Loma Mar, CA

Loma Mar is a tiny San Mateo County CDP in the Santa Cruz Mountains, set along Pescadero Creek Road between Pescadero and La Honda. Only 134 people lived in the CDP in 2020, but the place carries more traffic and institutional weight than that number suggests. The redwood country around Memorial Park and Pescadero Creek County Park brings campers, hikers, and retreat groups through a community organized around a store, post office, volunteer fire station, and a school-bus stop in place of a conventional downtown.

ATTRPublic domain

Camping is the big local thread. YMCA Camp Loma Mar sits near the center of the community, while Redwood Glen has operated as a church-related camp and conference center since 1958. Redwood Glen’s property sits beside the surrounding county parks, making the line between neighborhood and camp country pretty thin. Loma Mar belongs to La Honda-Pescadero Unified but has no school of its own, so the store, camps, creek, and volunteer station do a lot of the work of giving this pocket of redwoods a recognizable center.