Things to Do in Richmond and Point Richmond, CA
Richmond holds a genuinely rare combination for a city its size: a nationally significant, physically preserved piece of WWII home-front history, a walkable National Register historic district, and real regional-park shoreline access, all within a compact area at the city's western edge.
Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park
Established by the National Park Service in 2000, with bus tours beginning in 2007, the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park preserves and interprets Richmond's genuinely significant role as a WWII home-front production center. The park's four historic Kaiser shipyards, with a combined 27 shipways, launched 747 vessels in under four years -- including 519 Liberty ships, roughly 20% of every Liberty ship built in the United States -- more than any other shipyard complex in the country, and still hold the all-time shipbuilding speed record: the SS Robert E. Peary, built keel-to-launch in 4 days, 15 hours, and 29 minutes in November 1942. The park interprets the history of the roughly 6 million American women who entered the industrial workforce during WWII nationally, the "Rosies" the park is named for; by 1944, women made up 41% of the welders at the Kaiser yards specifically. The Visitor Education Center, at 1414 Harbour Way South, is open daily from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day).
The SS Red Oak Victory: A Preserved Museum Ship
The SS Red Oak Victory, launched November 9, 1944, is the last surviving vessel of the 747 ships built at the Kaiser Richmond shipyards, and is preserved and docked in the Richmond harbor as a museum ship, maintained in connection with the Richmond Museum of History & Culture. It's a genuine, physical artifact of the exact shipbuilding operation the national park interprets -- a real, boardable piece of the actual production run, not a replica or a general period display.
The Craneway Pavilion and the Restored Ford Assembly Building
The Ford Assembly Building, a 500,000-square-foot structure designed by Albert Kahn and completed in 1931, produced Ford Model As before being converted during WWII to tank production -- processing roughly 60,000 tanks plus other combat and support vehicles. Closed in 1955, used for UC Berkeley book storage until 1975, and damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake after its 1988 National Register listing, the building sat largely dormant until developer Orton Development purchased it for $5.4 million in 2004 (after two prior unsuccessful attempts) and restored it. Today it operates as the Craneway Pavilion, a large event and exhibition space with genuine bay views, alongside Assemble Restaurant -- both incorporated into the broader Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park.
Point Richmond's Historic District Itself
Point Richmond's own 340-building National Register historic district (listed November 5, 1979, built almost entirely 1900-1920) is itself a genuine walking destination -- a dense, still-intact early-20th-century streetscape spanning Queen Anne, San Francisco Stick, Neo-Classic, Eastern Shingle, Brown Shingle, Craftsman Bungalow, and California Bungalow architecture, centered on the small Washington Avenue commercial core. A self-guided walk through the district covers a genuine, physically preserved piece of early Bay Area railroad and oil-industry history, distinct from the WWII-era sites nearby.
Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline and Keller Beach
Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline, a 295-acre East Bay Regional Park District park near Brickyard Cove and Point Richmond, includes Keller Beach on San Pablo Bay -- a real swimming and wading beach, one of relatively few in the immediate Bay Area -- alongside picnic and barbecue areas, parking, and a fishing pier, covered in more detail on the Boating & Water Access and Fishing Guide pages. Keller Beach and nearby Ferry Point are both designated official San Francisco Bay Water Trail sites.
The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge as a Scenic Drive
The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (opened 1956, renamed the John F. McCarthy Memorial Bridge in 1981) offers a genuine, roughly 5.5-mile scenic crossing of San Francisco Bay into Marin County, a real day-trip option for a Richmond resident or visitor wanting easy access north into Marin's own coastal and hillside destinations, covered on this site's other North Bay market pages.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: the National Park Service (nps.gov/rori) for Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park's establishment date, shipyard and shipway counts, production figures, the SS Robert E. Peary speed record, women welder percentage, and Visitor Education Center address and hours, also cited on the hub and what-nobody-tells-you pages; the Richmond Museum of History & Culture and usmm.org for SS Red Oak Victory launch date and preservation status; Wikipedia, PCAD, and Wong Logan Architects for the Ford Assembly Building/Craneway Pavilion's construction, WWII conversion, closure, restoration timeline, and current use, also cited on the dining page; the National Register of Historic Places listing (#79000472) for Point Richmond Historic District's building count, date range, and architectural styles, also cited on the hub, property-tax, and neighborhoods pages; and the East Bay Regional Park District's own website (ebparks.org) for Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline and Keller Beach, also cited on the Boating & Water Access and Fishing Guide pages. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current admission fees or tour schedules beyond the Visitor Education Center's general daily hours; and current event calendars for the Craneway Pavilion. Confirm current hours, fees, and event schedules directly with the National Park Service, the Richmond Museum of History & Culture, and the Craneway Pavilion before planning a visit. Nothing on this page is travel advice.