Reconstruction a Few Dollars at a Time

Since shortly after the ocean claimed the End Cafe 1 1/2 years ago, Tom Bagshaw and a handful of people have been at Huntington Beach Municipal Pier every weekend selling sweat shirts, T-shirts, books, calendars and photographs.

All this is called “pieraphernalia,” said Bagshaw, who founded the Pier Group with two other End employees, Tammy Dillon and Julie Kotsch. So far, the grass-roots organization has raised about $45,000 a few bucks at a time to help rebuild Surf City’s 1,800-foot centerpiece.

The Pier Group is a small part of an intensifying effort by the city and its residents to tap government, private corporations and wealthy individuals for money to rebuild the storm-ravaged landmark.

Huntington Beach needs about $11 million for a new pier, and $4 million to $5 million for an elaborate plaza. The city has about half of what it needs for the pier, and another $3 million might come from the state.

Municipal officials hope to raise most of the $11 million for the pier from government agencies and more than $1 million from individuals and businesses that stand to benefit from reconstruction.

“We have enough money to get us through the next year,” said Huntington Beach City Administrator Paul Cook. “We are confident we can raise the rest of it in time to pay the contractor for a whole pier.”

The fund-raising effort began three months after a severe winter storm destroyed the End Cafe in January, 1988, and tore away more than 200 feet of pier. The effort became more urgent six months later when the city closed the 76-year-old concrete structure for safety reasons.

In March, 1988, the Pier Group, whose name stands for Persons Interested in Expediting Reconstruction, was founded and began selling T-shirts silk-screened with pictures of the damaged pier. Its hottest-selling item is a $9, 18-month calendar for with historic pictures of the structure.

“They were the initial motivators to get people going. The group created a lot of interest on the grass-roots level and showed the way from an emotional point of view,” said former Huntington Beach Mayor Ron Shenkman, head of the city’s pier funding committee.

Since the Pier Group was formed, a groundswell of support has brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars with a variety of schemes both novel and traditional.

Grant deeds for a square foot of the pier have been selling well for $25 apiece. City officials say they want to raise $1.5 million with the idea. Roughly 10% of the grant deeds have been sold.

“It’s a gimmick, just a way for someone to say, ‘I helped build the pier.’ It’s kind of a fun part of the program,” Cook said.

A seniors dance raised about $14,000, and students selling bookmarks, buttons and iron-on patches have raised at least $6,000. A block party on the pier chipped in $3,000, and the city raised more than $100,000 by increasing parking fees $1 a car.

The Century Club, a civic organization, has also lured private donations with the promise of putting contributors’ names on a plaque to be mounted on the pier.

More recently, developer Robert Mayer, who is building the Waterfront Hilton in Huntington Beach, donated to the city the services of a professional fund-raiser. The Santa Ana-based consultant, Robert B. Sharp, said his firm will study the fund-raising possibilities.