- Berkeley Marina
The Berkeley Marina is the westernmost portion of the city of
Berkeley, California , located west of theEastshore Freeway (Interstate 80 and 580) at the foot of University Avenue onSan Francisco Bay . Narrowly speaking, "Berkeley Marina" refers only to the citymarina , but in common usage, it applies more generally to the surrounding area.There are several restaurants and a hotel 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 theSan Francisco Bay Trail . In addition, it is the western terminus ofAC Transit route 9.The eastern-most portion of the Marina, running parallel to I-80/580, is now a part of the
Eastshore State Park .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 (nowUnion Pacific ) tracks on 3rd Street. The area was gradually filled in over the years.In 1907, the City built a municipal wharf at the foot of University Avenue which was used primarily for freight. In 1927, the
Berkeley Pier was built out from the foot of University Avenue about convert|3.5|mi|km into the Bay (measured from the original shoreline). A Southern Pacific ferry (operating as the Golden Gate Ferry) transported autos here to and from theHyde Street Pier in San Francisco, a pier shared with the . Storms damaged the end of the pier over the years. In the 1970s, the city repaired and upgraded the least damaged length of the Berkeley Pier, and it is still in use today for fishing and viewing.Since about the late 1920s the city municipal dump was located here, and it is the accumulated garbage, as well as construction debris, of Berkeleyans over many decades which 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 public park, originally named "North Waterfront Park". The park was renamed
Cesar Chavez Park in 1996, to commemorate the late California labor leader. [ [http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/Parks/parkspages/CesarChavez.html Web Page Moved (or not found) - City of Berkeley, CA ] ]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 in conjunction with its nearby work developing Aquatic Park. In the 1960s, a heliport operated by SFO Helicopter existed at the foot of University Avenue, transporting airline passengers to the San Francisco and Oakland international airports.See also
*
César Chávez Park
*Berkeley Pier 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.140External links
* [http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/marina/ City of Berkeley Marina]
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