Half Moon Bay is a seaside town nestled along Highway 1 south of San Francisco. My girlfriend and I visit in May 2020, as communities across the nation attempt a soft opening after the pandemic caused a widespread shutdown of businesses and services.

The Aristocrat Hotel is a British-themed inn with plenty of charm. The lobby features a life-sized beefeater figure, nautical-themed decor, soft furniture, and a calming palette of blues and tan. Next door, there’s the colorful Cameron’s pub, with a vintage double-decker bus, faux bus station, a fence for love locks, and an array of humorous and character-filled signage. We wonder what other delights are inside. A sign outside reads, “LOVE YOU ALL. BE SAFE. CLOSED.”

We go for a walk along the cliffs that border the beaches, soaking in the views and the glorious sounds of the ocean surf, the swaying of eucalyptus trees, and the seagulls.

Downtown consists primarily of a single road lined with some boutiques and eateries. It’s easy to imagine it bustling with tourists. On this mild and sunny Tuesday, it is very quiet, with most businesses still in temporary closure.

For dinner we try the Pasta Moon Restaurant. Like other restaurants the pandemic has forced it into a takeout-only status, so we enjoy it across the street at a gazebo, which makes for the next-best romantic setting.

The Purissima Cemetery is essentially all that remains of the town of Purissima. In the 1860s and 1870s, it experienced its heyday as it had a post office, lumber mill, schoolhouse, hotel, saloon, dance hall, livery stable, and several stores. A variety of misfortunes and broken dreams befell the town – a flood, crop failures, and an oil discovery that failed to lead to a boom amongst them. Purissima’s somewhat remote location, and competition from more favorably located coastal towns, didn’t help. By World War II it was largely just a memory. The cemetery, a natural burial ground, consists of graves scattered around cedar and pine trees on slightly hilly terrain. Many of the graves are of the German pioneers who settled there, while the modern ones draw attention with the addition of flowers, shells, and other colorful supplements.

The Fabbri Statuary is  a home and garden store that beckons visitors with dinosaur statues out front. The Statuary, located in a cluster of studios and shops (though many are vacated) called Spanish Town, is a feast for the senses, with fountains, garden statues, colorful plants, works of art, windchimes, and the like.

As we leave Half Moon Bay, we already ache to come back when the pandemic is over. Things will be fully open, and we can go to Cameron’s Pub for a meal. We think that might be in weeks, maybe months, but certainly at the same time next year.

Half Moon Bay Photo Gallery