VENTURA : Investment Ripens With Eatery’s Debut

The first major private investment in downtown Ventura since the California Street Plaza was renovated will begin paying off today as the city’s newest restaurant opens its doors.

Pineapple’s, Ventura’s only beachfront restaurant, features patio and indoor dining with a sweeping view from Surfer’s Point south past the Ventura Pier.

Appetizers, salads and soups of the day are included on the menu, according to co-owner Chuck Smith, who hired almost 90 people to run the restaurant.

The restaurant, located at the beach end of the plaza across from the Holiday Inn, will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with the coffee bar opening every morning at 7.

Smith is opening Pineapple’s with Ventura restaurateur Eric Wachter of Eric Ericsson’s Fish Co. on Seaward Avenue. Wachter plans to open another restaurant on the Ventura Pier later this year.

Tourism officials in Ventura say that Pineapple’s, which also includes a gift shop and juice bar, will attract visitors from throughout Southern California and breathe new life into the struggling downtown.

“It finally gives the area a focal point down there besides the pier,” said John Walters, the Doubletree Hotel general manager and a director of the Ventura Visitors & Convention Bureau.

“The most often asked question we get is what restaurant can we recommend that has a great view of the ocean,” Walters said. “That’s been a tough question for us, even though this is Ventura.”