Pier Party : Sightseers, Anglers Celebrate Reopening

Devout angler Chris Dennis was so excited that the Ventura Pier was reopening, he arrived at 1 a.m. Saturday and set up shop toward the end of the stately structure.

“I’ve already run one load (of fish) home and come back,” said the 27-year-old Ventura resident, who has fished since age 7.

Dennis’ jubilant mood was matched by scores of Venturans celebrating the reopening of the venerable wooden structure, which had been closed for more than three months because of damage from January’s rainstorms.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Sueanne Costales, 24, of Ventura, who stood in line with her mother and was among the first to get a free poster, copies of which were handed out to the first 100 celebrants. “There are so many things to do on the pier. You can walk and fish and get free posters. It’s a symbol of our community.”

“I had a spiritual experience running down from the cross,” joked jogger Nick Smith, 39, who had wound his way down from Serra cross at Grant Park.

Smith got one of the last of the free posters, a handsome black-and-white photograph of a fog-shrouded Ventura Pier.

Lending a festive air to the reopening, vendors sold cappuccino, scones, muffins and pier paraphernalia that included T-shirts, hats and sweat shirts.

The 122-year-old pier, the longest wooden pier in the state at 1,958 feet, was badly battered and bruised by pounding surf in the winter storms and required replacement or strengthening of about 90 pilings.

The cyclone fence that barred entrance to the pier was carted away Friday night, and, by 8 a.m. Saturday, fishers had plunked their lines over the side and people strolled lazily along the pier while children raced up and down its length.

For Jenise Wagar, the pier’s reopening and the attendant celebration was not only gratifying, but in part her responsibility. “It’s just really neat,” said the 29-year-old Ventura native who works for the city’s Department of Community Services. “People are just coming out of the woodwork to help out” by volunteering.

By 8:30, the marine layer had burned off, a light breeze had picked up, and just a bit north of the pier more than a dozen surfers--from a distance looking somewhat like slugs on Popsicle sticks--bobbed in the calm waters.

Fishing alone at the end of the pier’s right side, Victoria Bongiovanni, 44, of Ventura had dropped her line in the water by 7:30. Why was she by herself?

“Because everybody is a guy . . . that’s why I stay over here,” she said of her fellow anglers. “I was very, very happy when the pier reopened. My heart went boom, boom.” Bongiovanni was the only woman on the pier fishing that morning.

The male anglers, who congregated on the left side of the pier, could scarcely contain their glee.

“Thank God,” said Ventura resident Roger Tidd, 54, who has fished off the pier for 20 years. “I’ve been waiting three months for this. . . . If I knew they took the gate off last night, I’d have been down here.”

Tidd added that he planned to stay all Saturday, through the night and into this afternoon.

San Fernando brothers Estebon, 10, and Ricky Hinojosa, 7, enjoyed monthly outings to the pier before it closed. They were joined Saturday by their cousin, Anthony Holden, 7, and their grandfather, Pablo Peres, 69, who served as chaperon.

Wearing matching red sweat shirts, Estebon and Ricky scampered up and down the pier, peering into other fishermen’s buckets and striking up lively, inquisitive conversations, leaving their grandfather to tend their own rods.

As he turned over a small crab given to him by one of the fishermen, Estebon noted scientifically that his new pet was a female because of the triangular-shaped pattern on its soft underbelly. The male crabs, he said, had square patterns.

And heading up toward the pier’s end, Paula Gray, 27, sauntered along with her mother, Joan Gray, and her Labrador, Happy, as they spoke effusively of the pier’s reopening.

“It’s just great they’ve restored it,” Paula Gray of Ventura said. “I read in the paper that it’s still subject to storms, but as long as they keep it open, I’ll be happy.”