How Did Moonlight Beach Get It’s Name?
Was it really from delivering illegal alcohol onto the beach, under the cover of night, during the prohibition period?
Or, at least, that’s the way the story goes. Moonlight Beach in Encinitas was the perfect spot for receiving the boats because its beach is flat, unlike other beaches in the area.
So, when the sky was dark they would land on the beach, carefully unload their cache into waiting transporters and successfully smuggle the booze that was so prized and so illegal in those days. Some say that when the moon was full and the waves more challenging, one could see the boats land on the beach, one by one by one.
Of course, you can see the cars haven’t changed much over the years.
Personally I think that even if the story is untrue or exaggerated, so what? It should be true!
Nowadays, Moonlight Beach no longer receives rum-runners (that we know of), but it is a refuge for families, beach volleyball players, surfers, picnickers, seagulls, seaweed, sunbathers and the ubiquitous Junior Lifeguards in training. An iconic southern California beach, it has also been known to host an occasional mis-directed sea lion, adventurous seal or lost soul surfer.