[6] The Cull Canyon and Don Castro reservoirs, both located within regional parks, feed into the creek.

Scouts camped at the creek before turning back to join the main party on the west side of the bay.

The current name for the creek, Arroyo de San Lorenzo, dates to at least 1812, and was recorded as such in land grants from 1841 and 1842.

San Lorenzo Creek historically supported steelhead (the anadromous form of the coastal rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus), ,[9] and other salmonids.

[10] A 1997 paper states that, due to reasons tied to the ever increasing urbanization, dams, and their effect on the area, no sign of juvenile nor mature steelhead could be found in the creek.