PHOTOS. Sneak peak. Thanks to Half Moon Bay Coastside History Association President, Robin Kirby, for your work on this project.
Wanna Go to Jail? Let us Help You!
HMB Jail Museum is open Saturdays and Sundays 10-4pm. (Closed for Pumpkin Festival Weekend 3rd in Oct.). Scroll to bottom for more information.
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Ladies Man Tiburcio Vasques was the Robin Hood of the Coastside.
People hid him. He was eventually caught, with someone else’s wife, and turned in by the husband. He was summarily hung. They sold tickets to his hanging. He liked to race his horse down Main Street. Imagine that.
Wanna Go to Jail? Let us Help You!
Open Saturdays and Sundays 11-5pm. (Closed for Pumpkin Festival Weekend 3rd in Oct.) Winter hours 10-4pm.
Our group was established in 2006 with the goal of preserving and celebrating the history of the Coastside. We hold quarterly speaker events on a variety of historic topics, provide an education program to local third-grade schools, and serve as a resource for those with questions about or an interest in the history of this unique region. Thanks to a partnership with the City of Half Moon Bay, we were able to establish a museum in the historic jail in downtown Half Moon Bay. We are also currently working on a project to establish a larger Coastside History Museum in the Johnston Barn building behind the jail. Volunteers and Donations to help with our projects are more than welcome!
The Half Moon Bay History Association has opened a small museum in the historic Half Moon Bay Jail to be able to share and celebrate Coastside History, while the larger Johnston Barn Museum work progresses. As part of the initiative, we have trained volunteer docents to educate museum visitors. Come by and learn about the Spanish Land Grant Era, Bootlegging and Prohibition, Maritime History, the Ohlone Indians, the various immigrant communities who settled the Coastside, prominent historic buildings in town and the stories behind those who built them… and much more!
If you’re interested in local history, we’d love to have you join us!
Volunteer as a docent, or find another way to volunteer.
Just email HMBHAdocents@gmail.com
Looking for Docents and other Volunteers for HMB Coastside History Museum!
Would You Support Building a Half Moon Bay History Museum?
Well, Dave Cresson, the president of the HMB History Association does!
IMAGINE!?
On March 6th, 2018 he signed an agreement with the City of HMB for the use of the historic Johnston Barn, and the old jail. The Barn is located behind the Jail on Johnston Street in Half Moon Bay.
Dave and the HMB History Association are taking the first steps to fundraise the renovation of the barn, into a museum. Imagine being able to walk through time and into the past of our shared history.
Back standing: Mary Ruddy, Robin Kirby, Barbara Dye, Lau Hodges, JoAnne Semones, Julie Barrow, Tina Solomon, David Olson, Dan Miller, Bobbie Dunham, Clyde Beffa Front sitting: Katy Baker, Sally Benson [Dave C. with document] June Baxter, Paul McReynolds, Sheila Cresson, Chris Beffa
Industries: Lumber, Agriculture, Fishing, Bootlegging, Surfing, Tourism, Cannabis…Cultures: The Ohlone, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, Japanese, Mexicans, Europeans…
What a history! The museum will bring us all together.
Reaching a balanced decision for the use of the property has taken the City and the Association years. It is a very big first step.
Here are some next steps for you to consider.
- Donating money for the reconstruction of the old Barn into a museum?
- Interested volunteering to learn about being a Docent in the museum?
- Do you have
something of historical value – old local documents, pictures, books or historical objects…
Contact us through Coastside Buzz, or the HMB History Association website.
Send us a short note about how you would like to help. Someone will be in touch to discuss opportunities and your thoughts.
Stay tuned to the Coastside Buzz Calendar as the HMB History Association offers quarterly lectures. The next one is planned for June, 2018 and it will be about the Coastside Crabbing industry.
