Coastside History Museum
The new Coastside History Museum is open
The museum and historic Jail at 505 Johnston St. are open weekends from 10:30am-4pm. We are also open during Make it Main Thursday evenings, and some days mid-week when docents are available.
The museum is ADA accessible, with new exhibits about the history of the San Mateo Coastside. The exhibits describe the Ohlone period, farming, surfing, railroads, and the many cultures of the area. Local artifacts are on display as well . The 1919 Jail remains open for those who want to take cell-fies, and read about the history of the Coastside.
Photos of the museum construction over a two year period are themselves a bit of history, and show some of the historic structure. Research indicates that the structure was rebuilt in the 1920s as the sheriff’s garage, likely including some posts and beams from the Johnston livery stable. We have retained as much of the structural materials in our remodeling as was possible, and have reused the old siding on the front of the museum, displaying the old doors as well.
Now that the new museum is completed, we plan to repair and restore the jail so that both cells will appear as they did when in use. The jail is open the same hours as the museum with some exhibits, and one cell available for pictures.
The Coastside History Museum and historic jail are located at 505 Johnston St, one block from Main Street. The museum is currently open weekends from 10:30m-4pm. We are also open during Make it Main Thursday evenings, and some days mid week when docents are available.
We want you as a docent!
If you are interested in local history, we would love to have you join us as a docent in our museum. The training is fun and new classes are available regularly. Contact us via email at volunteer4history@gmail.com
Dream Exhibit at the Coastside History Museum
Rush Exhibit at the Coastside History Museum
Coasts Exhibit at the Coastside History Museum
The jail museum is now empty, the exhibits have been moved to the new museum behind the jail
In June 2018, the Half Moon Bay History Association opened a small museum in the historic coastside jail. Soon after, we were able to obtain a lease on the whole property, including the old garage (barn) at the rear of the property. With the support and help of the community and visitors, and the donation of architectural services by Ed Love, we have been able to design and build a much larger museum.
The Half Moon Bay Coastside History Museum now has two components – the jail built in 1919 and the new museum, built in the old barn (a garage built about 1926 to maintain Sheriff’s vehicles). The new Coastside History Museum opened on June 24, 2023, and the jail usually remains open, docent availability permitting.
Coastside History Museum Directions
505 Johnston Street, Half Moon Bay, CA, near the corner of Kelly Avenue
Coastside History Museum Hours
The jail museum is currently open weekends from 10:30am-4pm, Make it Main Thursday evenings, and occasional weekdays depending on docent availability.
Group tours may be arranged by contacting info@halfmoonbayhistory.org
Half Moon Bay Jail History
1911 – John Higgins purchased land from the estate of Thomas Johnston. Johnston built a barn on the property, which housed horses and wagons for a fast freight line.
1919 – John Higgins sold his property to San Mateo County. Contractors Wightman & Savage began work to create a county jail with two small cells. Estimated cost of completion was $3,000, and the building was built in under 3 months, according to newspaper records. This was one of the early concrete buildings in town, and it seems likely that the actual steel cells were pre-fabricated, then shipped to the site, as was the case with several other small jails in San Mateo County built at about the same time.
Circa 1926 The Higgins barn was taken down, and a new building was built as a garage to house and repair the vehicles that the deputies drove. It is likely that some of the materials from the Higgins barn were re-used to build the garage. The garage has continued to be called a “barn”, up to the present day.
1920s-1960s – The jail served as a Sheriff’s sub-station. Prisoners were held overnight, then transferred to the Redwood City Jail. Local citizens also used the cells to sleep off binges from the local saloon. There were at least some periods in the 1950s when the jail was not in use. To date, no records of bookings or overnight stays have been located.
1970s – The structure served as the San Mateo County’s Mental Health Services office. Staff moved to larger quarters in 1977.
1989 – San Mateo County turned the building over to the City of Half Moon Bay to be used for historical purposes. The site was leased to the Spanishtown Historical Society.
1991 – Volunteers make the old garage safe, including pouring a 30″ thick concrete foundation, and a flagpole at the front of the property.
2003 – Spanishtown and the Young Actors Workshop create a haunted house in the old garage space. YAW continues to present a variety of haunted ideas through 2018.
2018 – The City of Half Moon Bay leases the jail to the Half Moon Bay History Association in March. After cleaning, painting, preparing historical exhibits, and training docents, the organization opened the jail as a small museum in June 2018.
2019 – The City approves a new 25 year lease with the Association so we can build a new museum from the garage on the rear of the property. Ed Love donates his architectural time to design the new energy efficient museum.
2021 – Construction starts on the new museum in May.
2022 – The structure and interior of the new museum are substantially complete in November.
2023 – The new museum was structurally complete in March. New exhibits were fabricated and installed in April. The new Coastside History museum grand opening was on June 24th, with new and old exhibits.