Point Isabel Regional Shoreline facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Point Isabel Regional Shoreline |
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A map of the park and surrounding area, the land across the channel is known as North Point Isabel
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| Type | Regional (East Bay Regional Park District) |
| Location | Richmond, California |
| Area | 50 acres (20 ha) |
| Created | 1975 |
| Visitors | 1,400,000 people annually |
| Status | Open all year |
Point Isabel Regional Shoreline is a popular park in Richmond, California. It's managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. This park is a great place for many activities. People come here to jog, windsurf, kayak, take photos, have picnics, and walk their dogs.
You can get to Point Isabel by walking, public transport, car, or bike. However, you can't ride bikes inside the park itself. The park also has a place to buy food and a spot to get your pet groomed. A group called Point Isabel Dog Owners and Friends (PIDO) helps keep the park nice.
Point Isabel was temporarily closed from March 31 to June 1, 2020, as a safety step during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. When it reopened, dogs had to be on leashes for a week. Off-leash fun for dogs returned on June 8, 2020. Like other parks in the East Bay Regional Park District, visitors were asked to keep a safe distance from each other.
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Park History and Development
This 50-acre park became part of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in 1975. The United States Postal Service has a large mail facility next to the park. To make up for building this facility on the shoreline, the USPS agreed to let the EBRPD use the land for free until 2025. A key rule was that the public must always have free access to the park.
How the Park Grew
Point Isabel started as 23 acres. In 2002, it officially added about 26 acres of land called North Point Isabel. This happened when McLaughlin Eastshore State Park was created. North Point Isabel is just across a small water channel called Hoffman Channel. You can reach it by a short footbridge or from the Bay Trail.
Landfill and Cleanup Efforts
Both Point Isabel and North Point Isabel, like many parks along the East Bay shoreline, were built on landfill. For many years, North Point Isabel was a place where industrial waste was dumped. It was even called "Battery Point" because of old battery parts found there. In the mid-1980s, a big cleanup project happened. The area was covered with a thick layer of clay to seal in old toxins like lead and zinc.
There's a fenced-off area near the restrooms at the Rydin Road end of the park. This dirt was dug up when the restrooms were built. It had high levels of contaminants, so it was fenced off, planted, and is now permanently off-limits. Other small areas of North Point Isabel are also fenced to prevent erosion or because they still have some lead or zinc.
Park Improvements Over Time
The park has seen many upgrades over the years. New permanent buildings were built for the Mudpuppy's Tub & Scrub dog wash and the Sit & Stay Café. Restrooms were added at both ends of the park. Trails on the Point Isabel side were repaved, and parking lots were redone.
In 2019, the bridge over the Hoffman Channel was made stronger. This was to make sure it could hold emergency vehicles on the nearby Bay Trail. Around 2018, the area where people launch non-motorized boats like windsurfers and kayaks was greatly improved. They shored up the edges, added a gravel area for equipment, a concrete ramp to the water, and paved sidewalks.
Growing Popularity
The number of visitors to Point Isabel has grown a lot. In 2000, about 500,000 people visited. By the early 2020s, this number jumped to about 1,500,000 people each year. While many people come to walk their dogs, the park is also popular with walkers, joggers, windsurfers, kayakers, photographers, birdwatchers, and picnickers.
The park received about $500,000 for improvements. This money helped pay for new irrigation, better grass, removing harmful plants, repaving trails, and new picnic spots.
Point Isabel is often listed as one of the best places in the U.S. for dogs to run off-leash. In 2006, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) even named it the number one dog park.
Naming the Park
The park is named after the natural land point called Point Isabel. This point was named after Isabel, the daughter of a landowner named Don Víctor Castro. The Castro family had a ranch called Rancho San Pablo. From their dock at Point Isabel, they used to transport cattle and beef to San Francisco during the Gold Rush era. For many years, a pottery company called Tepco operated nearby. You can still find pieces of broken pottery along the western shoreline.
Park Overview and Features
The park is located along the eastern shore of the San Francisco Bay. It's managed by the East Bay Regional Park District. The park is made up of two parts, Point Isabel and North Point Isabel, which are separated by the narrow Hoffman Channel. The shoreline of the entire park is lined with rocks and broken concrete to protect it.
