Weather-Worn Pier Facing a Cloudy Future in Manhattan Beach

This city is struggling to restore a cherished but weather-ravaged landmark, the 72-year-old Manhattan Beach Pier.

Although the 928-foot pier is owned by the state and maintained by Los Angeles County, Manhattan Beach officials are pushing for the restoration to enhance the city’s waterfront and to end liability problems. The city, county and state already face a lawsuit filed by a Redondo Beach man who was paralyzed in 1984 when a 150-pound chunk of concrete broke off from the structure and hit him.

A chain-link fence was installed under the pier to catch falling concrete, and 30 orange-and-white barricades now warn visitors about the structure’s deteriorated railings. Cracks are visible throughout the concrete walkway and siding.

Pier a Turnoff

The condition of the pier makes it an eysore, some visitors said in interviews. John and Peggy Eachen of Rochester, N.Y., who recently spent a week in Manhattan Beach, thought a stroll on the pier would be romantic.

“Piers look so great on television and the movies, but this place is terrible,” Peggy Eachen said. “Being unattractive is one thing, but the pier needs extensive repairs. It could really be an asset to the city.”

Estimates for the cost of repairs range from $1.6 million for short-term restoration to $4 million for a new pier, but only a little more than $1 million in city and state funds is available.

The pier’s main problem is corrosion of its steel reinforcements, said Michael Hays, project manager for the Los Angeles County Facilities Management Department. Chemical reaction between the reinforced steel and chloride salts from the ocean water and air causes salt ions to penetrate the concrete and attack the steel, causing the concrete to crack and fall off.

Options Offered

Last June, the department hired Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., a Northbrook, Ill., consulting firm, to study the structure and make recommendations. The company suggested three options:

- Conventional restoration, which would involve the replacement of deteriorated railings and steel reinforcements, deck resurfacing and other structural repairs. The work would cost $1.62 million and be completed within two years. This would not stop the corrosion, and further deterioration would be evident within five years, Hays said.

- A cathodic protection system that could be installed during conventional restoration. Hays said this electrical process has been used on the East Coast to prevent chloride ion corrosion of bridges. Low-voltage electrical currents are sent through the steel reinforcements daily, causing chemical reactions that prevent corrosion. Installation would cost $1.75 million, including conventional restoration costs, and would take about two years.

- Demolition of the pier and construction of a new one. Hays estimated that a new pier would cost $4 million and take slightly more than two years to build.

Hays said the county is seeking additional funds before determining which route to take.

$500,000 Needed

Manhattan Beach has alloted $900,000 of federal community block grant money for the project, and state Sen. Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach) last year obtained $248,000 from the state for pier restoration. City, county and state officials agree that nearly $500,000 more must be found for even the least expensive restoration.

To many Manhattan Beach residents, the pier is an integral part of the city. Among them is Mayor Gil Archuletta, who recalled fund-raising and clean-up efforts by residents that he said demonstrate community concern. Two years ago, several hundred residents participated in a 13-hour pier beautification project, steam-cleaning the pier’s walkway and repainting the roundhouse, an eight-sided building at the end of the pier.

Larry Wolf of Shorewood Realtors helped to raise $2,500 for that project from friends and business associates. The 20-year Manhattan Beach resident said he jogs 25 miles a week along the oceanfront and “couldn’t help but notice the pier’s poor condition.”

“Since I am in real estate, I believe that my fellow associates should be involved in all efforts to restore the city’s only historic landmark,” he said.

Bob Parisi, a member of the city’s pier restoration committee, established two years ago to upgrade the structure, said a recent golf tournament netted $1,600 and the Nordstrom department store chain contributed $11,500 for pier repairs. Donations from businesses, community organizations and residents now total $16,500 and will be used for aesthetic improvements.

The pier has also benefitted from the city’s annual “private property week” in April. For the past two years, Byron Rife, director of the South Bay Board of Realtors, has organized local real estate dealers to repaint life guard towers, bath houses and the pier guard station.

The beautification efforts are not aimed at increasing tourism or boosting business for merchants, but instead are viewed as a shot in the arm for year-round residents, said Trudy Smart, Chamber of Commerce. Manhattan Beach residents don’t want increased tourism and that the city can’t accommodate more traffic, she said.

City officials say they want to preserve the Oceanographic Teaching Station, a nonprofit educational laboratory housed in the roundhouse, but are also exploring the possibility of a restaurant franchise there that could provide revenue for pier maintenance. The only food service now available on the pier is a fast-food concession.

“I don’t want to see a real commercial effort established,” Archuletta said, “but if a small restaurant could lend itself to the pier’s aesthetic qualities and generate needed revenue, there’s no reason (the teaching station) and the restaurant could not co-exist. And the increased revenue would be beneficial to the county.”

Lab Has Priority

Councilman Russell Lesser, who favors a restaurant, acknowledged that consideration of a food franchise has sparked opposition from residents who fear that the oceanographic lab would be removed. Lesser and Archuletta insist that the lab has high priority.

Lesser said additional revenue would offset county maintenance and operational costs while providing better services to residents and tourists.

The pier’s 1983-84 concession revenue totaled $4,000. During the same period, the county contributed $45,000 for pier maintenance, said Eric Bourdon, assistant director of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Dave Lucero, head aquarist at the oceanographic lab, said he is confident that officials will find a way to pay for pier restoration; but he is anxious to maintain the lab’s present location, which he said is vital to the courses it offers.

Tourist Attraction

He estimates that 30 students come to the facility daily. During the past five years, visits by adults on weekends and holidays have increased and have made the lab a unique and growing tourist attraction, he said.

Many residents and visitors agree that repairs are long overdue.

Paul White, a native of Manhattan Beach, said he grew up on the pier. Interviewed on the pier, he said that if it were rebuilt, it should maintian the same character. “This is the focal point of the city. It’s a municipal pier and shouldn’t become commercialized.”

But the computer programmer for Hughes Aircraft Co. said that conventional restoration would be short-sighted. “Why put that kind of money out for repairs?” he said. “Thirty years from now, the corrosion problems will reoccur.”

Children Use Pier

Steve Williams, Philip Hernandez and 12-year-old Angel Rodriquez of South Gate said they fish at Manhattan Beach Pier four times a week. Williams and Hernandez said they are concerned for the safety of children like Rodriquez, who come to the pier unsupervised.

“The county put barricades up, but that hasn’t stopped children from leaning over the railings. Officials must fix this place soon before someone else gets hurt,” Hernandez said.

Hawthorne resident Jerry Finch said he has been fishing for sea bass and halibut off the pier every day for 15 years.

“This pier has the best fishing in the South Bay, but it’s in really bad shape,” Finch said. “I just can’t believe repairs haven’t been made after that accident two years ago.”

Man Injured

On Aug. 23, 1984, George Benda, 46, was on the beach underneath the pier, stretching his muscles before jogging. A 150-pound concrete slab broke off from the pier’s underside, striking the self-employed electrical contractor in the back and severing his spinal cord, according to a suit that is pending in Torrance Superior Court.

The injury left the Redondo Beach resident paralyzed below his rib cage. He is seeking $20 million in damages.

“The condition of the pier had been well documented and known by all agencies involved prior to my client’s accident,” said Philip Daigneault, Benda’s attorney.

“As I see it, officials have only two options. The pier should be condemned and fenced off or it should be completely reconstructed.”