HUNTINGTON BEACH : Restaurateur Vows Fight to Reopen Eatery at Pier

Paul Wimmer operated Maxwell’s By the Sea at Huntington Beach Pier for 17 years, tied his future to the success of the popular restaurant and is not about to abandon it without a fight.

The city, which owns the landmark building housing the restaurant and adjacent shops, closed it in January because of beach erosion. It also canceled Wimmer’s lease, saying he was behind on the rent.

The structure, completed in 1932, is boarded up now while the city weighs rebuilding options. Wimmer says he is determined that, when it does reopen, he will be back in business.

However, Michael J. Karger, special legal counsel for the city, said that Wimmer owes more than $260,000 in back rent and that he no longer has a lease agreement.

“I’m very bitter,” Wimmer said this week. “The whole thing just boggles the mind. You spend all this time with assurances from the city, then the rug gets pulled out from under you. We’ve had some tough times.”

The weak local economy in recent years cut into the restaurant’s sales, Wimmer said, conceding that he had financial problems with the restaurant, as well as with the Internal Revenue Service over back taxes.

But he places some blame on the city, which he said never kept promises to remodel the building, forcing him to spend his own money for maintenance.

“A plan to rebuild was always around the corner,” he said.

The City Council recently approved a proposal to demolish the building altogether and construct an upscale restaurant with patio dining, a crow’s nest lounge and banquet facilities.

Those plans are on hold, however, because the city’s money is still tied up in Orange County’s collapsed investment pool.

Meanwhile, Wimmer, who has been in the restaurant business all his life, said he will fight to recover his lease, which he says was to have run to 2023. He says he is investigating his legal options and is determined to fight for his right to run the restaurant.

“You put your life’s blood in building something, and all of a sudden the name’s gone. Shortly, the building will be gone,” he said.

“It’s kind of sad. That used to be a vibrant business,” with restaurant sales of $4 million a year in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. “Now it’s decaying and boarded up.”