Pier Envy

Re: “A Pier Into the Past” (Weekend Escape, Oct. 27): This well-written article caught my attention because I have visited all of Southern California’s piers. What prompted me to write was the sentence that referred to Seal Beach as having “the longest pier in Southern California.”

Oceanside has had a pier since it was incorporated in 1888. Since 1947 we have boasted of having the longest pleasure pier on the West Coast, 1,960 feet. We love our pier, as I am sure Seal Beach does, but we need to present the facts.

JOHN A. DALEY

Oceanside

Editor’s note: Oceanside officials we contacted say their pier is 1,954 feet long; Seal Beach claims 1,860 feet. Ventura officials say their pier was 1,958 feet until storms last year knocked down 425 feet of it. So, who has Southern California’s longest pier? “There are disputes about this issue,” says Marc Beyeler, program manager at the California State Coastal Conservancy. The Times has not been able to locate a current, independent ranking of the state’s estimated 100 piers.