Life Before the Tunnels: Remembering Shamrock Ranch

Jim Evans, 70, enjoys storytelling. He grew up on Shamrock Ranch and watched the development of Pacifica from there, like the grading of the roads and building of tract houses in Linda Mar in the 1950s and ‘60s. Now he’s witnessed the building of the tunnels, “going through my old backyard,” he said.

He says he likes the idea of the Devil’s Slide tunnels because “a new way to Montara was badly needed, but the idea of being underground in that area scares me. I hope the technology has improved enough to make it earthquake proof.”

Since he’s getting much older now, he says he wants to share his historical photos of Pacifica.

“I would like to make them available to others that might be interested before I die," he said. "I was looking through old files and found several hundred pictures of the area long before the tunnels were built.”

He told Patch to print anything we like because “if it’s a big secret, I wouldn't have written it down in the first place.”

So let’s begin with his story about Devil’s Slide, the time he had to change his underwear he was so scared.

Evans was home on 30 days leave and visiting a friend in Montara. It was shortly after dark, and as he was driving the Slide he came across a herd of deer in the middle of the road. Five of them, he said.

“I have no idea what they were doing there, or even how they got there, but I had no way to stop and nowhere to turn away to, so I made lots of slides and zigzags. I made it without hitting one or doing any damage to the car, so I just changed my underwear and went on,” he said.

He also recalls another treacherous Devil’s Slide moment. He was on his way back from Half Moon Bay on a Sunday afternoon when a 49 Ford flipped and passed him in the other lane.

“I guess he lost it on the curving dip near the old machine gun nest. He didn't go over, but it was a near thing,” said Evans.

In those days Evans says there were signs posted like "Caution. 13 people have lost their lives."

“I always wondered, what about the ones that nobody knew about, like a tourist going over in the dark with no witnesses? It’s a dangerous area, glad they did something,” he says of the new Tom Lantos Tunnels.

Most of the photos Evans shared here are looking back in the valley from Shamrock before building began.

He says he can’t comment on how much he thinks the area will change with the new tunnels because “I've been gone too many years  — over 50 now," but he does think there's been a drastic change in the scenery. He would know. As a kid he tromped around all over the Pedro Point Headlands and remembers every creek, valley, stump, and tree. A game of hide and seek “covered about 60 acres of the 300 available with an unbelievable number of hiding spots,” he said.

He describes his favorite hideout:

“I had a little observation platform built way out in one of the big trees they cut down. You got to it by walking up the trunk of a tree that had fallen into the fork of one still standing. When you got to the intersection, a right turn onto a branch would allow you to walk out onto it. It was about 4x6 feet, deer skin rug, padded rear seat from a Jeep to sit on and wonderful silence. No traffic noise, just breeze and little animals going about their business. I was coming back from there when my father had to shoot the bobcat. It was stalking me. I didn't even know I was in its territory, but he knew and didn't like it a bit.” 

Evans picked out a few views of the tunnel area and building Linda Mar before incorporation. Most can be recognized by the background, but there’s one Evans would like to explain.

“The building under construction with the scrap wood burning was where I went to school in the 5th grade,” he said. “It later became Sanchez Library.”

Evans, who now lives in Missouri, shares more of his stories and photos from growing up on Shamrock Ranch in Pacifica here.