyâ? Don Garlits–there is a photo of the racing superstar at the airportâthe surroundings might bring back warm memories.
On April 29 the annual “Dream Machine” extravaganza is being held at the HMB airport–all kinds of cars, fully loaded, weird and fancy. Other types of incredible machines. We didn’t have the Dream Machine show last year because Devil’s Slide fell in and we were dependent on one road only, two-lane Highway 92.
Sounds to me like youâre ready to re-visit those exciting images of your youth.
June