A correction about the 1920s Dumbarton Bridge fishing pier

A correction about the 1920s Dumbarton Bridge fishing pier

I have a correction to make to an older post of mine about the Bay Area. In August of 2012, I wrote that the remaining bits of the 1920s Dumbarton Bridge had a pair of fishing piers: one you could access from the Fremont/Newark side, and one which was accessible from the East Palo Alto/Menlo Park side.

As it turns out, I was only half-right.

In the past year or so, they have wrapped up a seismic refit of the bridge, and part of that involved using the old western ("Ravenswood") pier as temporary scaffolding. Once they were done, they took down the construction rigging and removed the old span. As a result, there is no longer a second, smaller bridge if you approach from the west side.

It looks like this when viewed from the Ravenswood side now:

[Click to see this one full-size. It's way better.]

I was operating from outdated info and assumed that since it had been there 90 years, it would be there a while longer. I was wrong.

The good news is that the eastern side isn't going anywhere any time soon from all appearances, so if you want to go a good distance into the bay without getting wet or hopping in a boat, you can still make it happen. The fishing opportunities still exist on that side.

Go during daylight... and bring a chum.