SMC Newspapers: Half Moon Bay Review

SF Call 13 Jan 1907

The Half Moon Bay Review was established in 1898 by Harry Griffith. It has been serving coastside readers ever since.

The paper was purchased by Wick Communications in 1886 and they in turn announced plans to sell it in September 2017.  At that time a group of community members formed the Coastside News Group and entered into an agreement to buy the paper. 

The sale was completed in 2018. 

The paper is published each Wednesday, with over 7500 paid copies being distributed to homes from Montara to Pescadero.

The new owners come from a variety of backgrounds: Lenny Mendonca owns the Half Moon Bay Brewing Co.; Rich Klein is the former chief technology officer of a tech company; Susy Castoria serves on some San Mateo County commissions; Roy Salume is a former school board member in Half Moon Bay; and Kelly Hoffman-Davis is a business owner.

Half Moon Bay Review  (Facebook)  The newspaper office has hard copies of newspapers from about 1960 on and everything from 1998 on is available in their online archive

Half Moon Bay Review 19?-19? CALib 1916-1924 (sc) ; SMCLib original 1916-1928, microfilm 1916-1924 (sc) 1925-1928 (s) - Online SMCLib 1997-present.  The San Mateo County Library in Half Moon Bay has microfilm of early copies.  Most likely even earlier than the 1916 listed here, but unfortunately they are currently in storage.  Efforts are being made to get the papers digitized. 

If you are looking for copies, contact both the library and the newspaper office for updates on their availability.


Half Moon Bay Review - Wikipedia
Article by Chris Lampert
_____________________________________________________
(w) weekly (d) daily (n) daily except Sunday and holidays
(p) partial run  (s) scattered missing issues (sc) scattered copies
CA Lib - California State Library
UCR - University of California Riverside - Newspaper Master Files
RCL - Redwood City Public Library
SM Lib - San Mateo City Library
SMCLib - San Mateo County Library

San Mateo County Cemeteries: Pilarcitos

In 1820, Pilarcitos Cemetery was established as the Catholic cemetery for the coastal settlers and Indians. This land was later included in the rancho granted to José Tiburcio Vasquez by the Mexican Government.

This church was destroyed by fire in 1875. The bell from the church is now mounted permanently in front of our present church (shown in the photo). The site of the first church in Spanish Town became a cemetery and is now know as the Old Pilarcitos Cemetery on Highway 92.

Vasquez donated part of the land next and a frame church was built on the land adjacent to the cemetery. In 1868  Father Antoine Langlois was appointed as pastor to the Spanishtown (aka San Benito and Half Moon Bay) church.

Vasquez had intended that the family would be buried below the floor of the church.  However when the church burned in 1875 the cemetery was extended into the church grounds.  The grounds are now owned by the Arch-diocese of San Francisco.

You will find the earliest catholic settlers of the San Mateo Coast here the names including Guerrero, Casey, Valladeo and more.  They are Mexican, Chilean, Portuguese, Irish, etc.   

Pilarcitos is located on the north side of San Mateo Road (Highway 92) adjacent to the IOOF cemetery.  A new fence separates it from the adjacent IOOF Cemetery with arched gateways leading into each. 

The fence is welcome as it might eventually lead to a clean up of readings showing families in both cemeteries.  I suggest using Dana Chaliff's 2004 reading to determine which cemetery your ancestor is buried in and then using checking Find A Grave to see if a tombstone picture has been uploaded.

This cemetery is in a little better shape than the adjacent IOOF, but there are broken and toppled stones. There are also signs of repair and it is easier to walk through the grounds.   

Pilarcitos Cemetery was closed to new plot sales in 1923 and the last burial took place in 1964.

• Find A Grave - Pilarcitos
• Dana Chaliff  2004 Cemetery Reading
• Flickr Pilarcitos Cemetery and the International Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery (IOOF) in Half Moon Bay

Main St. & Rt. 92, Half Moon Bay
650-726-4674