Living in Point Richmond

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Parent Q&A

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  • Moving to Point Richmond in 2019

    –
    Jun 5, 2019

    We're moving to the point this summer, and are pretty excited to become a part of the community. 

    Most of our family and friends are around Berkeley and Oakland (where we've been living the last 6 years), so we don't really know what it's like in terms of a parent community - to some degree we're starting from scratch and hoping to get to know folks around the area. We've got two girls aged 3 years and 10 months.

    Had some nice chats with families at the local playgrounds, and at PRAM (we signed up there and love the fieldhouse facility), so we're starting to discover lots of friendly, cute places to take our kids. What other things should we check out?
     

    It's been about 5 years since the last post on this subject on BPN, so any local advice and tips would be much appreciated.

    Jun 5, 2019

    No responses received.

RE:
Bilingual Spanish Preschool-5th grade - which public school? (Mar 2, 2021)

We live in Point Richmond - it's the last stop before the San Rafael-Richmond Bridge. It's a very lovely place to live with some pros and cons to be aware of - but for us one of the big appeals is the dual-immersion public school (currently K-6), Washington Elementary. Our daughter will start in the fall (I hope!), so we can't tell you much about it but we've heard good things and I went to an info session and spoke with a parent who has been really happy, and commutes from Albany. Feel free to PM with any more specific questions about Richmond, the Point, etc. 

Mar 3, 2021
Recommended:
Living in Point Richmond,
Washington Elementary School (WCCUSD)

Archived Q&A and Reviews

April 2014

RE: Commute to San Rafael from Alameda?

Have you looked into Point Richmond? It's got a cute downtown area and very small town feel. It's located in between San Rafael and Berkeley. Montclair and North Berkeley are also within your budget and fit the bill. Oakland mom

For commuting to Berkeley and San Rafael, and for being near the water and walking trails, you can't beat Pt. Richmond (old charm) and Marina Bay (new and clean). The elementary and middle school zone (Washington and Portola) are fine. Not sure about Kennedy for high school though. When considering Washington and Portola, don't focus just on the test scores, they are really better schools than they look on paper. Local Mom

Try out Point Richmond. I've heard it's a great place to live, by the water, and is in a nice location. And nicely between your two jobs. We commute from San Leandro to South Berkeley and 880 is pretty slow and crowded, not terrible, but getting through that commute to then get through Berkeley and then on to San Rafael for your husband might be long and slow. Berkeley is nearly always very slow and crowded on I-80, any time of day/night. I'm less familiar with the bridge traffic to San Rafael. We watched the news to get a feel for the commute, and logged into kgo or 511.org to check out the daily commute before we moved. We found that very helpful. I think there are websites or apps that would calculate your drive time from one location to another. And we use Waze pretty frequently on our smart phones to choose which freeway to take home, it's pretty great. (Chrome has not performed as well). commute researcher

Sept 2012

Re: What are the Good Neighborhoods in Richmond?

Point Richmond is what you want! Nice, safe walkable neighborhood with a couple of small markets, restaurants, a great pub, post office, library, Starbucks, pharmacy, dry cleaners, beach, gorgeous swimming pool, nice park, hills for hiking, farmer's market in the summer and many community events. Our elementary school is thriving and has a dual-immersion Spanish program. Happy in the Point

Point Richmond Restaurants

June 2011

I am looking for a quick, inexpensive, good restaurant in Point Richmond for lunch during the week. I found this list: http://www.pointrichmond.com/dine.htm Does anyone have any recommendations please? Thank you Anonymous

I have eaten at HOTEL MAC, not cheap, but very good. Salute - food, nothing special, but on the water. Boiler House - average $$, food ok, killer location...Old Ford Bld, on water. Hidden City Cafe - great breakfast, average $, don't know about lunch. Up and Under - Good food, depending what you get, average $$ Koa Sarn- Good food and service. Fair $ only had dinner. Baltic- have only had dinner, and it was wonderful, but, I hear new owners. dana

Moving to Point Richmond

Jan 2007

We are set to move out of our apartment in San Francisco at the end of the month, and are looking to move to a lower rent area within an easy commute of San Rafael. I would like to know if moving to Point Richmond is a good or bad idea, and hear what others think about it. I like the small town atmosphere, the low rents, and the fact that San Rafael (where my husband works) is right over the Richmond Bridge. I worry that the oil refineries could be problematic for my childs health (she is 11 months old) and that crime could be an issue. What do you all think? We are trying to make a decision in a very little amount of time. Anne

Point Richmond is a great town! We have lived here for 7 yrs. We have a 5 and 3 yr old. We were concerned about the refinery as well when we first moved here. There are so many 80-90 yr olds that have lived here since the 40's we figured it can't be that bad, and the wind is almost always blowing away from the refinery. The town is very community oriented, and there is a great parents group (PRAM) to get involved with for even more great connections and activities! Everything is within walking distances (park, beach, market, restaurants, school). I wouldn't want to live any where else in the bay area! Love it in the Point