Redondo Officials, Business Owners Vow to Repair Pier

While sections of the Redondo Beach Pier smoldered a day after one of the largest fires in South Bay history had destroyed four of her gift shops, Judy Milner stood in a nearby cafe, laughing with friends, looking at photos of her buildings engulfed in flames and talking about rebuilding.

“It’s part of business; it’s part of life,” said Milner, whose losses are covered by insurance. “I have a positive attitude about the whole thing. We will rebuild and go on. . . . There’s no reason to cry or worry about it because that’s not what it’s all about.”

What Milner, other business owners and city officials say they will do is rebuild the pier and make it better.

Friday’s fire caused about $7 million in damage to public and private property.

Ken Montgomery, public works director and city engineer, said 34,000 square feet of the historic pier and about 200 pilings were destroyed. It will cost $2.5 million to rebuild the pier--which is made of wood with concrete decks--as it was, or $4 million to replace the wharf with steel and concrete, he said.

Redondo Beach officials are unsure if the city’s insurance policy covers the pier.

Fire Battalion Chief Pat Aust said the creosote-soaked structure and pilings will continue smoldering for several days, and small patches of fire might break out. A fireboat will stay at the pier spraying water until the smoldering stops.

By late Saturday morning, as utilities were gradually restored, Milner had reopened her remaining shop, and other pier shops and restaurants reopened as well.

Milner and other business owners had been looking forward to doing a lot of business during the Memorial Day weekend--the start of the summer season. Milner, who owns the businesses with her husband, estimated their property loss at $400,000.

Fifteen businesses on the horseshoe-shaped section of the pier were destroyed in the fire, including two large restaurants, Breakers and the Edge.

The Port of Spain restaurant was damaged by the fire and will be closed for repairs.

The city owns the pier but leases it to three master lessees who sublease the property or operate businesses there. All the damaged businesses were under the master lease of Jay Robinson. The damage to private property was estimated at $4.5 million.

Rent, Tax Income

Those 15 businesses generated about $160,000 a year in rents and sales tax to the city, according to Harbor Director Sheila Schoettger.

City Manager Tim Casey said about 200 people lost their jobs because of the fire. But he estimated that 30 to 40 businesses were unaffected--except temporarily when utilities were shut off--and remain open.

Casey declared the city’s third state of emergency this year at 8 p.m. Friday.

The first came in mid-January during a severe two-day storm that caused $17 million in damage to King Harbor, which includes the pier. A state of emergency must be declared before the city can apply for regional, state and federal relief funds.

The second came four weeks ago when wind-swept waves caused another $1.25 million damage to the pier and demolished a 155-foot fishing promenade that connected the straight Monstad and horseshoe-shaped Fisherman’s Wharf sections of the pier.

Firefighters Aided

The damage caused by those storms aided the firefighting, Aust said. Fire boats were able to get underneath the pier because some of the pilings had been knocked out in those storms, he said.

Councilwoman Kay Horrell, whose district includes King Harbor, said the demise of the fishing promenade was possibly “a blessing in disguise” because it kept the fire from spreading to the Monstad Pier.

Horrell said she is most concerned about those who lost jobs. Some are unemployed for the second time this year, having lost other jobs when the January storm forced three large restaurants and a 150-room hotel out of business for 10 to 24 months.

City workers spent Saturday pulling hundreds of charred boards and pilings from the water and the beach inside the horseshoe pier as hundreds of onlookers watched from the adjacent parking garage.

Collapse Feared

“I can’t believe something was standing here yesterday,” said Jill Gellatly, a Redondo Beach resident. She said she will continue to visit the pier occasionally, but will probably stay away from a few of the pier-top restaurants. “Those pillars look like they could fall down at any minute, and they’re not even burned,” she said.

Robert and Nazzi Davis were downcast as they looked at the still-smoldering pilings that once supported the Edge restaurant, where they had met three years ago. “It’s like somebody reached in and snatched away a part of your past,” he said.

Wendy Tarshis walked to the pier to look at the ruins with her 2 1/2-year-old son, Darren. “I really didn’t like any of the restaurants on the pier--except maybe Tony’s. So maybe some good restaurants will come in now. It almost needed remodeling. I hate to think this is how it happened,” she added.

Casey estimated that it will take six to nine months to rebuild the pier once all the plans have been drawn up and the city has determined how it will pay for its share.

Horrell told a morning news conference that the Redondo Beach Pier, like the legendary Phoenix, will rise again from its ashes.