Located in a tucked-away ravine with vibes best described as post-apocalyptic charm, Point San Pablo Harbor can sometimes feel like visiting the end of the world.
But for a one-of-a-kind day trip it’s hard to beat. There’s rugged beauty and warm-water swimming, friendly locals and equally friendly goats. A restaurant provides lovely open-air dining and right next door is perhaps the coolest new waterside bar in the Bay Area.
To reach the Harbor, as it’s known, take the last exit before the southern end of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge and cruise carefully down a road of sharp turns and blind corners. After a few minutes the roadway disgorges into a pincer-shaped cove in Richmond where roughly three dozen people reside on floating homes and live-aboard boats. It’s like a snow-globe version of “Waterworld.”
The sun begins to set behind the artwork called “Purr Pods” created by artist Paige Tashner on display at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Over the decades the Harbor has seen a succession of private owners. The current ones are Yaella Frankel, Rob Fyfe and Daryl Henline, who bought the property in 2016 and have made many renovations and improvements.
Gone are the abandoned vehicles, derelict vessels and oil drums; in their place are ADA-compliant pathways and a hulking, iron garden of Burning Man sculptures. Frankel has personally attended the desert festival more than 20 times, and recently told news site Richmond Confidential: “We’re doing our best to have a public Burning Man camp.”
Musician Nathan X Moody, of Oakland, plays the guitar for patrons at the Sailing Goat Restaurant at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The population is small but close-knit, with some residents having lived here for 30 years. People sit down with each other for potlucks every three months to celebrate birthdays and new arrivals. During the holidays, a fisherman might go out to catch crab and prepare a grand feast for everyone – Dungeness being one Bay Area answer to roasted turkey.
“Rob Fife refers to this as a ‘nonintentional community’ because we’re not all from some specific creed or background. We just all really love this place and found some way to buy a house and become employed here,” says Daryl Henline, who serves as the community’s harbor master. (What’s a “harbor master” do? “Make sure boats aren’t sinking,” he quips.)
Visitors stop to take pictures at sunset while standing next to an artwork called “Future’s Past” by artist Kate Raudenbush while at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Point San Pablo enjoys a colorful history. It started out as a shelter for ferry boats and by the 1940s was a busy fishing harbor that attracted throngs of recreation-seekers. “They used to rent boats where you could buy a lunch and they’d tow you out,” Henline says. “They anchored you out there and when you were done fishing, you’d raise a flag and wave it around and they’d come out and tow you back.”
Barbara Vasako, of Oakdale, left, shares a laugh with her daughter Suzie Vasako, of Richmond, while having a drink at The Knot Club at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Up until relatively recently it had the dubious distinction of being neighbors with one of the last whaling stations in America, which sold products under the Moby Dick brand. These delicacies included whale loins for humans, and for pets a barley/whale slurry “cooked in its natural juices.” The station closed right around the passage of the Marine Mammal Protection Act in the early 1970s, and its building burned down.
“They sold whale meat in little wax-paper cartons with a smiling whale on the side of it,” Henline says. “I’ve met people who said they used to come fishing off the whaling station when they were kids. There was blood in the water and lots of sharks.”
Fisherman Kevin Duan, of El Cerrito, fishes along the shoreline at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Today you can scoot into Point San Pablo by boat if there’s enough water for your keel. (Or if you have a kayak, you’re welcome to bring it and paddle around – many do.) But most people choose to take a car or bike. There are a few neat things worth checking out before you even arrive.
Urban-ruin aficionados will appreciate a ghost town full of boarded-up houses. There’s also an imposing building, now fenced off, that until Prohibition was the world’s largest winery; it’s called Winehaven Castle.
A pull-off into Point Molate Beach leads to a pleasant shorefront with gentle waves and picnic tables with grills. An unofficial trail begins on the south side and winds through darkening canopy and chest-high reeds to open up almost underneath the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, for those who want to live the Troll Life.
