Pier Pleasure : Each Ocean Structure Has Personality of Its Own

Joe Pruzinski drank in the lazy, late-afternoon scene of couples strolling past the grassy concourse and swaying palm trees at the foot of Balboa Pier.

“This is it, man,” Pruzinski said as his eyes followed a lone roller blader. “I don’t like Newport Pier. We call that one the War Zone.”

About 25 miles south, James Boliek patiently helped a young vacationer tie a hook onto her fishing pole and cast the line over the rail at San Clemente Pier.

“I wouldn’t fish anyplace else,” said Boliek, who has dropped his line from the South County pier at least three times a week for the past eight years. “This water is the cleanest in the county. That makes the fish taste better.”

Orange County’s six ocean piers have long been important landmarks that draw thousands of assorted fishermen, tourists, joggers and pigeon feeders. And over time, each has developed a distinct personality and a loyal following.

Newport Pier seems to be the favorite of tourists and teen-agers, who together create an almost frenetic atmosphere during the summer. Laguna Beach’s tiny Aliso Pier is strictly for the hard-core fishermen who prefers a little solitude. Seal Beach, with its 1940s style diner at the far end, tends to draw families, while the San Clemente pier attracts people who like to sit back and watch the surfers below.

“There certainly is something for everybody,” said Eric Jessen, administrator for the county Department of Harbors, Beaches and Parks, who authored a 1974 study of the county’s piers. “There are very distinct differences in atmosphere at each pier.”

Whatever the differences, though, all the piers are a symbol of civic pride as well as a sizable source of tourist dollars and tax revenue for the beach cities.

“The pier is a major focal point for the community,” said James Palin, deputy city manager of Huntington Beach.

Indeed, Huntington Beach knows all too well the value of a pier. The city is spending $12.5 million to build a new, state-of-the-art structure. The Huntington Beach pier, built in 1914, has been closed since it was severely damaged in a January, 1988, storm. It is scheduled for demolition in the fall, and a new 1,840-foot pier is expected to be completed in 1992.

Many fans of the Huntington Beach Pier express disappointment that the pier is no longer usable and are frustrated by delays in building the new one.

“It’s really a pain,” said roller blader Mike Ragsdale. “It was a much better pier (than Newport Beach). I just wish they’d fix it.”

The Newport Pier, built in 1888 as a shipping port and railroad station, has long been one of the most popular attractions in the tourist-oriented city. This summer, the tourist business appears to be booming, said Dave Harshbarger, who is city Marine Department director. More than 5,000 people a day are expected to walk the length of the 1,036-foot pier, he said.

During the early morning hours, grizzly fishermen dominate the scene, but as the day wears on, they begin to mingle with camera-toting tourists and skateboarding teen-agers.

“People come from all over the world to see Newport Pier,” said “Ski” Meinshein, the white-haired “Bird Man of Newport,” who sits under a shade tree at the base of the pier and amuses groups of tourists with his trained parrots. “There are all kinds here.”

At Aliso Pier, located in a scenic cove in South Laguna, fishermen gloat that it is their best kept secret. In fact, Jessen said, the 800-foot-long pier does have the best fishing in the county because of a kelp bed, coral formation and breeding area that is located between Corona del Mar and Dana Point.

Jack McCabe, 63, dropped his line off the concrete pier on opening day in 1972 and almost gave up fishing altogether when the pier closed for almost two years to repair crumbling concrete footings.

But since its reopening last December, he and other dedicated Aliso Pier fishermen have returned to their old ways.

“It’s a good place to think, stare at the ocean and meet some good people,” McCabe said.

Aliso, the least commercialized pier in Orange County, was built specifically to serve the local fishing crowd. It includes an unusual diamond shaped tip that allows fishermen to drop their lines into the water from the center of the pier.

All piers were built with a specific function in mind, be it commerce, fishing or just pleasure. In 1928, San Clemente’s founder, Ole Hanson, commissioned construction of the 1,200-foot all-wood pier to attract people to his new city, “The Spanish Village by the Sea.”

“It was always considered a pleasure pier,” city Marine Safety Capt. Lynn Hughes said. “It still is one of the nicest and more unique places to go in the county.”

Don and Shirley Stanley, owners of the pier’s Bait and Tackle Shop, bought the business two years ago to immerse themselves in the local, small-town atmosphere.

“Everybody knows everybody here,” said Shirley Stanley as she stored a package of cut-up mackerel in her large refrigerator for one local fisherman. “It’s a whole different way of life out here.”

At the Seal Beach Pier, the atmosphere has been changing as fast as the area’s downtown district. Once mainly a fisherman’s pier--there are still daily fishing boats that depart from the pier--Seal Beach is nonetheless cleaning up its act, longtime local pier-goers noted.

“This place used to be pretty idiosyncratic, kind of bohemian, in the 1960s,” said Rockwell employee Ned Cherry, 52, who sat on a pier bench with a co-worker one recent lunchtime.

The two come to the pier at least once a week to “watch the waves, the girls and get some fresh air,” said co-worker Greg Richford, 33. “It’s got pretty good access, so we don’t waste time parking.”

Now, Cherry said, the pier attracts a “more well-to-do crowd. Like the city.”

The turning point for the Seal Beach Pier came in 1983, when a violent storm destroyed two portions of the structure.

But an aggressive fund-raising campaign by local residents and businessmen was launched, and two years later, the pier was reopened.

It now sports a Ruby’s Diner, one of a chain of eateries that serves old-fashioned hamburgers and thick shakes. The restaurant has helped draw more families to the renovated pier, said Ruby’s manager Mike Ellis.

“A lot of people now come to the pier just to walk out to Ruby’s and have a nice lunch,” Ellis said.

Up and down the coast, people venture onto the piers for a variety of reasons: to relax to the sound of the waves pounding the sand, to people-watch, to check out what the fishermen are reeling in.

“There’s a certain aura to being on a pier,” Huntington Beach’s Palin said. “Each person wants to describe the experience a little differently.”

ORANGE COUNTY OCEAN PIERS

Legend A. Restrooms B. Tackle Shop C. First Aid D. Telescopes E. Souvenirs F. Restaurants G. Lifeguard Station H. Arcades

SEAL BEACH PIER Length: 1,865 feet Built: 1938 Construction: Concrete, Steel, Wood Hours Open: 24 Hours A,B,C,D,E,F,G

HUNGINGTON BEACH PIER Length: 1,840 feet Built: 1914 Construction: Concrete, Steel, Wood Hours Open: Will Reopen in 1992 A,C,D,E,F,G,H

NEWPORT BEACH PIER Length: 1,032 feet Built: 1888 Construction: Wood-Concrete Deck Hours Open: 24 Hours A,C,D,E,F,H

BALBOA PIER Length: 919 feet Built: 1906 Construction: Wood-Concrete Deck Hours Open: 24 Hours A,C,D,E,F,H

ALISO PIER Length: 800 feet Built: 1972 Construction: Concrete, Steel Hours Open: 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. A,B,C,D,E,H

SAN CLEMENTE PIER Length: 1,200 feet Built: 1928 Construction: All Wood Hours Open: 4 a.m. to midnight A,B,C,D,E,F,G

Pier Facts Longest: Seal Baach, 1,865 feet Shortest: Aliso, 800 feet Oldest: Newport Beach, 1888 Newest: Aliso, 1972