How Pacifica got it's name.
How Pacifica got it's name.|
During the summer and fall of 1956 the people of what was to become Pacifica lived in a loosely associated group of neighborhoods on unincorporated county land. Some people complained of the lack of police protection, others complained that they we missing out on the payments which the state issued to incorporated Cities, but not to unincorporated areas. But most people were upset at the threats of annexation from nearby San Bruno both with subdivisions crossing Skyline Boulevard, and especially with the planned establishment of a garbage dump in Linda Mar Valley.
As an unincorporated area, residents were almost powerless to oppose the establishment of the dump, where if it were within a city, then they could oppose it through local regulations. A fundraising city dance was held to raise money to hire a consultant to put together the necessary paperwork. Almost as an afterthought, people realized that they were required to have a name in order to file the incorporation application. A suggestion box for name was put out, and a meeting was called for people to vote the next week. The names of the existing neighborhoods were disqualified, and Julian Cohn suggested "Pacifica", meaning peace, but also meant in reference to the Pacific Ocean. A preliminary round of voting was made to narrow down the choices, and Pacifica received so many votes in the preliminary vote that they didn't even bother to hold a final vote. The second most popular name was Coastside and other names in contention included Vista Mar, Rancho del Mar, Ocean Hills, Fairhaven and Seaforth. |