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Point Molate
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5 reviews for Point Molate
This is one of the most interesting older places I've visited because it looks, from some angles, as if people are still living there. It's cared for and yet not cared for.
There was so much life there between the Winehaven days and the Naval depot days, and as we walked around we tried to picture what it was like when filled with workers and their families. The views there are just gorgeous for one thing. Right by the water as it is, the air feels good too. I thought it must have been great to grow up there.
We took a lot of pictures and there were homes we wondered about - especially one with torn curtains in place, with its own brand of beauty even now.
After putting up pictures in our galleries, people who did live in those homes began contacting us on our photo pages as they found themselves missing the life back then and wound up googling Point Molate. Between the 1940s and the 1990s -- they still look for that time in their lives and so, they've written on our pages. I was also sent photos of a family using the swings, which I will put up this month, linked to the pictures as they are now.
There are sets of photos from the 2 different trips -- and on the set from the 2nd visit, I link to the photo sets of 5 photobug friends who enjoyed the day there too.
The guard had offered to show us the Captain's House AKA Director's House if we gave him advance notice and so we were taken through it and that was a lot of fun, seeing what it was like in the best housing of that area and the views from it (on top of a hill).
The two sets are at
- http://www.pbase.com/a...
- http://www.pbase.com/a...
with 5 other sets of photos linked to at the 2nd one
If you like this kind of thing (historical /preservation sites) and live nearby, go before they start building the casino hotel...
- Andrys
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I'm only putting Yay! I'm a fan because I enjoyed taking photos there. It's a shame that whenever our government shuts down Naval or Military Bases in general they leave perfectly good homes to rot. My sister and I were on our way home from the East Bay, and decided to kill some time while my Granddaughter napped until 3:00 to go in the carpool lane home.
The houses are beautiful although they're falling apart, one house still had the "snow" decor on the windows ... santa and a sleigh, a fallen angel (part of it is missing, hence fallen), etc. The views are spectacular, although I noticed the sky was much bluer over the hills behind the abandoned Pt. Molate Village houses than across the bay where it was smog filled.
Someone reviewed stating they thought there may be a hazmat situation and that was why things were left in a hurry. No one left in a hurry, good old President Clinton closed NUMEROUS Military Bases in the Bay Area in the 90's, this being one of them. IT appears the city, county and state have locked horns over what to do with the land. Chevron occupies some of the space, as does the Pt. San Pedro "Pirate" Yacht Harbor, and the beautiful East Brothers Light House is a bed and breakfast.
We noticed a bike route, and asked a security guard where we would park if we wanted to ride our bikes, he told us we couldn't that it was all gated and chained off (it wasn't) ... it's always such a shame to see beautiful homes go to waste when we have so many struggling to survive and living in their cars, on the streets, or piling up ten to a two bedroom. It's time for a change.
Thanks Richmond, for creating yet another ghost town as our favorite beach and playground when we were kids is fenced off now. Homes lie empty, and I've been in several of them as my friends lived there, including in the commander's house (slept over a bunch of times there). What was once fun is now just empty, frozen-in-time and sad....
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This is another really beautiful, little secret in Richmond!
I used to ride the steam train here as a child. Yes, where my love of trains began!
No active trains anymore, but in addition to letting us all keep a collective eye on what Chevron is up to, the views are incredible and make me remember why I will always live here.
Yes, the Bay still gives me goosebumps after more than 30 years.
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My home town has an honest-to-god mental hospital that was built to house Civil War vets and was shut down in the 1980's (THANKS REAGAN for helping to turn a bunch of people onto the street who were so institutionalized that they didn't know how to care for themselves!).
When I was in high school, it was (hypothetically - this is all hypothetical, since it's illegal) very cool and very creepy to break into the old buildings and sneak around, especially (again, hypothetically) in the basements because all of the buildings were connected by over 4 miles of tunnels. What made this especially terrifying (and, hypothetically, thrilling), besides the fact that the buildings had housed generations of mentally insane people, and so much sadness and horror (electroshock, anyone?), was that when the buildings were shut, they were just... shut. There was so much stuff left behind (hypothetically) in the buildings, like patient medical records and children's paintings on the walls, that the buildings breathed the sense that at any moment, the folks who'd walked out the doors 20 years prior would stroll right back in, caught in mid-life.
The Village of Point Molate has this same creepy, dropped in mid-motion feeling.
I stumbled upon Pt. Molate one afternoon while my daughter was napping in the back of the car. I was already in the East Bay on business, and had to keep cruising to keep her asleep for a bit longer, so, after discovering "Pt. Richmond," I thought to check and see if there were any public roads that go to the tanks you see on the north side of the Richmond bridge.
Lo and behold, as I drove along the disintegrating roadway, I came across a battered sign announcing my arrival to the "Village of Pt. Molate." Further down the road, there were all these houses, and a basketball court ,still with the nets, trapped behind a high chain-link fence. The buildings were clearly empty, but some still had frosted window decorations of reindeer in them. CREEPY.
I LOVED THIS PLACE and the only thing that kept me from hunting around was:
A) the slumbering daughter
B) the security guards I drove past on the way in
C) the slightly terrifying feeling that things were stopped in mid-motion because of a haz-mat issue.
After some subsequent research, it turns out that Richmond is in the throes of trying to develop Pt. Molate into a casino (http://www.baycrossing...). Given that Richmond is not a rich city, this is actually a pretty cool idea.
Ostensibly, this area is cordoned off because it's in a state of suspended animation - in the middle of being repurposed from a Naval oil station to a private casino... But, why all the fencing, even around "harmless" picnic areas, in the meantime? Why not let the public still enjoy the area until it's re-used? Perhaps Chevron's environmental issues play a hand: http://www.umich.edu/~...
Anyway, if you're in the east bay sometime, possibly checking out the Rosie the Riveter national park, swing by Pt. Molate for a little creep out.
Other Nifty Features On the Drive Through Pt. Molate:
The Galley Cafe at Pt. San Pablo (http://www.yelp.com/bi...)
A Shooting Range for Chevron Employees
Point San Pablo Yacht Harbor (http://www.pspyh.com/)
Old Fishing Boat Sunken in Waters
Collapsed Dock Sunken in Waters
Goats Grazing on Hillsides
Lots of Raised Old Oil Pipelines
Chevron's Tanks (http://www.chevron.com...)
Wine Haven Buildling
Creepy Picnic Tables with BBQ Pits Chained off by Fences
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