Pacifica in San Mateo County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
Mori's Point Inn
A Rollicking Past
— Golden Gate National Recreation Area —
Mori's was an oasis on the long road between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay. During Prohibition in the 1920s, Stefano's son Jack turned the inn into a speakeasy, running Canadian whiskey from smugglers' ships off the point. Federal agents arrested Jack Mori and confiscated thousands of cases of whiskey from his farm in 1923.
Stefano's younger son, Ray, and his wife, Marie, rescued the roadhouse in 1932 and revived it as a restaurant, hotel and dancehall. It kept its lively reputation until 1965, when Mori's Inn burned to the ground.
"Before dinner we not only visited the garden where vegetables and herbs are raised for their use and chickens for the table, but we went for a hike over Mori's Point. We enjoyed the music of the dashing sea as it broke against the rocks where mussels are caught."
—San Francisco News, 1937
Erected by National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Industry & Commerce • Law Enforcement • Parks & Recreational Areas • Settlements & Settlers.
Location. 37° 37.215′ N, 122° 29.575′ W. Marker is in Pacifica, California, in San Mateo County. Marker can be reached from Mori Point Road, 0.1 miles west of Cabrillo Highway (State Highway 1). Marker is located along the Mori Point Trail, about 1/3 mile west of the Mori Point Road trailhead and parking lot. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Pacifica CA 94044, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 3 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. The Enduring Aramai (within shouting distance of this marker); Charles Gust 1888-1969 (approx. 0.8 miles away); The Little Brown Church (approx. one mile away); Discovery of San Francisco Bay (approx. 1½ miles away); Rev. Wojciech Adalbert Gluszek (approx. 1½ miles away); Captain Don Gaspar de Portolà (approx. 1.6 miles away); Sanchez Adobe (approx. 2.3 miles away); Open Spaces and Wild Places (approx. 2.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Pacifica.
Also see . . .
1. Mori Point History. In the 1700s, the Spanish mined a nearby limestone quarry to supply whitewash for San Francisco’s Presidio buildings. An Italian immigrant, Stefano Mori, purchased 19 acres of farmland here in 1888. Mori built a guesthouse/restaurant, the Mori Point Inn, which developed a notorious reputation during the Prohibition days. Mori Point was a site of gravel and sand extraction during World War II; quarrying and later off-road vehicle use left the landscape scarred. In 2000, with the help of the Pacifica Land Trust, the Coastal Conservancy, and concerned community members, Mori Point was purchased by the Trust for Public Land and added to the Golden Gate National Parks. (Submitted on August 28, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
2. Mori Point (Wikipedia). Rocks from the limestone quarry were used as track ballast for the Ocean Shore Railroad and to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. Highway 1, which divides Mori Point from Sweeney Ridge, occupies a cut first intended to accommodate the Ocean Shore Railroad. (Submitted on August 28, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)
Credits. This page was last revised on August 28, 2020. It was originally submitted on August 27, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 791 times since then and 133 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on August 28, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.