Aquatic Park for kids
The Lake That Used to Be the Bay. The true story of Aquatic Park, near Berkeley, CA, told for kids.
Read along
Look out the window toward the hills. See that long, flat lake next to the freeway? That used to be part of San Francisco Bay! Long ago, the water came right up to the edge of the land over there.
Then people built a long road on a raised bank, called a causeway, right across the water, to carry cars toward the Bay Bridge. The road cut off a big piece of the bay, like a slice of pizza on its own plate. That slice became a lagoon about a mile long. But the bay water still sneaks in and out through big pipes under the freeway, right under your wheels.
So while you zoom along, the bay is swishing under your car like a secret water slide. Can you spot any ducks or little boats on the lagoon? Count how many you see!
Quiz the back seat
How does bay water still get into the lagoon?
Show the answer
Through pipes under the freeway. Pipes under the freeway! The lagoon also has kids who row and sail boats on it.
3 fun facts
- Aquatic Park's mile-long lagoon was cut off from the Bay by a causeway built in the 1930s.
- The lagoon still connects to the Bay through culverts under the freeway.
- The lagoon's east shore used to be the original shoreline of San Francisco Bay.
For grown-ups
Every Tumbly story is checked claim by claim against the sources below before it's published; stories that don't pass stay off the app and this site. Narration is pre-recorded, and nothing you do on this page is tied to your kids.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquatic_Park_(Berkeley)
- berkeleyside.org/2024/08/07/aquatic-park-berkeley
- livingnewdeal.org/sites/aquatic-park-berkeley-ca
- berkeleyside.org/2025/04/07/aquatic-park-lagoon-tidal-tube-culvert-grant
- berkeleyca.gov/your-government/our-work/capital-projects/aquatic-park-central-tide-tubes-maintenance-sediment
- baynature.org/magazine/summer2022/a-new-small-park-with-a-very-big-history
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Town and county names: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).