Lake Anza is a recreational

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, located within the

Tilden Regional Park Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park, also known as Tilden Park or Tilden, [], is a regional park in the East Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. It is between the Berkeley Hills and San Pablo R ...

, in the

Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la C ...

above

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 ...

History

Portrait of Juan Bautista de Anza (Painted by Fray Orci; 1774, Mexico City)

The lake was created by the construction of the C L Tilden Park Dam in 1938. It was named by the East Bay Regional Park Board in honor of Spanish explorer

Juan Bautista de Anza Juan Bautista de Anza Bezerra Nieto (July 6 or 7, 1736 – December 19, 1788) was an expeditionary leader, military officer, and politician primarily in California and New Mexico under the Spanish Empire. He is credited as one of the founding fa ...

. Lake Anza was constructed in 1938 with financing by the

Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was created by the National Industrial Recove ...

(PWA) as a recreational lake while also providing water to the Tilden Park golf course. While the golf course no longer uses Lake Anza water, remnants of the water system remain. The beach and stone bath house were constructed 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 ...

(WPA). The original WPA stone bath house burned down in the 1960s and was replaced with the current facility.

Facilities

The lake area includes amenities such as changing rooms, bathrooms (

toilet A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human urine and feces, and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popu ...

s), and large parking areas. There are areas around the lake reserved for waterfowl, and other areas for dogs. The lake is open for swimming from May to September. During this time there is an entry fee required, lifeguards are on duty, and a snack bar is open. The swimming area is restricted to the water alongside a sandy and grassy beach area which is about long. There is an adult swim area with a length of . File:Lake Anza Beach.jpg, Beach at Lake Anza File:Lakeanza.jpg, Beach at Lake Anza

References

External links

Findlakes
maps of Lake Anza

*

Anza Anza, Anzah, or de Anza might refer to: Communities United States * Anza, California, a town in Riverside County, California * Anza, Imperial County, California, a town in Imperial County, California, along California State Route 111 * Camp Anz ...

Berkeley Hills Tilden Regional Park Beaches of Contra Costa County, California Parks in Contra Costa County, California East Bay Regional Park District 1938 establishments in California

Beaches of Northern California

{{ContraCostaCountyCA-geo-stub

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links