“Montara: A Pictorial History” helps you see the town through new eyes

Like a lot of California towns, Montara was a creation real estate speculation. In Montara’s case, the speculators were about 75 years too early.  But their modern successors have been hard at work since the seventies to transform the face of this little town. Because of this, you have to look pretty hard to see evidence of Montara’s history.

In one sense, there’s a not a lot here. There are only a few houses that are more than fifty years old, there’s no center to the town, most of the really old buildings are dispersed among a lot of new construction, and there is very little commerce on Main Street.

But as you walk around the town, you begin to see the signs of Montara’s history. Some artifacts are hidden at the end of wooded dirt roads and on the tops of hills.  In front of my house, under of layer of earth, there is the remains of the original sidewalk.  Around the corner from me, a mysterious stone pedestal at Acacia where Third turns into Kanoff marks the entrance to the original town of Montara. A line runs through the town where the streets change names and seem badly stitched together. This was the border between the original town of Montara (to the east) and the town of Farallone City (on the coast).

Michael Smookler fills in the gaps between these monuments with his book "Montara: A Pictorial History". It’s filled with photos, maps, and newspaper clippings. His text introduces us to the people who built this town and their descendants who still live here. He spent a lot of time interviewing these people, and it shows.  His book is as much a history of the founding families as it is a history of a town that didn’t make a lot of history. It contains many personal photos of people who lived here fifty or more years ago.

Michael’s book is intended as a poke in the eye of the San Mateo county historian who came to Montara last summer and couldn’t tell us where the name of the town came from, let alone its history. He told Michael that there wasn’t enough to write about. Michael realized then that if he didn’t write the history of Montara, it may never get told.

I’m not sure I’d agree with Michael that "Montara has had a rich, full, and colorful history". But it’s a real place in a way that so many California suburbs are not. And it took a hundred years for Montara to develop that sense of place.

The town has transformed profoundly since it was rediscovered about thirty years ago and you have to look hard to see the traces of the remote outpost that was here between the building of the Ocean Shore Railway and the transformation of the railroad’s bed into Highway 1.

I’ve walked most of the streets of this town and a lot of the trails, but this book confronted me with my own ignorance of my home town.  I’ve missed the remains of the Montara Inn tucked in a natural amphitheater in the hills. I didn’t know that the paved path through Rancho Corral de Tierra was the remains of a winding road to Pacifica that was built in 1915 and was our main northern connection until Highway 1 was taken over the Slide, especially after the Railway went of of business in 1920.  I’d never been to the 20-foot monument to Gaspar de Portola hidden up in the hills. I didn’t know what to make that cryptic stone pedestal just down the street from my home.

Michael’s book is beautifully printed. The quality of the paper, printing, and reproduction is excellent and this book will have a special place in Montara homes long after we’re all gone. I strongly recommend you buy a copy.

After reading this book a couple of times, I came away with desire to explore these old sites and get a better understanding of how Montara sits on the hills by the ocean and to know more about the surrounding communities. Michael Smookler understands this. He’s working on a walking tour of Montara and beginning research for a book on the history of Moss Beach.

Michael Smookler will be speaking, selling, and signing books on Sunday, Jan. 16, at 3 p.m. at the Goose and Turrets Bed and Breakfast, at 835 George St. in Montara.