Rockaway Beach is a shoreline area of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

in the southern portion of Pacifica, California, United States, approximately south of the city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It is located within a gently curving

embayment A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

with direct access via Rockaway Beach Avenue and providing easy access to Highway 1. The beach itself is a popular place to visit with many restaurant and shopping venues although erosion has decreased its size over the years. It is noted for its scenic overlook, and is one of the cleanest beaches in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

.Bay Area beaches grade well for safe swimming
May 27, 2010 by Carolyn Jones, San Francisco Chronicle

History

There are no known prehistoric remains in Rockaway Beach itself; however, the site of the Ohlone Native American village site of Timigtac is located about a half mile away on

Calera Creek Calera Creek (Pacifica, California) is a stream in the Rockaway Beach and Vallemar neighborhoods of Pacifica, California. The creek is named for the limestone deposits and historical quarry located nearby. With headwaters in the Sweeney Ridge ...

, immediately to the east of Rockaway Beach by State Route 1. The Rockaway beach area has played a role in local history since the arrival of the

Portola Expedition Portola may refer to: * ''Portola'' (album), a 1998 album by Rose Melberg * Portola, California * Portola, San Francisco, California People with the surname * Gaspar de Portolá Gaspar de Portolá y Rovira (January 1, 1716 – October 10, 1 ...

, the Spanish explorers credited with discovery of the San Francisco Bay. As early as 1776,

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

was quarried in the Rockaway Beach

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

pits and was used to

whitewash Whitewash, or calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk calcium carbonate, (CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes used. ...

the newly built Presidio of San Francisco . More recent investigations suggest that early settlements in San Pedro Valley also used this limestone for their foundations. In 1907, the Rockaway Beach quarry was established as a continuously-operating commercial entity known as the Stone Brothers. After construction of the

Ocean Shore Railroad The Ocean Shore Railroad was a railroad built between San Francisco and Tunitas Glen, and Swanton and Santa Cruz that operated along the Pacific coastline from 1905 until 1921. The route was originally conceived to be a continuous line betwee ...

in 1907, limestone from this quarry was conveyed to assist with the rebuilding of

after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Quarry materials were actually used as

ballast Ballast is material that is used to provide stability to a vehicle or structure. Ballast, other than cargo, may be placed in a vehicle, often a ship or the gondola of a balloon or airship, to provide stability. A compartment within a boat, ship ...

for the

trackbed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

of the railroad; moreover, after completion of the railroad, Rockaway Beach was considered a suburb of

due to convenient access. This all changed after legal problems resulting from landslide repair caused the railroad to go bankrupt in 1921. Highway 1 was completed from Montara to Rockaway Beach in 1937, thereby reopening the local area again to easy northern access. Horace Hill operated the quarry from the early 1940s to 1953, along with a profitable sand dredging business on the quarry's backside. Ideal Cement took over the quarry operation after that time and owned it until 1971; later operators were Rhodes and Jamison and Quarry Products. The quarry ceased operation in 1987, and is currently (2019) being stabilized and restored. History of the Pacifica Quarry
accessed 11/9/2019

Natural features

The coastal bluffs have verticality as steep as 60 percent, while some of the quarry surfaces are completely sheer. The limestone beds within the quarry are hard and fresh, with close- and widely-spaced fractures. Some of these beds are underlain by greenstone, an altered

volcanic A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...

rock that becomes less weathered with depth. The eastern portion of the quarry area is underlain by

alluvial Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. All ...

terrace deposits. The beach

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal a ...

zone is underlain by

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togeth ...

age beach sand and the upper sands vary in depth by season, depending on the surf scouring of beach sands in the winter and the gradual rebuilding of sands in the summer. The beach and headlands are mostly California coastal prairie and northern coastal scrub, while the riparian area of Calera Creek presents the most important upland

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of the area. Although the beach and headlands area are the least disturbed natural areas of the Rockaway Beach area, they are used moderately as recreation spots. Vegetation is sparse on the beach with occurrences of succulent sea fig,

Hottentot fig ''Carpobrotus edulis'' is a ground-creeping plant with succulent leaves in the genus ''Carpobrotus'', native to South Africa. Its common names include hottentot-fig, sour fig, ice plant or highway ice plant. Description ''Carpobrotus edulis'' ...

, and fat hen in the sandy areas. Farther away from the beach there are California poppies, sand verbena, and bush lupines. The near

elevation gradually increases toward the north until it reaches a headland peak of 175 feet. Habitat on the headland east-facing slope consists of northern coastal scrub, considerable prostrate

coyote brush ''Baccharis pilularis'', called coyote brush (or bush), chaparral broom, and bush baccharis, is a shrub in the family Asteraceae native to California, Oregon, Washington, and Baja California. There are reports of isolated populations in New Mexi ...