Some more relaxing: If you follow Stenmark Drive past the turn-off for the Harbor, you’ll find Good Hot, an enclave of private saunas plopped right on the water. Visitors must book ahead of time to obtain instructions and a gate code. Once inside, you can sweat in the hotboxes and soak in views of Marin and San Francisco, then slip out to a beach for a cold plunge in the Bay.
Children have fun climbing on a giant mosaic crocodile at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. The artwork is called “Niloticus” and is a 40-ft. long mosaic crocodile sculpture created by artist Peter Hazel. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
In the Harbor itself, there is a bomb crater-like pond surrounded by vegetable gardens and darting, jewel-green birds. What can be described as a “goat enrichment yard” is full of Oberhasli and Nigerian dwarf goats bounding and climbing ramps as if the floor was lava. Behind that are chicken coops sure to entrance youngsters.
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Nearby is a trail that goes up a hill to provide panoramic views of the harbor. If you can’t find it, ask a local, and be aware of poison oak. Then there is little Point San Pablo Beach, with something rare in the Bay Area – water that doesn’t freeze your keister – with decent swimming at high tide.
Near the beach is an embarkation point to take boats out to the East Brother Light Station, built in the 1870s on a speck of an island to provide navigation to ships. The lightkeepers of yore almost went mad from cabin fever and constant foghorns. But it’s since been renovated into an inn that serves gourmet meals to adventure-seekers. On the fourth Saturday of the month during summer, anyone is welcome to visit for $45 per person for up to six guests (boat ride included).
Salty Pup’s co-owners Lucy Conroy, from left, Sadie St. Pierre and Damon Gunkel stand in front of their food truck at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
A new fixture at the harbor on weekends is the Salty Pup, a snack shop inside an old ice-cream truck that once operated out of Niagara Falls. One of the proprietors makes snacks for humans: brown-butter Rice Krispies treats, cheddar-and-chive biscuits. Another makes treats for dogs like cod skins and peanut butter-bacon crunchies. The truck has a wall of Polaroid photos from happy doggos who’ve visited; be sure to add your pup to the collection.
A collection of polaroid photographs of dog visitors that have visited the Salty Pup food truck at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
Does human want a bigger treat? (Has human been a good boy/girl?) The Sailing Goat is the kind of restaurant to which you can easily lose a couple of hours. So close to the water you could dip a toe in, it’s open on all four sides to the breeze and typically has live music on weekends. The menu features “coastal cuisine” from ports all around the world. Chow down on some light, crunchy fish and chips or Tuscan seafood stew, rounded off with a glass of North Coast wine and stone-fruit cobbler.
View of the inside of The Knot Club at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
The Knot Club is the new name for the tenants-only watering hole. It used to have a rowdy reputation. The Harbor folks recently renovated it into a bar serving beer and wine, decked out with fun nautical decor, and have opened it to the public on Fridays.
The former hideaway has comfy couches, a piano, board games and a back deck on the water with fire pits. Wines are served by the full and half bottle and there are local beers and ciders to enjoy and local kitty-cats to pet. Sitting on the deck with a juniper-wine negroni, listening to vintage vinyl and taking in an unreal sunset – you almost want to invest in a floating home, and increase the Harbor’s tiny population by one.
Pablo the cat finds a warm spot on the floor while wandering at The Knot Club at Point San Pablo Harbor in Richmond, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 1, 2025. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
IF YOU GO:
Point San Pablo Harbor’s official website: pspharbor.com
Good Hot saunas: Open Thursday-Monday at 1950 Stenmark Drive. Richmond; reservations required, $110-$150 for 90 minutes per group, good-hot-booking.com
The Salty Pup: Open 11 a.m.-sunset Saturday-Sunday at 1900 Stenmark Drive, Richmond; instagram.com/thesaltypup.co
The Sailing Goat: Open 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday (brunch on Saturday-Sunday until 4 p.m.) at 1900 Stenmark Drive, Richmond; sailinggoatrestaurant.com
The Knot Club: Open 5-10 p.m. Fridays (happy hour 5-7 p.m.) at 1900 Stenmark Drive, Richmond; pspharbor.com/the-knot-club