Half Moon Bay is a coastal city in San Mateo County, California, United States, approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco. Half Moon Bay is a Pacific Ocean bay off the coast of San Mateo County, California. The bay is roughly semicircular, hence the name half moon, with access to the sea from the south. The coastal cities located there are Princeton-by-the-Sea, Miramar, El Granada and the city of Half Moon Bay.
The Montara State Marine Reserve and the Pillar Point State Marine Conservation Area extend offshore from Montara, just north of Half Moon Bay. Law enforcement in the city of Half Moon Bay is done through a contract with the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office. The real growth of the area occurred after World War II, with the construction of numerous subdivisions, leading to the creation of Half Moon Bay in 1959. Jazz pianist Bill Evans recorded the album Half Moon Bay in 1973 at the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in Half Moon Bay. The United States Navy's seaplane USS Half Moon (AVP-2) during World War II was named Half Moon Bay and retained that name when it served as the USCGC Half Moon weather vessel of the United States Coast Guard for more than 20 years after the war. The racial makeup of Half Moon Bay was 8,580 (75.8%) white, 82 (0.7%) African American, 71 (0.6%) Native American, 490 (4.3%) Asian, 9 (0.1%) Pacific Islanders, 1710 (15.1%) from other races, and 382 (3.4%) from two or more races.
The port of Pillar Point, at the northern end of Half Moon Bay, offers a protected pier for ships and provides other marine infrastructure. As for the 37th parallel north, Half Moon Bay's mild summer temperatures are unmatched across the board. Half Moon Bay is approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of San Francisco, 10 miles (16 km) west of San Mateo and 45 miles (72 km) north of Santa Cruz. Half Moon Bay's economy is dominated by a handful of companies, the largest of which is the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, which employs 500 people and is a major source of property tax and tourism revenues for the city.
The 1992 film Raising Cain, which takes place and was filmed on the San Francisco Peninsula, mentions a fictional swamp shaped like a crescent. Half Moon Bay began as a rural agricultural area, used primarily by the Mission of San Francisco de Asís (established in 1977) for grazing cattle, horses and oxen. In 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized Half Moon Bay politicians for repeatedly delaying approval of a 40-unit apartment building for high-ranking farmworkers.
