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Point Richmond, also sometimes referred to locally as The Point, is a neighborhood in
Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, United States, near the eastern end of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, between Interstate 580 and the
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 ...
.


History

Originally a tiny village known as ''East Yards'' surrounded by abandoned farm lands,The Early Years 1902 - 1914
, Chevron website, access date 02-19-2009
Point Richmond was Richmond's central downtown area from the late 19th century until the early 20th century, when the present downtown superseded it as the busiest part of town. Since then, its trademark "
mom-and-pop Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have fewer employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to ap ...
" shops have largely survived. The
Point Richmond Historic District The Point Richmond Historic District is the downtown area of Point Richmond in Richmond, California, and is on the National Register of Historic Places. History This historic district developed in the late 1890s when the San Francisco and San ...
has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978. The neighborhood is dominated to the north by several industrial operations, including a large Chevron refinery, several smaller chemical manufacturing facilities and an active Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight yard. Long distance freight trains are put together in this yard, largely consisting of container cars and automobile transports loaded from the nearby Port of Richmond, as well as some brought up from the Port of Oakland. The 24-hour operations of the switch engines are a constant feature of life in the Point. Residents have a love-hate relationship with the trains, pushing the railroad to modify operations to make them quieter and less disruptive to traffic but also fighting to save the wig wag signals when BNSF made plans to remove them. The wig wag signals, while no longer operating (newer gates, red lights and bells have been installed at the crossing), are one of only a handful still in existence nationwide. The neighborhood is divided by a ridge, which separates it into a "Bay side" and a "town side." Many houses, which include historic
Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...
, offer a view of the bay. Many of the area businesses are housed in century-old buildings dating back to before the founding or incorporation of the town.


Attractions

The Plunge The Richmond Municipal Natatorium, commonly known as The Plunge or The Richmond Plunge, is a historic swim center in the Point Richmond, Richmond, California, Point Richmond neighborhood of Richmond, California. It was closed in August 2001 for ...
is a local landmark swim center, reopened in August 2010 after a seismic upgrade and remodeling. The nearby hill is Nicholl Knob, which is part of the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline. In the historic downtown section there is th
Point Richmond History Association
museum, a small museum of photos and artifacts that are dedicated to local history. There is a tunnel through this hill named the Ferry Point tunnel;
Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...
trains would use it to reach Ferry Point and allow passengers to board ferries to complete the trip to San Francisco. Part of the area on the bay side of the tunnel is known as Brickyard Cove owing to the brickyard which used to operate in the area. Point Richmond is home to
Keller Beach Keller may refer to: People *Keller (surname) * Helen Keller *Keller Williams, jam-band musician *Keller E. Rockey Places India * Keller, Shopian United States *Keller, Georgia *Keller, Indiana *Keller, Texas * Keller, Virginia *Keller, Washingt ...
, one of the several publicly accessible beaches in Richmond, and nearby is a picnic area and parking lot. Across from the picnic area is the
Golden State Model Railroad Museum The Golden State Model Railroad Museum is an operating model railroad exhibit located in Point Richmond, California, within the boundary of the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline park. It is located in the Brickyard Cove area and features dozens o ...
. Continuing along the road is Brickyard Cove a housing development in the area of a former brickyard. Nearby, at the end of Dornan Drive is the
S.S. Red Oak SS ''Red Oak Victory'' is a U.S. Victory ship of the used in the Second World War. She was preserved to serve as a museum ship in Richmond, California, Richmond, California, and is located within the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front N ...
Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by North American shipyards during World War II to replace losses caused by German submarines. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slight ...
in former World War II Kaiser Shipyard 3, which is part of the
Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park is a United States national historical park located in Richmond, California, near San Francisco. The park preserves and interprets the legacy of the United States home front ...
; it is a restored Victory ship built in the city 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 ...
.


