A love letter to a giant analog computer made of concrete, copper, and tidewater.

Mike and Kate spend a day inside the San Francisco Bay Model, an enormous mid‑century scale model in Sausalito that once tested radical plans to dam, pave over, and reroute the Bay. Guided by long‑time Park Ranger Linda Holm of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, they trace how this 1.5‑acre, hand‑sculpted “water computer” helped sink the Reber Plan, shaped debates over the Peripheral Canal, and continues to inform navigation, oil‑spill response, and sediment management today.

As they lose their way among waist‑high concrete channels, toy bridges, and signposts, they clock tide cycles that run 100 times faster than nature and tally up “points” in a long-standing argument. Kate is an engineering fangirl, while Mike brings a healthy dose of environmental skepticism, sparking a lively back-and-forth about the promises and pitfalls of trying to “fix” nature with infrastructure.

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🌊 Learn More

• To see images and other information about this episode, go to https://www.onceuponabay.org/post/more-about-episode-4-geeking-out-at-the-bay-model.
• For visitor info and hours at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model Visitor Center (Sausalito, CA) – go to https://www.spn.usace.army.mil/Missions/Recreation/Bay-Model-Visitor-Center/.
• If you’d like to help protect and celebrate San Francisco Bay, visit onceuponabay.org and click the button that says “Be a Keeper!"

🌊 Credits

• Theme music by Zac Bentz.
• Voice work by Ted McDonald.
• “Heaven is Free” by Kevin MacLeod is licensed by Kelvin Ruijters t/as Frequency under an Attribution 4.0 International License.
• “Smooth Rumble” by David Renda is royalty free music from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com. Please DO NOT add this audio content to the Youtube Content ID System. This content is owned by FesliyanStudios.
• Cover art by Level Five Graphics, Inc.
• Thank you to Point San Pablo Harbor for giving us safe haven!