Pacifica, San Mateo County
On November 4, 1769, members of the Portola expedition climbed Sweeney Ridge, above what is now Pacifica, and became the first Europeans to see San Francisco Bay. A stone marker stands at the spot. In the valley below, the Sanchez Adobe, finished in 1846, is preserved as a county museum. Pacifica itself was formed in 1957 from nine small coastal communities.