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WHERE? Moss Beach straddles Highway 1 just north of the Half Moon Bay Airport. SETTING IT APART The hills on the east side of the highway provide sweeping views and magical sunsets for some lucky residents. LOCAL TREASURE The very popular Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is the gem of Moss Beach. At low tide, the area becomes a magnet for those wanting to explore our coastal marine life. The modest, but tasty, El Gran Amigo Taqueria is a gathering spot for hungry locals.
Tidepools & cypresses mix with fog S
itting in his front-yard patio, Dan Blick sipped his tea and watched a hummingbird flutter around hunting for nectar in his garden. It was a perfect morning in Moss Beach — warm weather, no clouds and no planes from Half Moon Bay Airport blaring through the sky. “This is one of those rare days when there’s sunshine and no air traffic,” he said. “Miramar and El Granada are in the sun belt. We have fog here. I think that’s just something that’s accepted here.” Aside from the regular gray skies, Blick describes his tucked away neighborhood as a hidden gem of the coast. A consultant for Silicon Valley hard-drive companies, he has been a leader of the homeowners association, making him well-acquainted with all the neighbors on the close-knit Arbor Lane. The small cul-de-sac community on the oceanside of Highway 1 has about 20 families who have an annual Fourth of July block party and share ownership of a grassy bluff at the end of the street. With Fitzgerald Marine Reserve just to the southwest and farmland directly to the southeast, Moss Beach residents are proud of the rural atmosphere of their hamlet. Blick’s wife, Jennifer, works as a docent at the marine reserve, and their sons grew up learning about nature firsthand at the tide pools down the street. “We feel incredibly connected to it,” he said. “My older son knows his nudibranchs and his dorids well enough to be a docent also.” Being in a rural area does involve some sacrifices, he points out. His family does have to drive a distance to get to many stores, and he really wishes Moss Beach had some kind of bakery nearby. But the tradeoff is more than worth it. “I treasure the rural nature of the coast far more than a bagel or a Home Depot,” he said.
6 Neighborhoods
Coastside Neighborhoods 9/5.indd 6
9/10/12 4:05 PM