Pillar PointPillar Point Pillar Point juts into the Pacific Ocean about 25 miles south of San Francisco. The nearest town is tiny Princeton, but the geographically casual say its in Half Moon Bay . Pillar Point is remarkable for many reasons. Pillar Point has a harbor near the point, and that is remarkable because there are few harbors on the California coast. There are commercial fishing vessels operating from the harbor, and fish markets that sell the catch, and restaurants to serve up the fish, and folks who come over the hills from populous places to buy the fish from the markets and eat at the restaurants.
Nearby farms provide flowers and produce.
Pillar Point is special in part because it manages to be so different from the cities of the San Francisco Bay area, and yet so close. Twisty roads through the hills keep it off the beaten path, and the hills mark a change in local climate. A hot summer day in the Santa Clara valley will often become a cool foggy day over the hills to Half Moon Bay. For a quiet place, there are some incongruously grand features. A huge radar antenna is poised atop the hills of Pillar Point.