Facilities within the park include a large playground, the CuriOdyssey junior museum, a sandy bathing beach, a marina and yacht club, hiking trails, and picnic areas.

The distinctive point, covered by a grove of eucalyptus trees, can be seen from airplanes approaching San Francisco International Airport and is a good location for aircraft spotting and birdwatching.

Coyote Point was originally an island in San Francisco Bay rising to a height of 80 ft (24 m) above mean sea level with a marsh connecting it to the mainland.

At approximately the same time, Chinese immigrants established a fishing village near Coyote Point to harvest bay shrimp for San Francisco restaurants in the 1860s.

They also built a bathhouse and pool on the beach in 1880, and had eucalyptus, cypress and pine trees planted on the knoll by noted horticulturist John McLaren between 1880 and 1882.

[5] On July 1, 1922, a group of promoters opened the "Pacific City Amusement Park", which occupied approximately 90 acres (36 ha) along the beach leased from the Howard family.

[6] Dubbed the "Coney Island of the West", the park included a beach (with trucked-in sand), boardwalk, children's playground, scenic railway, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, dancing pavilion, and several food concessions.

[8] The Pacific City Corporation (PCC), which developed the site, was led by a three-member board of directors composed of A.H. Dougall, Jr.; Arnold C. Lackenbach; and David J.

[13] By late May, it was clear the new park would not be open in time for the holiday, although the work was nearing completion, including a 60 ft-high (18 m) entry gate with an illuminated sign, which would be visible to cars traveling on the Bayshore Highway.

Rides at Pacific City included The Whip, Dodg-em cars, a Dentzel menagerie carousel, a 22-inch narrow-gauge railway, a Ferris wheel, a shoot the chutes that ended with a splash in the Bay,[19]: 3–4  and a "scenic railroad" (a wooden roller coaster designed by John A. Miller) called The Comet,[20] which included an 80 ft (24 m) drop and was billed as the largest, fastest coaster west of Detroit.

[22] When not on rides, visitors could choose from bathing on the beach or dancing in a large wooden pavilion; hunger was satiated by concessionaires vending hot dogs and pigs-in-the-blanket.

[24] Prominent citizens of Burlingame, Hillsborough, and San Mateo wrote a series of three newspaper articles, published two weeks later in mid-July, outlining their plans to take advantage of the publicity from Pacific City.

[30] 3CCC brokered an agreement in which a three-member committee was appointed to investigate and report on the financial status of PCC in February 1923; 3CCC President John J. McGrath, who was one of the appointees, warned "that we will not stand for one local creditor or stockholder in Pacific City to lose a penny ... if they jockey and humbug, we are in position to make their investment worth about ten cents [on the dollar].

"[32] To calm the situation, 3CCC stated they supported both the Howard Estate and PCCC, but if the foreclosure suit was successful, it would antagonize many investors, who likely would lose their stakes.

The fire, which started in the lunch stand, blazed out of control as low water pressure on-site and disconnected telephone lines hampered the initial response.

[41] In March 1925, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge George H. Buck granted the Howard Estate's foreclosure petition, forcing the site to liquidate its assets.

[44] Historians have traced the train back to a class built and operated originally at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition by the Miniature Railway Company.

This particular train was known to have run along the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk as the Bay Shore Limited between 1907 and 1915[45] before it was sold for scrap to a Ford dealer in San Francisco.

After running at Pacific City, it was hidden in Burlingame for two years to avoid being impounded, then sold to Herbert Fleishhacker for his eponymous zoo in 1925,[46] where it ran until 1978, when it was stored to clear space for a new gorilla exhibit.

A informational plaque with a summary of Pacific City history was placed by E Clampus Vitus in October 1999 near the present-day boardsports rental shop.

[50] During the eastern promenade work, the remnants of 35 wooden piers that once supported the Pacific City Boardwalk were removed, as they posed a tripping hazard to beachgoers.

[53] Cadets regularly practiced "abandon ship" drills, climbing to the top of a three-story tower and jumping feet-first into the Bay, sometimes into water deliberately fouled with oil and set afire.

[4]: 35  After Hildreth resigned in 1956, he was replaced by Julio Bortolazzo, who turned the college's efforts to a new campus at its present site in the San Mateo Highlands.

Improvements included new stone walls, new plaques, a replacement eagle statue, and the addition of a section of chain and anchor, donated from a Victory ship of the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet.

[63][64] There is a large parking lot on the Knoll, near the Captain's House and former site of the Castaway restaurant; before it was paved, it served as the football field for the College of San Mateo.

[57]: 39  The Coyote Point Yacht Club (CPYC) was formed on July 20, 1941, and initially held its meetings at the old San Mateo city hall near the downtown railroad station; a permanent clubhouse was built on jetty in the new basin and completed in the mid-1940s.