SEAL BEACH : Part of Pier to Close for Repair Work

Part of the city’s 89-year-old pier will be closed from Monday through May 12 for the final round of repairs from two fires and one earthquake.

The entrance to the pier, up to about 30 feet past the water line, will remain open. Ruby’s restaurant and a sportfishing excursion business at the end of the 1,865-foot pier will be closed during repairs.

After the work is completed, city officials are planning a “grand reopening” ceremony to celebrate the small beach town’s main attraction.

“I am absolutely positive that, if you polled 10 people in Seal Beach and asked them what is the most significant part of the city, they would say it’s the pier,” said Andy Seymour, director of parks and recreation.

The city’s first pier, built in 1915, was demolished by storms and rebuilt in 1938.

In 1983, an unusually fierce winter storm ripped apart the midsection of the pier, prompting major renovations. In 1992, an electrical fire partially burned the pier, and later that year several pier pilings were cracked by the Landers earthquake.

Another fire broke out in May, 1994, when falling barbecue coals ignited a natural gas line, causing about $350,000 damage. But damage from the 1992 fire and earthquake had not been repaired. The city was forced to close the pier until July of last year when the first phase of repairs were completed.

The Connolly-Pacific Co. of Long Beach was awarded a $136,800 bid to complete the repair work, which includes installation of a natural gas line and the replacement of two earthquake damaged pier pilings.