Torpedo Point
An explosive point of interest tucked under the eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Hey, San Franciscan. Did you know you can cross a bridge and still visit a San Francisco park?
Panorama Park at the peak of Yerba Buena Island was officially dedicated on May 11, 2024. You should check it out sometime when the traffic is sluggish on the Bay Bridge. The views are great and the big art installation, Point of Infinity, by Hiroshi Sugimoto, is… very pointy.
But you and I are here for the secret history stuff, right? So, let’s meander down the “back side” of the island, past the Coast Guard Station, to visit the more hidden park—technically public shore—that I like better.
Bimla Rhinehart Vista Point is at Pier E-2, which used to be a footer for the Bay Bridge’s old eastern section before construction of the new shiny white span.
The complex of pier, boardwalk, and seating areas was dedicated in 2019 in honor of a respected Caltrans commissioner who passed away in 2013. It also has great, if different, views:
The cool historical part is right next door on a spit beside the pier. While Golden Gate Bridge has Fort Point nestled under it, the east span of the Bay Bridge shelters its own historic military structure: Building 262, or more descriptively, the torpedo storehouse.
The explosive devices stored in the 1891 building weren’t technically torpedoes like the kind we imagine from submarine movies zipping through the seas to their targets. They were instead mines secured to the bay floor to float underwater. Friend and military historian, John Martini, has provided this helpful drawing:
John explains their use: “The theory was that an enemy fleet would encounter the mines after coming under fire from the big guns onshore, and be trapped between the overhead shelling and underwater explosives. In the earliest days, the minefields stretched between Black Point, Alcatraz, Angel Island, and Fort Baker.”
In the 1880s, the Army stored these mines in sheds on Alcatraz, but the devices quickly rusted in the unfinished wooden buildings. In 1889, the government allocated funds for a more weather-resistant storage building on Yerba Buena Island.
(That underwater mines rusted you would think should have been the bigger concern.)
To save money on bricks, engineer Ernest Leslie Ransome was called in to design one of the earliest reinforced concrete structures in the country. (Ransome was responsible for Golden Gate Park’s Alvord Lake bridge, the first concrete span of that kind in the country.)
The military liked their storehouses to look a little classy. The concrete was formed to imitate chunks of stone masonry and Ransome included some elegant fan windows on the ends.
The building is split into two rooms with railroad tracks in the floor to help load the mines in and out. There used to be a dock and a residence as part of the facility.
Torpedoes were only stored on Yerba Buena for about a decade. In the early 20th century, a new depot and wharf at Fort Point took over the duty.
John Martini: “Later the minefields were moved outside the Golden Gate, the theory being ‘why wait until the enemy is inside the harbor to blow ‘em up.’ [...] The change from planting mines inside the harbor to outside the Gate was a major reason for relocating the mine storehouse from Yerba Buena Island to Fort Point.”
The Yerba Buena building ended up being used for other types of storage by the Army and then the Navy. The Bay Bridge was constructed in the 1930s almost right over the old building.
In 1995, the Treasure Island Development Authority took over ownership. The building was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Not counting far-flung properties—places like Camp Mather and the city’s Hetch Hetchy water system in the Sierra Nevada—the torpedo storehouse marks the eastern edge of San Francisco proper, maybe a smidgen east of Point Alvisadero in Hunters Point. That should count for something, right?
Whenever I drop by, the water is sparkling and the wind is mostly non-existent. There are rarely other visitors. Last week, a few guys were crabbing from the pier while a family clamored over the rip-rap shoreline around the torpedo building.
There’s a future for the old shed as new buildings and amenities rise on both Yerba Buena and Treasure Island. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority last October put out a request for bids to replace the roof, fix up the windows, and replace the old barn doors with aluminum storefront frames.
Could a unique café/restaurant be in the works? A waterfront eatery could be awesome. I vote for an indoor/outdoor event venue. With the traffic noise above, rap metal concerts could be a good choice.
Other improvements for Pier E-2 are being set in motion—landscaping, paved parking lot, a better restroom than the porta-potty there now—so you might want to visit the spit before it’s discovered by the masses.
While Bimla Rhinehart Vista Point and Pier E-2 are fine official names, don’t you think we can get “Torpedo Point” to catch on?
Last Chance for Beertown: Tomorrow!
Tomorrow it be. Reserve your online seat for my talk on the Richmond District’s rambunctious days of racetracks and beer halls. Friends of Woody: do not forget to use the promo code below (shown only to you) to attend for free!
Woody Beer and Coffee Fund
It is the little things in life, am I right? Coffee, beer, chatting with another human being about coffee and beer... writing haiku with friends at Simple Pleasures early Friday mornings (a new nutty thing I am doing):
coughing barista—
the daily grind
is not for everyone
Chip in to the Woody-being-social fund—if you like.
Take advantage of the Woody-being-social-fund and let’s schedule a coffee or beer date together—if you like.
Either or both are optional. As is poetry.