Manhattan Beach pier
Encyclopedia
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
on the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
. The pier
Pier
A pier is a raised structure, including bridge and building supports and walkways, over water, typically supported by widely spread piles or pillars...
is 928 feet (282.9 m) long and located at the end of Manhattan Beach Boulevard
Manhattan Beach Boulevard
Manhattan Beach Boulevard is a major east-west thoroughfare in western Los Angeles County. It begins at a T-intersection with Van Ness Avenue in Gardena and terminates at the Manhattan Beach pier, feet from the Pacific Ocean...
. An octagonal Mediterranean-style building sits at the end of the pier and houses the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab & Aquarium. Surfers can be seen below the pier and sometimes weave in and out of the mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
covered pilings. The pier is popular with locals, tourists, and for fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
, as well as with photographers and artists, offering sunsets
Sunsets
"Sunsets" is a song released as the third single from Australian rock band Powderfinger's fifth studio album, Vulture Street. The single was released on 4 January 2004 in Australia and New Zealand....
and vantage points from the shore
Shore
A shore or shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In Physical Oceanography a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past and present, while the beach is at the edge of the shore,...
and hillside.
Pre-history of pier
In 1897, the Potencia Company was incorporated to develop land in the area and proposed a seaside resortSeaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
with wharves and piers. The area was named Potencia, but the city of Manhattan was incorporated in 1912 with the word "Beach" being added in 1927. The name was chosen by land developer John Merrill
John Merrill
John Merrill, from London, England, is a marathon walker, a profession which he can be said to have created, and of which he remains a leading, if not the only, member...
, a native of New York.
A pier is believed to have been one of the first features built when the Manhattan Beach community was developed. Two wooden piers were built in 1901, one at Center Street (later renamed Manhattan Beach Boulevard) and one at Marine Avenue called Peck's Pier and Pavilion.
The Center Street pier was 900 feet (274.3 m) long and pylons were made by fastening three railroad rails
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
together and driving them into the ocean floor. The Center Street pier supported a narrow wooden deck and wave motor
Wave motor
Wave motors were machines designed and built in the late 19th and early 20th century to harness the power of wave or tidal energy. Many experiments were planned or built in California employing various methods. The earliest wave motors were not intended for the creation of electricity...
to generate power for the Strand lighting system, but sources disagree about whether the system worked. Part of the wave motor may still be buried in the sands at the shore end of the present pier. This "old iron pier", as it was called, was destroyed by a major storm in 1913.
Current pier gets built
Lack of money, lawsuits, storms, World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and debates about when and where to build another pier delayed Manhattan Beach from having a pier completed until 1920. Engineer A.L. Harris developed the concept of the circular end for less exposure and damage to the pilings by the waves. The pier was completed and dedicated on July 5, 1920. The next version built was a cement pier with a rounded end and it was 928 feet (282.9 m) long. Octagonal house that now holds a lunch restaurant was completed in 1922. In 1928, a 200 feet (61 m) wooden extension was added but it was destroyed in a storm in 1940. In 1991 the pier was restored to its 1920s appearance with a dedication ceremony in 1992.
In 1928 the pier was extended out 200 feet (at no cost to the city) when a Captain Larsen of Redondo Beach
Redondo Beach, California
Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...
offered to pay for an extension in exchange for the rights to run a shoreboat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
between the pier and his barge Georgina. On January 9, 1940, 90 feet (27.4 m) of the extension were ripped away during a winter storm. The extension was never repaired and the remaining section was swept away in February 1941.
In 1946 the pier and adjoining beach were deeded over from the city of Manhattan Beach to the state. During the next four decades the pier would remain a focus of beachfront activity, but Mother Nature and old age took their toll and by the 1980s the pier was in sad shape and in need of renovation.
Restoration took place in the early 1990s with a focus on retention of the old time appearance, much like Pier 7 in San Francisco.
The original pier had to be fixed as old age and decay required extensive repair, and in fact made it unsafe by the late 1980s (when a jogger was injured by falling concrete).
In 1995, the pier was declared a state historic landmark. It is the oldest standing concrete pier on the West Coast. It is managed by the County of Los Angeles, Department of Beaches and Harbors.
Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab & Aquarium
The Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and Aquarium is located at the end of the pier, and is free to the public. The AquariumAquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...
includes a shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
tank, tide pool
Tide pool
Tide pools are rocky pools by oceans that are filled with seawater. Many of these pools exist as separate entities only at low tide.Tide pools are habitats of uniquely adaptable animals that have engaged the special attention of naturalists and marine biologists, as well as philosophical...
touch tank with animals common to Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
, tanks with lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
s, and baby sharks as well as brightly colored, non-native fish and invertebrates. The aquarium is open Saturdays & Sundays 10 a.m. to sunset and Monday through Friday 3 p.m. to sunset and group and education tours offered.
The octagonal building includes a Spanish tile roof and large gooseneck reflectors to improve lighting.
Fishing
According to Pierfishing.com the sandy beach area yields the normal surf species; barred surfperch, croakers, small rays and guitarfish (shovelnose shark). The area around the pilings yield pileperch, walleye surfperch, silver surfperch, and other common pier species. Mid-pier, casting away from the pier, yields small tom cod (white croaker) and herring (queenfish), jacksmelt, yellowfin croaker and an occasional halibut. Action at the end of the pier is improved by the surrounding artificial reef which is located about 65 feet (19.8 m) from the end. Fish at the deepest water end include bonito, Pacific mackerel, jack mackerel, barracuda, an occasional white seabass or even yellowtail, and reef visitors like kelp bass, sand bass and sculpin (scorpionfish). The resident species in Santa Monica Bay may be dangerous to eat, but those that migrate in and out of the bay are considered safe to eat. A variety of baits are utilized.Manhattan Beach pier in film
It is used in- Point BreakPoint BreakPoint Break is a 1991 action film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Lori Petty and Gary Busey. The title refers to the surfing term point break, where a wave breaks as it hits a point of land jutting out from the coastline.The film was a box office success upon...
(1991) - Keanu ReevesKeanu ReevesKeanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
buys his surfboardSurfboardA surfboard is an elongated platform used in the sport of surfing. Surfboards are relatively light, but are strong enough to support an individual standing on them while riding a breaking wave...
from a shop located on the pier. - Starsky and HutchStarsky and HutchStarsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
(2004) - Starsky (Ben StillerBen StillerBenjamin Edward "Ben" Stiller is an American comedian, actor, writer, film director, and producer. He is the son of veteran comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara....
), can be seen stretching under the pier. - Tequila SunriseTequila Sunrise (film)Tequila Sunrise is an American crime thriller film written and directed by Robert Towne, and starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, with support from Raúl Juliá, J. T...
(1988) - Mel GibsonMel GibsonMel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
's character lives on the beach near the pier. - Falling DownFalling DownFalling Down is a 1993 crime-drama film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster , a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer...
(1993) - At movie's end, Michael DouglasMichael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
is finally "reunited" with his wife Beth (Barbara HersheyBarbara HersheyBarbara Hershey , also known as Barbara Seagull, is an American actress. In a career spanning nearly 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema, in several genres including westerns and comedies...
) and his daughter at the end of the pier.
See also
- Manhattan Beach, CaliforniaManhattan Beach, CaliforniaManhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
- Beach CitiesBeach CitiesThe term Beach Cities refers to both a region of California located in Los Angeles County along the Santa Monica Bay coastline as well as a smaller group of cities located therein the region...