State to Name New Malibu Pier Operator

For being one of the leading attractions in a town filled with famous sights, the Malibu pier has never received star treatment.

It is mired in a sorry state of disrepair, under siege from an angry former landlord and suffering from absentee ownership, daily battering from the sea and 86 years of constant use.

Yet there remains a steady stream of people angling to control it and make money from it, each offering promises to remodel it into a top-flight tourist attraction.

Sometime in the next two weeks, the State Department of Parks and Recreation is expected to announce who will be the new concession manager for the dilapidated structure. The state has been looking for a new operator for months, trying to fill the gap created by the former landlord, who abruptly walked away from a 20-year lease last year and then sued the state for more than $20 million in damages, alleging breach of contract.

The announcement will end a turbulent year in the life of the pier, which the state estimates is visited by more than 500,000 people from around the world each year.

Turbulent Year

In March, 1988, the state turned the concession contract over to West Los Angeles lawyer Joel Ladin, who promptly announced that he was going to raise the rents of the pier’s two mainstays, Alice’s Restaurant and Malibu Sport Fishing, by up to 500%.

Ladin said he was just following good business practices, but Bob Yuro, co-owner of Alice’s, responded by saying he was going to move the restaurant to Pacific Palisades. Ted Mills, manager of the sportfishing enterprise, announced that he was closing up the shop, which he did with plenty of fanfare and a huge round of drinks.

But by November, Ladin found himself floundering, unable to attract new businesses to the pier, and he walked away from the concession contract amid a flurry of accusations.

State parks officials, who have been looking for a concessionaire ever since, said they were stunned when Ladin sued them in April, charging fraud and misrepresentation, and alleging that the pier is unsafe and should be closed to the public. Ladin claims the cost of the pier’s substructure repairs were estimated by the state at $400,000, but says in his lawsuit that they will actually cost $3.5 to $4 million.

Roberto Vellanoweth, chief of the Concession Program Division of the state parks department, said that Ladin misunderstood the contract. Vellanoweth said that the $400,000 repair was for just one end of the structure and the actual cost of pier restoration was estimated at at least $2 million.

“I think his lawsuit is frivolous,” Vellanoweth said. “Joel got in over his head when he went to Malibu and he didn’t understand all of the requirements needed to make a viable concession there. I think he just filed the lawsuit to make sure that his position was well known in the community as to why he got out.”

Concerns Expressed

Ladin and his attorney declined to discuss the lawsuit.

Ironically, Yuro and his partner, Peter Palazzo, who are still operating the popular pier restaurant, are one of three bidders for the concession contract. Glen Gerson, owner of the Calamigos Ranch restaurant in Malibu, is another. The third bidder remains unidentified.

The Malibu Chamber of Commerce recently sent a letter to Vellanoweth asking that the state pay for the pier’s restoration. “It is understood that the safety of the public must be guaranteed insofar as possible by bringing the structure up to standards, but it would seem this can be fairly done by the owner--the state of California.”

Several business owners also have expressed concerns that by the time the details of a new concession contract can be worked out, a Pacific storm could wipe out the pier. They said that the state should make the repairs before turning over the lease and then get reimbursed for the work by the new concession operator. The state bought the pier from Malibu resident William Huber in 1980 and the structure has been closed periodically since then, because of heavy storm damage.

‘Tremendous Resource’

However, Vellanoweth said that because of the “financial climate” of the state, it would be impossible to find the funds for the rehabilitation. Besides, he said, whoever wins the concession contract will easily make enough money in the next 20 years to pay for the structure repairs.

Yuro said he was not concerned that the pier was in any imminent danger and said he was willing to spend up to $5 million for the pier’s restoration if necessary.

“We’re trying to establish it as Malibu’s central landmark,” he said. “We would really like to see it become the hub of Malibu, and I think if we can do the work in stages, then we can pull it off. This is a tremendous resource and it’s too bad that it’s been largely ignored over the years.”