Waterfront

Further along lies Brickyard Cove and the Richmond Yacht Club, one of many marinas in the city. There are condominiums and brand new luxury
tract homes Tract housing is a type of housing development in which multiple similar houses are built on a tract (area) of land that is subdivided into smaller lots. Tract housing developments are found in suburb developments that were modeled on the "Levit ...
terraced into the hills as well as homes built over the water on piles along two spits. Point Richmond's shoreline was the location of a beached
gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. gray back whale, Pacific gray whale, Korean gray whale, or California gray whale, is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and bree ...
calf in May 2007, the source of considerable odor in the area. After a delay in obtaining permits and disputes over who would pay, the carcass was towed out to sea. One of the last remaining portions of the channel and marshlands that once separated the island of Point Richmond with the mainland is the Herman Slough Creek in the north end of the neighborhood along with the
Santa Rita Channel Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...
where the marinas are now located.


Transportation

It is served by
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 ...
lin
72M
which begins in
Jack London Square Jack London Square is an entertainment and business destination on the waterfront of Oakland, California, United States. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, Amtrak ...
and terminates in Point Richmond, and by
Golden Gate Transit Golden Gate Transit (GGT) is a public transportation system serving the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, United States. It primarily serves Marin County, Sonoma County, and San Francisco, and also provides limited ser ...
's commuter route 42 and express route 40 to
San Rafael Transit Center The San Rafael Transportation Center (also called C. Paul Bettini Transportation Center) is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal transportation center located in downtown San Rafael, California. It is a primary transfer point for several ...
in
Marin County Marin County is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is acros ...
. There was previously shuttle service on line 374 to the Richmond Ferry Terminal until it ceased operations in 2001. In addition to express transbay bus service to the San Francisco Transbay Terminal along route LD, there was also service directly to El Cerrito del Norte BART from Point Richmond and Brickyard Cove on line 79, but these routes were removed due to funding cuts.


Controversies

There was
controversy Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
in 2002 over a proposed and eventually built
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
coffeehouse in the neighborhood.Landowners, neighbors clash over chain restaurants in Point Richmond
Karl Fisher. ''
Contra Costa Times The ''East Bay Times'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Walnut Creek, California, United States, owned by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of Media News Group, that serves Contra Costa and Alameda counties, in the East Bay ...
''. 19-01-2011. Retrieved 21-01-2011.
Some residents feared that the opening of a corporate
chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
would dampen a much loved way of life and cherished independent "
mom and pop ] A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestati ...
" commercial sector. Nevertheless, an
Extreme Pizza Extreme Pizza is a privately held restaurant franchise chain specializing in conventional and California-style pizza, founded by Todd Parent and Michael Pastor in 1994 in San Francisco, California. The chain currently includes over 30 location ...
also operates in the commercial strip, but in 2011 the community lobbied for a moratorium or ban on chains when Subway attempted to open a franchise. Starbucks closed in November 2020 along with a few other local businesses amid pandemic difficulties. There was considerable neighborhood opposition to the relocation of the Point Richmond library in 2007 when it was to be remodeled and reopened (it had been closed since 2004 due to budget issues). Instead, the city's planning commission wanted to tear it down and move it to nearby rental space so that the surrounding empty lot could be turned into a lively town square. Approx. half of the Point Richmond residents vehemently rejected this and the committee dropped its plans. Still, a lot of the residents would like to tear down the building and move the library into one of the many empty office buildings, however the nasty fight from the first attempt is still in clear vision to even discuss this matter effectively. There was also controversy over a
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
cellular Cellular may refer to: *Cellular automaton, a model in discrete mathematics * Cell biology, the evaluation of cells work and more * ''Cellular'' (film), a 2004 movie *Cellular frequencies, assigned to networks operating in cellular RF bands *Cell ...
tower that was installed on Water Street atop an apartment building. A group of Point Richmond residents claimed the property owners did this without proper public notice. In December 2009, the First District Court of Appeal rejected the protesters' challenge and upheld the legality of the antenna installation.


References

*


External links


Official SitePoint Richmond History AssociationPoint Richmond Business Association
development lobbyists
Wikimapia aerial viewStories from The Point
audio postcards from Point Richmond, CA {{authority control Neighborhoods in Richmond, California Populated coastal places in California