Search results for: near Mountain View, CA

Tideline Marine operates a weekday scheduled water taxi commuter service as a loop from Berkeley Marina to San Francisco Pier 1.5 (next to the Ferry Building), onward to Pier 52 (for Mission Bay and the Chase Center) and back to Berkeley. There are two morning departures from Berkeley Marina’s K Dock (in front of the Harbormaster’s office) at 7:30 am Read more...

The Presidio of San Francisco is a 1,491-acre former US Army installation in the northwest corner of the city, at the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge, transferred to the National Park Service when it was vacated by the military in 1994. Today, the Presidio is a thriving urban park with a unique mix of residential communities, businesses, historic Read more...

There are open air parking lots surrounding North Berkeley BART station. Permit lots are permit parking only between 4 am and 10 am, after which they operate as normal daily fee parking lots. Payment or permit is required in Fee parking lots on weekdays from 4 am to 3 pm and is free on weekends and holidays. The lots are Read more...

Water Light Public Plaza is located behind the Lyric apartments on Locust Street at Bonanza Street in downtown Walnut Creek, California. The courtyard-style parklet was designed by artist Jason Middlebrook and features a large abstract wall mosaic created from hand-cut glass and ceramic tiles, with arcs of mirrored glass. The patterns are emulated in a water feature spraying arcs of Read more...

The first Peets Coffee store was opened by Alfred Peet in 1966 on Vine Street and Walnut Street in Berkeley, California. The location remains open today as a Peet’s coffee shop, but originally just sold coffee beans rather than drinks. Read more...

Rob Hill Campground, the only campsite within the city of San Francisco, is situated in a forested area of the Presidio above Baker Beach. This group campsite is open seasonally between April 1 and October 31, and has restrooms but no showers, no RV camping and no hookups. Advance credit card reservations are required and the maximum stay is three Read more...

The lighthouse on Alcatraz Island is still operational with its light beacon rotating once every five seconds as a navigational aid for shipping in San Francisco Bay. It has been automated since November 22nd, 1963, the same year the island’s penitentiary closed. Read more...

Robert Franklin Stroud, nicknamed the Birdman of Alcatraz, was a convicted murderer, imprisoned in US federal penitentiaries continuously from 1909 until his death in 1963. First incarcerated in 1909 on McNeil Island, Washington, for 12 years for manslaughter, Stroud gained a reputation for violent behavior. In 1912 he moved to the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, where, in 1916, he Read more...

During its 29 years as a federal penitentiary, 14 escape attempts were made from Alcatraz Island by a total of 36 inmates, of which 2 prisoners tried twice. Official reports state that 23 were caught, 6 were shot and killed, 2 drowned trying to swim from the island, and five are listed as “missing and presumed drowned”. Only one, John Read more...

Notorious American gangster Al Capone spent 4½ years in the prison on Alcatraz Island after being transferred there in August 1934 from the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. Capone was serving an 11-year sentence for tax evasion, during which time his mental health seriously declined due to syphilis contracted prior to his incarceration. He spent his final year at Alcatraz on Read more...

The last registered prisoner at Alcatraz was Frank Clay Weatherman, who arrived on December 14, 1962. He was also the last of the final prisoners to board the boat leaving Alcatraz Island when the prison closed on March 21, 1963. Read more...

Dogs are permitted at Baker Beach in San Francisco, and are allowed off-leash in some areas provided they are under voice control at all times. Off-leash dogs are allowed on the beach north of Lobos Creek but only if they will respond immediately to commands to return to a leash when called. Dogs must be on a leash at all Read more...

The name Alcatraz Island originates from a name given to one of the islands in San Francisco Bay during Spanish rule of California, La Isla de los Alcatraces. That translates to ‘The Island of the Gannets’ but it is widely suggested that the original meaning was ‘The Island of the Pelicans’, based on an archaic Spanish word for pelican, alcatraz. Read more...

The Sand Ladder steps from the north end of Baker Beach emerge on the California Coastal Trail that runs alongside Lincoln Boulevard. Heading north on this trail for approximately 1 mile will lead to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. Read more...

The Burning Man festival started as a gathering held on San Francisco’s Baker Beach to mark the 1986 summer solstice. On June 22nd, 1986, Larry Harvey and Jerry James burned a 9-foot wooden human effigy they built at the northern end of Baker Beach, in the presence of a small group of friends. While the beach was already a place Read more...

Baker Beach in San Francisco has a clothing-optional area at the very north end of the beach. It is a public beach that attracts mostly clothed visitors, but nude beachgoers frequent the northernmost part nearest the Golden Gate Bridge, so be warned if visiting with children. Read more...

San Francisco’s Sutro Baths building was destroyed by fire caused by arson on June 26th, 1966. The landmark structure, opened by Adolf Sutro in 1896, stood below the Cliff House and housed indoor bathing pools, with an ice rink and penny arcade added later. It struggled financially because of high operating costs, and was sold in a deteriorated condition in Read more...

San Francisco artist Eduardo Aguilera built the circular labyrinth of rocks at Lands End covertly in 2004 and it has become an unofficial attraction off the Coastal Trail near Mile Rock Beach. Despite being vandalized and destroyed many times, public volunteers continue to restore and maintain the creation. Read more...

Swimming is allowed at Lake Anza in Berkeley’s Tilden Regional Park in the designated beach area on weekends and holidays from around the end of April and on weekdays from the end of May until around mid-September. Swimming is prohibited from November onwards and when periods of poor water quality are identified by East Bay Regional Park District. When lifeguards Read more...

The building under the San Francisco side of the Golden Gate Bridge is Fort Point, built by the US Army at the height of the Gold Rush between 1853 and 1861 as part of a defense system to protect the harbor from foreign attack. When it was no longer needed as a defense position, it served as barracks and military Read more...