Crown Memorial State Beach and Crab Cove [EBRPD, Alameda]

A; 2.5 miles; v SJ          INFO

I haven't been to this park for a long time, but my spouse Dan was out there in mid-June 2008, and took this picture. The review below is from Bonnie Lewkowicz' Coastal Conservancy book, A Wheelchair Rider's Guide: San Francisco Bay and the Nearby Coast. The book is available free from the Coastal Conservancy, and also online as a searchable or downloadable PDF.

THE ISLAND OF ALAMEDA has the bay's largest and warmest beach,with shallow water and tiny waves. Crown Memorial, also known locally as Alameda Beach, is a wonderful place for strolling or picnics, with easy wheelchair access along its entire length. Many families come here. The park's many programs for the public include nature walks, free evening concerts, and an annual sandcastle contest.

The beach has three contiguous areas with a flat, paved 2.5-mile trail running the entire length. One area is Crab Cove, at the northwestern end. Here at low tide you can use a concrete ramp to take you in close to tidepools. You may find yourself at touching distance from limpets and barnacles. The base of the ramp is submerged at high tide. At low tide shorebirds feed in the exposed mudflats; at high tide look for grebes and pelicans on the water or above. The visitor center has a 700-gallon tank exhibiting local marine life and other displays related to the local ecology.Crab Cove also has an accessible overlook at the freshwater lagoon and large grassy picnic grounds with barbecue grills.

From Crab Cove it's an easy .25 mile to the main beach and 2.5 miles to the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary on the paved shoreline trail. There are plenty of picnic areas on the grass near the beach.No accessible trails lead to the water, but the park may have a beach wheelchair available; check with staff.* The bird sanctuary is at the east end of the beach, on Shoreline Drive, between Park Street and Broadway. You can cruise there from the main beach or drive down and park on the street.Watch the avian action from the paved trails and boardwalk overlook.

GETTING THERE On Webster St. in downtown Oakland, take the Oakland/ Alameda Tube running under the Oakland Estuary.Continue through Alameda on Webster St. until it dead-ends at Central Avenue. For Crab Cove, turn right onto Central, then left into the park just after the Fosters Freeze. For the main beach and bird sanctuary, turn left on Central and right on Eighth St., which first becomes Westline Dr. and then Shoreline Drive. (AC transit buses 63 and W go to Webster at Central and then along Shoreline Drive to Otis Dr.)

PARKING Three lots at the park entrance at Otis Dr. and Westline Dr. serve the beach. The lot closest to the entrance has seven blue spaces, none with access aisles. The other two lots each have two blue spaces next to the restrooms. Two blue spaces are next to the Crab Cove Visitor Center. For the bird sanctuary, four blue spaces are in front of the Sushi House where Park St. intersects with Shoreline Dr., and two on-street blue spaces are at the southern end of Shoreline Dr.

RESTROOMS Spacious, accessible restrooms are in the parking lots at the park entrance and at the main beach bathhouse. Old, undersized accessible restrooms are at Crab Cove Visitor Center.

*From the Crown Beach website 6-21-08: Beach wheelchairs, intended to provide a means for wheelchair-bound individuals to travel across the beach, are available free of charge on a first-come, first-served basis. They require an assistant to push and are not intended to enter the water. To arrange for use of a chair, call the Crab Cove Visitors Center at (510) 521-6887 or the Crown Beach park office at (510) 521-7090. Arrangements will be made to bring the chair out to the beach. It takes approximately 15 minutes to prepare the chair. Staff will give a brief orientation to the chair and arrange a time for the chair to be returned. Back to top