Above: Strawberry Creek meanders onto mudflats from a pipe just south of University Avenue in Berkeley.

Because Strawberry Creek drains Berkeley's central business districts, its beach is plagued with trash dropped in city streets. Many volunteers help clean it up.

Strawberry Creek mouth, Meadow, and Brickyard area, Eastshore State Park

The mouth of Strawberry Creek, now part of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park, is important habitat for shorebirds and, thanks to Friends of Five Creeks' efforts, a popular place for bird watching, dog walking, and other relaxed enjoyment of nature.

Friends of Five Creeks volunteers control the the perennial pepperweed that could take over the area — a never-ending task. We also have removed other invasives, particularly ice plant, Pampas grass, and French broom. Varied natives are coming on their own; F5C volunteers have planted others. A Boy Scout Eagle project built steps.

Our maintenance extends west along the shoreline to our Shorebird Park project. Since the East Bay Regional Park District re-graded and re-seeded the "Brickyard" area south of Sea Breeze Delicatessen, we also have worked in this area (stillclosed to the public as of 2019) removing invasives and trash. Friends of Five Creeks' Weekday Weed Warriors also help the Park District maintain the restored Berkeley Meadow across University -- including spotting, mapping, and removing invasive stinkwort.

See a two-minute slide show of our work at the mouth of Strawberry Creek: 

Map and Directions

  • If you park at Sea Breeze Market (map and directions), the easiest access to the beach is from the southwest corner of the parking lot.
  • Some AC Transit 51B buses stop on University at Sea Breeze. Others end at Third Street on the east side of the I-880/580 freeway. From these, walk one block south and west on Addison, past the south end of the Aquatic Park lagoon, to cross the freeway on the pedestrian/bicycle bridge. This brings you down at the south end of the Sea Breeze parking lot.
  • By bicycle or on foot, the area is easily reached via the pedestrian-bicycle bridge or the Bay Trail.
  • OpenStreetMap has an online map of the trails in this area.