The northern shore of the park, along Hoffman Channel, used to be a sandy beach. It has been changed over time by leveling and filling in the surrounding mudflats and wetlands. The rest of the area around the park includes the Bay Trail, a water treatment facility, radio towers, a US Postal Service building, a Costco store, and office buildings. The parkland itself is about 16 to 25 feet (5 to 8 meters) above sea level.
The park is open from 5 am to 10 pm PST every day. Admission and parking are free, as required by the lease agreement. The park is also accessible for wheelchairs, though the path around North Point Isabel can be a bit rough.
Point Isabel has two businesses for visitors:
- Mudpuppy's Tub and Scrub: A store where you can get your dog groomed.
- Sit & Stay Café: Offers hot and cold drinks and light snacks.
The park offers amazing views of the Marin County mountains, San Francisco, and the Golden Gate Bridge. There are 3.2 miles (5.1 km) of flat trails that are generally good for wheelchairs and strollers. The San Francisco Bay Trail goes around Point Isabel Regional Shoreline.
The park provides bags for picking up animal waste. These bags cost the EBRPD about $34,000 each year, and the Point Isabel Dog Owners group helps pay for them.
Park Rules for Visitors
- The park is open from 5:00 am to 10:00 pm daily, unless otherwise posted.
- Bicycling is not allowed inside Point Isabel Regional Shoreline. However, bikes can use a path around the fenced park that is part of the Bay Trail.
- Dogs can be off-leash throughout most of the park, but they must be on a leash in the parking lots.
- Dog walkers can bring up to three dogs each. (Special permits allow individuals and professionals to walk up to six dogs.)
- Visitors with dogs must always carry a leash for each dog.
- You must clean up after your pets and prevent them from digging. If a dog digs a hole, you must fill it immediately.
- If a dog becomes aggressive, it must be leashed right away.
- Dogs are allowed to swim in the Bay, in Hoffman Channel at high tide, and in Hoffman Bay (the northern edge of North Point Isabel) at high tide.
- Dogs are never allowed to bother birds.
- Dogs are never allowed in Hoffman Marsh (on the other side of the Bay Trail from Point Isabel).
- Dogs must not disturb birds feeding in the Hoffman Bay mudflats or Hoffman Channel at low tide.
Getting to the Park
The park was previously served by AC Transit's 25 bus line, which connected it to the El Cerrito Plaza BART station and Downtown Berkeley. You can also reach the park by car using I-80 and I-580 from the Central Avenue exit. There are two parking lots and extra street parking. Bike racks are available at the Isabel Street end of the park.
The park connects to the San Francisco Bay Trail. This trail leads northwest into the Marina Bay neighborhood in Richmond and south towards Albany, passing through Berkeley to Emeryville.
Point Isabel Dog Owners and Friends (PIDO)
Point Isabel Dog Owners and Friends (PIDO) is a non-profit group with about 7,500 members as of 2024. PIDO was started in 1985 when Point Isabel was made a "leash-only" park. By 1987, PIDO successfully worked to bring back off-leash access for dogs.
For almost 40 years, PIDO has helped raise money for dog waste bags and park upkeep. They also teach park users about rules and help keep the park clean, safe, and off-leash. Point Isabel is known for being safe, clean, and having little vandalism.
When off-leash access to North Point Isabel was at risk during the creation of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park in 2002, PIDO gathered 20,000 signatures to protect the park's multi-use status. Later, when the City of Richmond planned to change the zoning of the Point Isabel area for a department store and restaurants, PIDO teamed up with local groups and environmentalists to protect the area.
PIDO helps the EBRPD pay for dog waste bags and encourages visitors to use them. Park visitors and PIDO members help keep the park free of dog waste. PIDO maintains two bulletin boards at Point Isabel, and two others are for the EBRPD.
PIDO also organizes many events:
- Annual Canine Good Citizen testing for dogs.
- Regular park cleaning and weed-pulling events.
- Small "Off-leash Skills 101" sessions with a professional trainer (these are free but have limited spots).
- A popular dog costume contest and parade called "Barktoberfest" around Halloween.
PIDO helps inform park-goers through an e-newsletter, its bulletin boards, and The PIDO Pointer. This newsletter is published three times a year and sent to members, and it's also available for free on the park's bulletin boards.
See also
- Point Isabel, the natural land point where the park is located.
