Photographer Ed Davis has lived in Half Moon Bay since 1979–and he says he’s “been recording (photographically) my impressions of California since 1964, when I escaped the Texas panhandle (courtesy of the U.S.Navy). Tonight, I was researching the origins of the name of Pillar Point (for an accompaniment for one of my photographs), and I stumbled upon your website. If you could give me any information on that, or point me in the right direction, I would be very much in your debt.
“I’m a little surprised that we haven’t met, given the number of people you mentioned in your site that I know. Carol DelMar, Connie Malach, Chad and January Hooker I saw today at a housewarming party in El Granada, Jerry Koontz, Richard English (now gone), Richard Henry, Tom Monaghan, Cathy Duncan (former lady friend, post divorce, now gone also), numerous others. I admire your website,and I regret that I haven’t recorded the people in my life as well as the places…”
And if you’re wondering about the origin of the name, Pillar Point, here’s what I’ve got:
“Pillar Point: (The north end of Half Moon Bay.) The Portola
expedition in 1769 gave this a name that did not survive, punta de los
Angeles Custodios. The present name first appears, in the present
form, on the Coast Survey field sheet of 1861; but presumably it had
been in use since the 1790s in some Spanish form, say perhaps punta or
rincon de los Pilares or del Pilar, for the Sail or Pillar rock here.
The headland at the point was called in Spanish the Corral de Tierra
and in early American times the Snake’s Head from its shape.”
From “Place Names of San Mateo County” by Dr. Alan K. Brown (San Mateo
County Historical Assn: 1975)
Please check out Ed’s website: eddavisphoto.com