Huntington Beach Council OKs Restaurant to Be Built at Pier

Dining at the end of the pier, once a popular pastime here, will be possible again as soon as next summer.

The City Council on Monday approved a $1.4-million contract with Varkel Construction Inc. of Laguna Hills to build the Ruby’s Surf City Diner. Construction is to begin June 26.

“I think everybody is enthusiastic,” Councilman David Sullivan said about the new restaurant. “I perceive it as something the public really wants.”

A winter storm in 1988 damaged the pier and destroyed the End of the Pier restaurant. The landmark was reopened in 1992, but with no eatery.

Ruby’s Restaurant Group will lease the building from the city and will spend about $500,000 for interior improvements, said Doug Cavanaugh, president and co-founder of the Newport Beach-based restaurant company. The restaurant will have a surfing theme, he said.

Ron Hagan, Huntington Beach’s community services director, said the city expects at least $90,000 in annual lease revenue or 10% of the restaurant’s gross revenue, whichever is greater. With gross revenue the first year projected at $1.2 million, he said, the city would get $120,000.

In other action, the council took no action on a proposal for “Surf City, Huntington Beach,” a store that would sell clothing, novelty items and other merchandise promoting the city’s surfing image.

Council members also delayed action on a related proposal for a cable-TV home shopping show to sell Surf City products as well as surplus city items such as street signs, parking meters and fire hydrants.