Long Beach : Cafe Owner Sets Last-Ditch Exhibit Before Pike Hearing

Nick Frudakis, owner of the Checkerboard Cafe, is planning a Remember the Pike Day at his facility on Friday, just three days before the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is scheduled to hold a hearing on whether to condemn the property to make way for a planned $1-billion Pike redevelopment project.

The Checkerboard, which Frudakis says was built around the turn of the century, is one of the last remaining businesses on the site of the old Pike amusement park, which has been closed for more than a decade.

Frudakis has steadfastly turned down the Redevelopment Agency’s offers to buy his property to facilitate the construction of an ambitious project containing shops, residences and offices. Among other things, Frudakis--whose family has owned the Checkerboard since 1951--has claimed that the building is of historic interest and should be incorporated into the plan.

On Friday he will be displaying various relics from the past, including artifacts from the old Imperial and West Coast theaters, both of which have been razed.

Even Frudakis, however, admits that Monday’s hearing--to be held at 8 a.m. in the downtown library’s main auditorium--is not likely to go his way. “This is the last chance for people to speak out” against the condemnation, he said.