BART Staycation: Richmond Waterfront
It’s easy to forget that BART, that same workhorse train that takes you to your daily grind, can also take you so far away from it; that in the same amount of time as it takes to get to work, you can instead go someplace utterly serene. Enter: Richmond.
Richmond’s dreamy, nearly private waterfront was once one of the country’s most prolific shipyards. Now it has the feel of a sleepy little beach town, the kind that invites you to linger over a glass of rosé and watch sailboats drift out to sea. But that’s not nearly all it has to offer.
The recipe for the perfect daycation is equal parts natural, cultural, and fun. With that in mind, here is your perfect day in Richmond.
Take the Richmond train to Richmond, then board AC Transit bus #74 toward Marina Bay all the way to the end of the line.
Start your day with Brunch at Assemble, a former Ford assembly plant that built Army jeeps during WWII where killer cornmeal pancakes and meals featuring produce from their victory garden are now put together.
Head over to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Homefront Museum for a rich dose of local and national history. Take a tour of the industrial U.S in the WWII era, watch a film, or try your hand at riveting. We caught a lecture on Henry J. Kaiser and his Bay Area legacy by a local historian that was thoroughly rewarding.
Follow that with a long, leisurely stroll along the waterfront, take a look at the USS Red Oak Victory and just unwind.
Head back to Assemble for happy hour cocktails and snacks (or dinner).
And! If you plan it right, you can catch a Bay Area Derby Girls bout at Craneway Pavillion for some killer athletic fun. Check their website for home game schedule. You mind need to find creative means back to the BART station as bus service ends around 6 p.m.
Every now and then, you’ll catch a glimpse of SF or Oakland across the water and realize how close you are to home. But Richmond makes you feel like you’ve traveled so much farther and seen so much more.
Ileana Shevlin is a writer based in Oakland. Find her on Twitter.
The distance from the Richmond Bart station, not to mention the physical safety issues in the area don’t make this an ideal thing to do
assuming you don’t mind BART getting you there at some random, unpredictable time due to “broken tracks”, “equipment problems”, “bus bridges”, or “police activity”. At least one of those is pretty-well guaranteed…