Would you want to live in Pacifica? The pros and cons of making your home next to the ocean

The Pacifica Pier at sunset. It's been called one of the best fishing piers in California. The Pacifica Pier at sunset. It's been called one of the best fishing piers in California. Photo: MIKE MOFFITT Buy photo Photo: MIKE MOFFITT Image 1 of / 40 Caption Close Would you want to live in Pacifica? 1 / 40 Back to Gallery

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first installment of an occasional series focusing on the livability of Bay Area communities and neighborhoods.

Like many non-natives, I moved to Pacifica for the ocean. After 15 years, the seven-mile view of the rolling Pacific north of Pedro Point still takes my breath away.

Plains States sunsets can't be beat, I'm told, but watching the sun go down in Pacifica after a storm is something to behold.

It never gets too hot or too cold. If you prefer to dress in T-shirts most of the time, you won't like it. The breeze will make certain of that.

The wind is a double-edged sword. It cools the city in the summer when it's 100 in Livermore. But when a storm blows in from the sea packing 50-mph gusts, windows quake and shingles sail off roofs. If you happen to have an ocean-facing exterior wall, the wind-whipped torrents will surely find any hairline cracks. Then you'll hear the dripping.

They say Pacifica is Fog City. It's also Leak City.

For most outsiders, though, the fog is the biggest negative. From June through August, the heat in the Central Valley sucks in the marine layer, smothering the city, often for days or even weeks on end.

Pacifica is a long, stretched-out city, the result of several small coastal communities being rolled into one burg back in 1957. Folks in Linda Mar, at the southern end, claim the fog is not nearly as bad in their neighborhood than in Fairmont six miles to the north due to their more tropical latitude.

We Fairmonters take that assertion with a grain of salt.

Pacifica holds a Fog Fest each year — on the last weekend in September, ironically when the chance of pea-soup layer squatting on the festivities is relatively low.

In the winter when there's no rain, Pacifica is hard to beat. On a recent weekend, U.S. 1 was packed with motorists heading for the shore. It was 70 degrees and sunny — in February!

Here's how I arbitrarily rated Pacifica in several categories, on a scale of 1-10.

CLIMATE: 7. Pacifica's mild winters and cool summers make it a highly desirable place to live. Downsides: thick fog, having to wear a sweater most of the time.

NATURAL BEAUTY: 10. The rugged Pacific coastline, mountains rising from the shoreline, breakers smashing against cliffs, dramatic sunsets, uncrowded beaches ... I could keep going.

DIVERSITY: 5. Pacifica is mostly white (65 percent) and Asian (19 percent). African-Americans make up less than 3 percent. Anecdotally, however, the city does seem to be becoming more ethnically diverse. My immediate neighbors include Latinos, Indians, a Brit couple, a Palestinian and an Israeli Arab, and Filipino and Chinese families.

REAL ESTATE/RENTALS: 4. There was a time when those who could not afford San Francisco prices could find a nice house in Pacifica. No longer. Zillow shows a median single-family house price of $734,000. Trulia's is slightly less at $725,000. Currently, there's not much of a selection for under $650,000. A one-bedroom rental will generally cost you $1,700/month and up.

RECREATION: 10. Pacifica is a major Northern California surfing center, especially Linda Mar and Rockaway Beach. Great trails for hiking and mountain biking are plentiful, from Mori Point to Montara Mountain. The Pacifica Pier is ranked as one of the best fishing piers in the state. At Sharp Park Golf Course, you can play on an Alastair Mackenzie design for less than $50 a round.

WALKABILITY: 4: For a city that has such terrific hiking, Pacifica is a car-dependent town. If walking to schools, cornerstores, shops and markets a half-mile or less from home matters to you, you probably should look elsewhere.

SCHOOLS: 7. Pacifica scored a 7 out of 10 in GreatSchools' city rankings. A 4-to-7 score indicates average while 8-10 is above average. Three elementary schools, Cabrillo, Vallemar and Ortega, received above-average scores. Both public high schools, Oceana and Terra Nova, were rated as 7's.

TRANSIT: 2. If you depend on mass transit, Pacifica probably isn't for you. SamTrans buses serve the city, but using them to connect with BART to commute to San Francisco can be a hassle. The nearest stop to me requires a 40-minute ride to Colma BART. Driving U.S. 1 and Interstate-280 to San Francisco has the advantage of no bridges, but it can be stop-and-go during peak commute times. Heading south on the Peninsula used to be relatively painless, but no longer. Highway 101 log jams are especially vexing.

PARKING: 7. Street parking is fairly easy to find in the city. Exceptions are around the beaches on weekends, especially in Linda Mar. Parking for the new Devil's Slide trail is extremely limited.

NOISE: 6. Most parts of Pacifica are quiet at night except when SFO is routing jets directly over your bedroom. Sometimes there can be as many as two takeoffs per hour. Then again, you might have an entire night without a single fly-over.

CAR MAINTENANCE: 2. One disadvantage of the fog is that you routinely wake up to find your car dripping wet with condensation. Add the salt from the bracing sea air and you have a recipe for a rust bucket before its time.