Coastsider’s presidential poll is back. We took it down late last year as the campaign slogged through the holidays. With last week’s Iowa surprises, and the primary season about to begin, and California’s primary coming up in less than a month, it’s time to get the conversation going again.

The presidential poll is in the right-hand column, about one page down from the top.  If you haven’t voted in a month, you can vote again.

The New Year’s Eve sunset was so spectacular that we received two photos from readers—and decided to break our secret, self-imposed moratorium on sunset photos.

NOTE: This review originally appeared in the Pacifica Tribune on December 19, 2007. Submitted by and reprinted with permission of the author.

At a recent birthday party for a young lady turning one, everyone came bearing gifts and love. But frankly, except for the guest of honor and several well-dressed friends under the age of 2, the rest of the crowd was way past the age of delicately mashed organics. Suddenly a plate of savory gruyere cheese toasts, and crostini finished with sun-dried and basil pestos saddled alongside the older celebrants. This was immediately followed by marinated and roasted chicken skewers served with sweet chili and peanut sauces. On the table were asparagus with cherry tomatoes, baby carrots and orange-béarnaise dipping sauce, chilled prawns with cocktail sauce, fresh lemon and sauce verte. There was a hot crab dip brimming with creamy crab, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, wine and herbs and the never to be forgotten, bruschetta. These freshly baked garlic and herb toasts came with three sides: artichoke hearts with fresh lemon, basil and oregano, olive tapenade with olive garnish and fresh basil and a curried eggplant which contained all the right ingredients of onions, peppers, tomatoes, Indian spices and of course roasted eggplant. The tastes – meltaway, fabulous, more. Just who was responsible for these mouth-watering creations?

Meet Coastside caterer Casey Alfred Sample, owner of "Sample This! Fine Catering" as well as Casey’s Café in Half Moon Bay’s Zaballa Square. Sample is appropriately the last name of this popular creator of fine cuisine.

June Morrall’s Princeton-by-the-Sea is a compact history of a compact part of the Coastside. From the unincorporated neighborhood of Miramar, up the coast to the radar antenna at the Air Force tracking station, these few square miles are San Mateo County’s connection to the Pacific. At the end this Review, we’ll tell of you how you can win an autographed copy of this interesting book.

June’s photo history shows many of the buildings in today’s Princeton in their original settings, complete with the cast of characters who made their lives there. June Morrall is the author of the Half Moon Bay Memories blog and wrote and produced the film Mystery of Half Moon Bay (1981).

Princeton is a peculiar piece of land. It features million dollar views and some of our most popular tourist destinations, but it is also littered with storage lockers, the rusting remnants of its industrial past, and a big chunk of the Coastside’s criminal element.  While it has been a destination since the days of the Ocean Shore Railway and still serves thousands of tourists, it has never lived up to its potential.

June’s book captures some very special moments in Princeton: When it was a much more vital fishing port than it is today, when Pete Douglas founded the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society as artists converged on the Coastside, when surfers discovered Mavericks, when bootleggers landed liquor bound for San Francisco, and when the Coastside was an important center for drag racing.

Most dramatic are the photographs of the damage caused by a tsunami on April Fool’s Day, 1946. It’s a reminder of how vulnerable this part of the Coastside is to another devastating big wave.

Princeton’s not the most thrilling piece of real estate in the world and it has always been kind of scruffy, like any working harbor. June’s book is a good introduction to the way that many Coastsiders then and now made their living from the sea.

You can get it from Amazon if you must, but you really should drop by your favorite Coastside bookstore to get your copy.

How to win a copy from Coastsider:  The publisher sent us five copies of June’s book, which she has graciously autographed for us. Share your memories of Princeton with us, or your dreams for its future by attaching a comment to this story. We’ll award copies to the best comments as well as to a couple of randomly chosen entries—so you can win either by being the best, or simply by showing up. Remember, you can’t post unless you’re a registered user and you use your real name.  Click here to register. It only takes a few seconds.

On December 7th you showed a picture of a new Verizon Wireless Tower being installed at the Montara Sanitary District.  However, Verizon customers have been unable to receive any reception through this tower.  After much discussion with Verizon I heard from them today that the tower is not working and they are having troubles.  They also told me that if I had signed up for their service on the basis of this tower they were willing to break my contract.  When this tower is going to be functional I do not know, but as of this date there is no signal.
Jo Laster
El Granada

We received an interesting suggestion from a reader:

In the light of Congressman Tom Lantos’ announcement yesterday that he will not seek re-election because of illness [County Times], I would really like to see the Tunnel named for him. If others agree with me, I think the place to start would be e-mailing State Senator Leland Yee. Lantos has represented us for almost thirty years and was highly influential in funding and getting the work under way on Devil’s Slide.

After visiting the tunnel construction site with Congressman Lantos back in May, it was clear to us how closely he identifies with the project.

UPDATE: Power has been restored to Half Moon Bay and the shelter at Adcock Center has been closed.

Coastsiders are cautioned to shelter in place, according to Half Moon Bay’s Emergency Operations Center. Limited shelter is available at the Adcock Center at 535 Kelly Ave as long as power is out. The HMB Police Dept and Coastside Fire District’s Emergency Operating Center will be at the fire station in Half Moon Bay is long as the power is out.  PG&E has not provided an estimated time for when the power is expected to be restored and it could be out the entire weekend.

Seton Coastside in Moss Beach is open for all medical emergencies, but the Coastside Medical Clinic in Half Moon Bay is closed. The EOC is reporting the grocery stores in HMB are closed.

Sand bags are available at these locations:

 

• Half Moon Bay City Hall, 501 Main Street, in the open parking lot off Johnston Street

 

• Half Moon Bay Corp Yard at 880 Stone Pine Road (east end of road)

 

• Princeton’s Public Works Corp Yard at 203 Cornell Avenue

 

• Pescadero High School at 350 Butano Cut Off Road

Additional cautions:

 

• High surf warnings and coastal flood watch remains until Sunday afternoon

 

• Intersection lights are out - please relate to them as four way stops

 

• Take care with burning candles - don’t leave them unattended

 

• Do not use propane or charcoal as an inside heat or cooking source

 

• Limit driving

 

• Stay away from flooded roadways, ditches and high surf.

 

• Avoid downed power lines

The power is out up and down the Coastside. Safeway in Half Moon Bay and Pacifica, and Rite Aid in Half Moon Bay are the only stores open in Half Moon Bay right now, and the are open only for emergency supplies, such as batteries, candles, bottled water and charcoal. Customers are not allowed in the stores, but employees are selling supplies out of the entrance foyers, accepting cash only, and sending runners to the back of the store for refrigerated items.

The Review is reporting that the Half Moon Bay Police are asking people to stay indoors. The Chronicle says that half million people have lost power in the storms.

"The real strong wind gusts are the other big story," said weather service forecaster Charles Bell. "Today seems like one of those days when if you can stay home, it’s recommended."

Gusts of 107 mph were measured on Kregor Peak near Clayton in Contra Costa County, the weather service said. The wind hit 70 mph on the Golden Gate Bridge, 78 mph on Angel Island and 76 mph on Twin Peaks in San Francisco

Hundreds of thousands of people have lost power since the storm swept ashore early today, and the Peninsula has been hit particularly hard, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said. As of 11:30 a.m., 518,000 customers were without power in the region, including 119,000 in San Mateo County.

"We expect some customers to remain without power tonight and into tomorrow," PG&E spokesman David Eisenhauer said. "There is a lot of work still to do."

Mysteriously, Montara seems to the be the only place on the Coastside with power right now.

PG&E has a toll-free number for people to report outages - (800) 743-5002.