Ocean Colony, Half Moon Bay, CA

Ocean Colony sits at the south end of Half Moon Bay, on high ground, with two golf courses threaded through it. Curving streets climb gently from the bluff at Miramontes Point, and fairways run alongside the houses with very little fencing between them. Homes in Ocean Colony are detached houses built in phases, one separate subdivision after another over several decades. Lots run a little roomier than in the older parts of town, and the look changes from one subdivision to the next, so a drive through a few cul-de-sacs tells you more than any single block. Half Moon Bay Golf Links runs two courses here, the Old Course and the Ocean Course, and both take public tee times. Walkers use the bluff path, which joins the paved Coastal Trail and leads north to Wavecrest Open Space Reserve and Poplar Beach. Dinner close to home starts with Cameron's Pub on Cabrillo Highway South, an English-style pub known for fish and chips and clam chowder, with a dog-friendly patio, trivia on Tuesday nights and karaoke on weekends. For a sit-down evening with house-made pasta and wood-fired cooking, people drive up to Pasta Moon on Main Street. Morning coffee is a drive as well, and Half Moon Bay Coffee Company on Stone Pine Road is the usual stop. Daily life here runs on a car. Downtown and its shops lie north along the coast highway. Highway 92 climbs east over the ridge to Interstate 280 and the rest of the Peninsula. Exposure is the cost of living on the bluff. Fog and wind come off the water for much of the year, and apart from the golf clubhouse and the trail, nothing else is within walking distance. Because the golf courses take up so much land, the neighborhood stays open and low, and the horizon is visible from a lot of its streets.