, bush monkey flower, and colonies of bush lupine. A gamut of coastal wildflowers inhabit the headland slopes; in addition to California poppy, there are goldenasters,

Douglas iris ''Iris douglasiana'', the Douglas iris, is a common wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon in the United States. It grows mainly at lower elevations, below , though it is occasionally found at hei ...

, and many other native species. The steep bluff faces host plants that are tolerant of wind and sea salt mist, such as silver beachweed, sea rocket, and extensive patches of

yarrow ''Achillea millefolium'', commonly known as yarrow () or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Other common names include old man's pepper, devil's nettle, sanguinary, milfoil, soldier's woundwort, and thousand seal. The ...

. North of the developed area of Rockaway Beach is a hidden

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envir ...

, whose habitat is severely disturbed.

Rip-rap Riprap (in North American English), also known as rip rap, rip-rap, shot rock, rock armour (in British English) or rubble, is human-placed rock or other material used to protect shoreline structures against scour and water, wave, or ice erosion. ...

boulders protect the developed area from marine

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

. Near Calera creek there is

aquatic vegetation Aquatic plants are plants that have adapted to living in aquatic environments (saltwater or freshwater). They are also referred to as hydrophytes or macrophytes to distinguish them from algae and other microphytes. A macrophyte is a plant that g ...

including rushes,

bulrush Bulrush is a vernacular name for several large wetland grass-like plants *Sedge family (Cyperaceae): **''Cyperus'' **'' Scirpus'' **''Blysmus'' **''Bolboschoenus'' **'' Scirpoides'' **'' Isolepis'' **'' Schoenoplectus'' **'' Trichophorum'' * T ...

es,

horsetail ''Equisetum'' (; horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of ferns, which reproduce by spores rather than seeds. ''Equisetum'' is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire subclass ...

, fat hen, and

plantain Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

. The quarry area hosts a surprising number of amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, and a variety of birds. Avafauna sighted here include herons,

egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...

California least tern The California least tern, ''Sternula antillarum browni'', is a subspecies of least tern that breeds primarily in bays of the Pacific Ocean within a very limited range of Southern California, in San Francisco Bay and in northern regions of Mexico ...

s, and

red-winged blackbird The red-winged blackbird (''Agelaius phoeniceus'') is a passerine bird of the family Icteridae found in most of North America and much of Central America. It breeds from Alaska and Newfoundland south to Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, Mexico, and G ...

s. The headland cliffs within the quarry provide nesting sites for

bank swallow The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as the bank swallow (in the Americas), collared sand martin, or common sand martin, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the ...

pelagic cormorant The pelagic cormorant (''Urile pelagicus''), also known as Baird's cormorant or violet-green cormorant, is a small member of the cormorant family Phalacrocoracidae. Analogous to other smallish cormorants, it is also called the pelagic shag occasi ...

s, and Brandt's cormorants. Three endangered species are found proximate to Rockaway Beach: the

San Francisco garter snake The San Francisco garter snake (''Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia'') is a slender multi-colored subspecies of the common garter snake. Designated as an endangered subspecies since the year 1967, it is endemic to San Mateo County and the extrem ...

, the

San Bruno elfin butterfly The San Bruno elfin (''Callophrys mossii bayensis'') is a U.S. federally listed endangered subspecies that inhabits rocky outcrops and cliffs in coastal scrub on the San Francisco Peninsula. It is endemic to this habitat in California. Its patch ...

, and the

California red-legged frog The California red-legged frog (''Rana draytonii'') is a species of frog found in California (USA) and northern Baja California (Mexico). It was formerly considered a subspecies of the northern red-legged frog (''Rana aurora''). The frog is an IU ...

. These last two are found within the quarry property; the California red-legged frog is a critical food source for the San Francisco garter snake that is known to exist on the Mori Point National Park property immediately adjacent to the north.

Developed area

Hugging the coast at the center of Rockaway Beach is a cluster of restaurants and shops, the oldest of which is a Pacifica landmark, Nick's Seafood Restaurant. Another restaurant, historically the romantic Moonraker, hosts nighttime views over the illuminated waves of the Pacific crashing at the restaurant foundation bulwarks. Newer shops nestle behind the Moonraker, many a product of the city's 1986 redevelopment plan.

References

Bibliography

* Curtis Alling, Phyllis Potter, et al., '' Environmental Impact Report for the West Rockaway Beach

Redevelopment Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses. It represents a process of land development uses to revitalize the physical, economic and social fabric of urban space. Description Variations on redevelopment include: ...

Plan'', prepared for City of Pacifica by Earth Metrics Inc., Burlingame, California, March, 1986 * ''General Plan'', city of Pacifica (1980) * ''Pacifica Quarry

Reclamation Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...

Plan'', Martin Carpenter Associates (1983) * Phyllis M. Faber, ''Common

Wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...

Plants of Coastal California'' * ''Geologic Map of Unconsolidated and Moderately Consolidated Deposits of San Mateo County, California'',

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and ...

, Field Studies Map MF-575 (1974)

External links