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 E ...

, 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 Francisco ...

(Interstate 80 and 580) at the foot of University Avenue on San Francisco Bay. Narrowly speaking, "Berkeley Marina" refers only to the city marina, 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 ...

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. The original shoreline ran a few yards west of the Southern Pacific (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 Pac ...

) tracks on Third Street. The area was gradually filled in over the years. Sanfranciscobayarea3

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 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 ...

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 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland, it carries about 260,000 ...

. Thereafter it became a fishing pier. US 40 was shifted to the new Eastshore Highway 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 * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César 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 opposing ...

, 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 for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

(SFO) and Oakland (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 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 was developed during the ...

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.

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 Articles with WikiMiniAtlas displaying incorrectly; WMA not showing area

History

Berkeley heliport

See also

References

External links