Other Businesses Remain Closed

Redondo Beach’s King Harbor has been hit this year by a wave of disasters that have caused $26.5 million in damage, and although most of its scores of businesses shut only briefly, about 20 establishments remain closed.

The first disaster hit in mid-January when a severe 2-day storm caused $17 million in damage to King Harbor, which includes the Redondo Beach Pier.

On April 30, wind-swept waves wreaked an additional $1.25 million in damage to the pier and demolished a popular, 155-foot fishing promenade. Winds reaching 52 m.p.h., and waves up to 12 feet pounded telephone pole-sized pilings and wooden supports against sections of the pier, causing the kitchen of the Fish and Chips coffee shop to drop into the ocean.

On May 27, a spectacular fire--which apparently started in electrical wiring beneath one of the restaurants--ravaged the pier, destroying 15 businesses, about 34,000 square feet of the wooden and concrete pier and causing an additional $7 million in damage.

Cattlemens Steak House

Two days later, wind-swept waves again battered the pier, knocking out most of the skeletal remains of the fire-ravaged section, hurling pilings toward shore and causing $1.25 million in damage. The northern leg of the horseshoe-shaped pier and the restaurant on top of it--Cattlemens Steak House, which had been closed since the January storm--were further damaged. Cattlemens suffered severe damage in the January storm. Repairs on that section of the pier were scheduled to begin in early May, but work crews were diverted when the April storm damaged other parts of the pier.

Cattlemens was spared damage in the April storm and the fire, which firefighters stopped just before it reached the restaurant. But two days later, as waves washed the charred pilings into the badly weakened pier that supported Cattlemens, about a quarter of the building fell into the ocean.

City officials plan to tear down the restaurant and the remainder of the pier beneath it. The officials, who plan to rebuild that section of the pier along with the fire-damaged section, estimate that it will take at least two years to reconstruct the pier and one more year for leaseholders to replace the buildings.

Pete Gillham Jr., president of Cattlemens, is taking the loss in stride, saying: “That’s nature. What are you going to do about it? That pier’s been there almost 100 years, and the storms finally took it under. . . . I don’t lose any sleep over it, I’ll tell you that. Nothing you can do about it.”

Fish and Chips

The kitchen of Tony Trutanich’s Fish and Chips coffee shop fell into the ocean during the April storm. The building, which has been closed since then, will be torn down so the pier beneath it can be repaired, and then will be rebuilt.

Trutanich, who also owns Old Tony’s and Tony’s Fish Market restaurants that are still operating at the pier, hopes to reopen the coffee shop in about six months.

Reuben’s

The Restaurant Enterprises Group Inc., an international corporation, operated four restaurants in the harbor until the disasters: Reuben’s restaurant, which was destroyed by the January storm; Breakers Seafood Co., which was destroyed by the fire; El Torito’s, which sits atop the pier and was not damaged but was forced to close several times when utilities were shut off, and Charley Brown’s, which was not damaged.

Reuben’s, which is near the Portofino Inn, is being rebuilt and is to reopen in mid-October, an official for Restaurant Enterprises said. The restaurant is expanding to 81 tables from 49 and is enlarging the bar slightly.

Breakers Seafood Co.

The company considered operating Breakers Seafood Co. from another site near the pier during the reconstruction, but could not find a suitable site, said Randy Hiatt, vice president of operations for Restaurant Enterprises.

Breakers, which suffered about $1 million in damage in the fire that started under that restaurant, should reopen in the fall of 1990, Hiatt said.

Consolidated Businesses

Six other businesses which were burned out also operate undamaged establishments on other parts of the pier and have consolidated in those shops and restaurants.

‘Survivors Village’

Seven merchants whose only pier businesses were destroyed by the fire are selling their merchandise from a “Survivors Village” of canopied booths set up by the city near the pier’s main entrance.

The Edge

The owner of another business destroyed by the fire, The Edge restaurant, sells toys at the Survivors Village, because health codes prevent eateries from selling food from the booths.

Port of Spain

The Port of Spain restaurant suffered at least $50,000 in damage in the fire but will be able to reopen in about a month if the owner buys a generator. Permanent electric lines will not be restored to the business until the pier is rebuilt.

Sportfishing Pier

The privately owned, 250-foot Sportfishing Pier, just north of the Redondo Beach Pier, partially collapsed during the January storm and suffered about $150,000 in damage. The pier should reopen by the end of the week, said Gordon McRae, executive vice president and general manager of Redondo Beach Marina, the master lessee.

The pier’s coffee shop, Polly’s on the Pier, will reopen at the same time, he said. Eight sportfishing boats, which leave from the pier, the ticket office and the tackle shop have been operating from the adjacent International Boardwalk during the reconstruction.

Another sportfishing boat, the 65-foot “City of Redondo,” sank during the January storm and is being restored. It is expected to sail again in about three months.

The docks around the harbor’s only publicly accessible boat hoists were damaged but should reopen within two weeks using temporary docks, McRae said.

The Redondo Beach Marina, which includes the Sportfishing Pier, 58 boat slips, 100 moorings, the boat hoists and the Blue Moon Saloon, has recently been King Harbor’s highest-grossing leasehold. In 1987, Redondo Beach Marina grossed $10.5 million.

McRae said that because of severe damage to the Blue Moon Saloon, the docks and the moorings (only 26 of the 100 are usable), the business will gross $6.5 million to $7 million this year.

“Our sales are down in every category due to the storm and fire. People don’t think we’re here at all anymore. It’s going to be a dire year,” he said.

Blue Moon Saloon

The owners of the Blue Moon Saloon, which was destroyed by the January storm, have vowed to rebuild the restaurant, although the estimated $1.5 million in damage was largely uninsured. About $25,000 was received in a fund-raising drive, said Don Poryes, one of the owners.

To help protect the restaurant from future storms, the land will be raised three feet, set back from the water’s edge about 10 more feet, and concrete pilings may be used as supports, McRae said.

Plans by the Army Corps of Engineers to raise the main breakwater and extend a smaller jetty will also protect the restaurant from storms like the one in January, he added.

Even so, McRae said that “with luck” it will be at least a year before the popular restaurant is rebuilt.