Point Molate sits near the tip of the Point San Pablo Peninsula in Richmond, north of the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. It is reached from the Western Drive exit off westbound I-580. Point Molate Beach Park is on the shoreline, and the Winehaven historic district is just north of it.
Winehaven
The National Park Service says the California Wine Association moved to Point Molate after the 1906 earthquake and built Winehaven, which once held the title of “world’s largest winery.” At peak season as many as 400 workers lived there. All of the association’s shipments to foreign, coastal and New York markets left from the Winehaven dock. After Prohibition began, Winehaven sat mostly unused from about 1920 until the late 1930s. The Navy later ran it as a fuel depot. The NPS says the National Register district has 35 buildings built between 1907 and 1919, including the castle-like Winehaven Building with its turrets.
A future regional park
The East Bay Regional Park District completed its purchase of 82 acres at Point Molate on Aug. 26, 2025. It paid $40 million to the Guidiville Rancheria of California. Former state Sen. Nancy Skinner secured $36 million for the purchase in the 2022-23 state budget, and the rest came from park measures AA and WW. Board Director Elizabeth Echols said the site includes Native American sacred sites, a historic Chinese fishing village and Winehaven.
The Bay Trail link
The district’s project page says construction began in October 2025 on a 2.5-mile walking and biking trail along the Point Molate shoreline. It will connect the bike and pedestrian path on the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge to the beach park and Winehaven. The trail will be 10 feet wide and is expected to open in early 2027. The district is also working with the Chinese Historical Society of America on exhibits about the Chinese shrimp camp that once stood where the beach park is today.
Nearby, see our East Brother Light Station guide and our Miller/Knox Shoreline guide.