The Berkeley Marina is the westernmost portion of the city of
Berkeley, California
Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
, located west of the
Eastshore Freeway
Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisco across the San Franciscoâ ...
(Interstate 80 and 580) at the foot of University Avenue on
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
. Narrowly speaking, "Berkeley Marina" refers only to the city
marina
A marina (from Spanish , Portuguese and Italian : ''marina'', "coast" or "shore") is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.
A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships o ...
, but in common usage, it applies more generally to the surrounding area.
There are several restaurants, a hotel and a yacht club in the Berkeley Marina. There are also several walking and bicycle paths. The area is accessible from the rest of Berkeley by foot or bike over the
Berkeley I-80 Bridge at the foot of Addison Street (one block south of University Avenue), and is traversed near Interstate 80 by a segment of the
San Francisco Bay Trail
The San Francisco Bay Trail is a bicycle and pedestrian trail that when finished will allow continuous travel around the shoreline of San Francisco Bay. As of 2020, of the trail have been completed. When finished, the trail will be over of p ...
. In addition, it is the western
terminus
Terminus may refer to:
* Bus terminus, a bus station serving as an end destination
* Terminal train station or terminus, a railway station serving as an end destination
Geography
*Terminus, the unofficial original name of Atlanta, Georgia, United ...
of
AC Transit
AC Transit (Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District) is an Oakland-based public transit agency serving the western portions of Alameda and Contra Costa counties in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area. AC Transit also operates "Transbay" ro ...
Route 51B (University Avenue-Rockridge BART) on select trips only.
The easternmost portion of the Marina, running parallel to I-80/580, is now a part of the
Eastshore State Park
McLaughlin Eastshore State Park is a state park and wildlife refuge along the San Francisco Bay shoreline of the East Bay between the cities of Richmond, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Oakland. It encompasses remnant natural wetlands, rest ...
.
History
The Berkeley Marina was originally part of the open waters of
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...
. The original shoreline ran a few yards west of the
Southern Pacific
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
(now
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...
) tracks on Third Street. The area was gradually filled in over the years.
![Sanfranciscobayarea3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Sanfranciscobayarea3.jpg)
In 1909, the City built a municipal wharf at the foot of University Avenue which was used primarily for freight. Starting in 1926, the Golden Gate Ferry Company began construction of the
Berkeley Pier. It was built out from the foot of University Avenue about into the Bay (measured from the original shoreline). On June 16, 1927, auto ferry service began. between the Berkeley Pier and the
Hyde Street Pier
The Hyde Street Pier, at 2905 Hyde Street, is a historic ferry pier located on the northern waterfront of San Francisco, California. Background
Prior to the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, it was the ...
in San Francisco, a pier shared with the
Sausalito
Sausalito (Spanish for "small willow grove") is a city in Marin County, California, United States, located southeast of Marin City, south-southeast of San Rafael, and about north of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Sausalito's p ...
ferry. During this period
US Route 40 ran from
San Pablo Avenue down University Avenue to the Berkeley Pier. The ferry service lasted until about 1937, after the 1936 opening of the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
. Thereafter it became a fishing pier. US 40 was shifted to the new
Eastshore Highway
Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisc ...
and the Bay Bridge. Storms damaged the end of the pier over the years and it was closed. After World War II ended, it was repaired and re-opened in 1946 for fishing. In the 1970s, the city again repaired and upgraded the least damaged length of the Berkeley Pier, and it was in use until 2015 for fishing and viewing.
Since about the late 1920s, the city municipal dump was located here, and the accumulated garbage and
construction debris
Construction waste or debris is any kind of debris from the construction process. Different government agencies have clear definitions. For example, the United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA defines construction and demolition materia ...
accounts for most of the dry land of the Berkeley Marina. In the early 1990s much of the former dump was landscaped and converted into a park, originally named "North Waterfront Park". The park was renamed
Cesar Chavez Park Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''CĂ©sar'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol
* ''CĂ©sar'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt
* CĂ©sar Award, a French film award
Places
* Cesar, Portugal
* Ces ...
in 1996 to commemorate the late California labor leader.
The actual Berkeley Marina, used by many people who sail on the Bay, was constructed as the Berkeley Yacht Harbor in the late 1930s by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...
in conjunction with its nearby work developing
Aquatic Park.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the Berkeley Yacht Harbor was used by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
to construct tug boats.
Berkeley heliport
From October 1961 until April 5, 1974 a heliport was operated by
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines (also known as SFO Helicopter Airlines and SFO Helicopter) was a helicopter airline service offering scheduled passenger flights between San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area cities. It was foun ...
(known as SFO Helicopter Airlines) on the north side of University Avenue west of I-80 near the marina. This helicopter airline transported passengers to the
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
(SFO) and
Oakland
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
(OAK) international airports, and also at one point to downtown San Francisco.
[http://www.timetableimages.com, Sept. 1, 1961 SFO Helicopter Airlines system timetable] SFO Helicopter operated jet turbine powered
Sikorsky S-61
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. It was developed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft.
The commercial version of the Sea King w ...
and
Sikorsky S-62
The Sikorsky HH-52 Seaguard (company designation S-62) was an early amphibious helicopter designed and produced by the American helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was the first of the company's amphibious rotorcraft to fly.
The S-62 ...
helicopters into the heliport which is no longer in existence.
See also
*
Berkeley Pier
*
César Chávez Park
*
OCSC Sailing
OCSC SAILING was an accredited US SAILING Certification facility in Berkeley, California, located on San Francisco Bay. The name is an abbreviation for Olympic Circle Sailing Club, the Olympic Circle being a two nautical mile in diameter ring of ra ...
*
Adventure Playground (Berkeley)
References
* ''Berkeley, California: the story of the evolution of a hamlet into a city of culture and commerce'' by William Warren Ferrier, Imprint Berkeley, Calif. (1933); pp. 375–6
*''Berkeley: The Town and the Gown of It'', by George Pettitt, Howell-North Books, Berkeley (1973)
* ''Berkeley: The First Seventy-Five Years'', Federal Writers Project (1941), p. 140
External links
City of Berkeley Marina
{{Coord, 37.86767, N, 122.3125, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title
Culture of Berkeley, California
Neighborhoods in Berkeley, California
Marinas in California
Parks in Berkeley, California
San Francisco Bay
Transportation in Alameda County, California
Ports and harbors in the San Francisco Bay Area
Works Progress Administration in California
San Francisco Bay Trail
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