The Berkeley Marina is the westernmost portion of the city of Berkeley, California, located west of Interstate 80, the Eastshore Freeway at the foot of University Avenue on San Francisco Bay. Narrowly-speaking, the Berkeley Marina is only the actual city marina which is located here, but the term applies more generally to the area around it as described. Berkeley as seen from the Claremont Canyon Regional Preserve. ... Route across the United States Interstate 80 (abbreviated I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States. ... Interstate 80 (abbreviated I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States. ... San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay, and the Golden Gate The San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining of approximately forty percent of California, flowing in Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean. ... A small marina at Brixham, Devon, England A marina is a small to medium-sized harbor used by mostly private, recreational yachts. ...

Originally, the Berkeley Marina was part of the open waters of San Francisco Bay. The original shoreline ran a few yards west of the Southern Pacific (now Union Pacific) tracks on 3rd Street. The area was gradually filled in over the years. The Southern Pacific Railroad (AAR reporting mark SP) was an American railroad. ... The Union Pacific Railroad (NYSE: UNP) is the largest railroad in the United States. ...

In 1907, the City built a municipal wharf at the foot of University Avenue which was used primarily for freight. In 1927, an auto ferry pier was built out from the foot of University Avenue about 3.5 miles into the Bay. A Southern Pacific ferry (operating as the Golden Gate Ferry) transported autos here to and from a San Francisco pier shared with the Sausalito ferry. The ferry service lasted until about 1937 upon the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the pier was soon turned into a fishing pier. Storms damaged the end of the pier over the years. In the 1970s, the city repaired and upgraded the undamaged length of the Berkeley Pier, and it is still in use today for fishing and viewing. The Berkeley Pier is a pier in Berkeley, California. ... Sausalito is a city located in Marin County, California. ...

Since about the late 1920s the city municipal dump was located here, and it is the accumulated garbage 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 César Chávez Park in 1996, to commemorate the late California labor leader.[1] César Estrada Chávez or Cesar Estrada Chavez (March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) founded the National Farm Workers Association that later became the United Farm Workers. ...

The actual Berkeley Marina, used by many people who sail on the Bay, was constructed as the "Berkeley Yacht Harbor" in the late 1930's by the WPA 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. WPA is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings: Walter Payton Award, awarded annually since 1987 to the best offensive player in Division I-AA football War Powers Act, also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act and commonly confused with the War Powers Resolution, an American law aimed... Aquatic Park is a public park in Berkeley, California, located just east of the Eastshore Freeway (Interstate 80) between Ashby and University Avenues. ...

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 Interstate 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 in the San Francisco Bay area that is intended eventually to be a continuous 400-mile network of trails that will encircle San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay. ...

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

The Ballad Of Wilhelm Fink by punk band Green Day (from the "Short Music for Short People" compilation) "Said I'm gonna meet ya at the Berkeley Marina".