Redondo Pier Transformation
The Redondo Beach Municipal Pier represents a collaboration of citizens, entrepreneurs, builders, and City officials, over a time span of more than one hundred years. Tracing the development from the earliest Redondo Pier to today’s Municipal Pier provides insight into the history of Redondo Beach as both seaport and resort.
The establishment of Redondo Beach was not by chance. In the late 1800’s a race was on to establish a seaport for Southern California. Five years prior to the City’s incorporation, William Hammond Hall, State Engineer’s 1887 discovery of the Redondo Submarine Canyon prompted entrepreneurs to develop port plans for this westerly corner of old Rancho San Pedro.
A report from Col. George Henry Mendell, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "upon the Natural Advantages of Redondo Beach as a Commercial Seaboard Point" was made to Judge Charles Silent, President of the Redondo Beach Company December 31, 1887. It described the Redondo Submarine Canyon, a natural seabed several hundred feet deep very close to shoreline, and a unique feature within the Santa Monica Bay. Redondo Beach’s first entry into the port competition, known as Warf No. 1, was constructed landside of this Canyon.
| Cargo Warfs The early focus of Redondo was cargo delivery. By 1888, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad established a route between Redondo Beach and Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Redondo Beach Company began constructing of Warf No. 1, an iron and wood structure. Once |
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| Wharf No. 1 was completed in 1889, the Santa Fe provided Southern California port service in competition with rival railroad companies. | |
Engineers maneuvered locomotives and rail cars down a spur line onto the Wharf alongside sailing vessels and steamers. Cargo such as timber from the Pacific Northwest was transferred to the train cars, delivered to local lumber mills, and transported throughout Southern California. Soon the port of Redondo Beach received a large share of the Los Angeles area’s shipping cargo, and could handle the largest cargo vessels. As an example, the five mast Schooner Governor Ames, then the largest cargo ship in the world, delivered two million feet of lumber to Redondo on July 10, 1893.
As cargo deliveries grew, the Redondo Beach Board of Trustees granted the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway Company a franchise to construct Wharf No. 2 adjoining Ainsworth Court in 1895, and Wharf No. 3 near Topaz Street in 1903. Total wharfage grew to about three thousand feet. By consolidation of railroads, all Wharfs later became the property of the Pacific Electric Railway.
The Period of greatest activity for Redondo as a port was 1904 through 1912. Rival port San Pedro provided increased competition. In late 1914, the Pacific Electric offered to sell Wharf No. 1 to the City for $17,500. The City had not yet agreed to a purchase when Wharf #1 was destroyed in a May 1915 storm.
On March 6, 1919, another devastating storm hit the Redondo Beach coastline and seriously damaged Wharf No. 2. The Pacific Electric Company chose not to rebuild it, on the basis that the volume of cargo did not justify the maintenance of two Wharfs. However, local fisherman used Wharf No. 2 until it was torn down in 1920.
The 20 year lease on Wharf No. 3 was set to expire August 19, 1923. On July 2, 1923 at the City Council Chambers, the Board of Directors heard a debate over the Pacific Electric’s application for an additional 20 year franchise. Opposing speakers expressed opinions that freight service was no longer appropriate in the resort town of Redondo Beach. That night the Board unanimously denied a renewal of the P.E. pier franchise. Lumber companies of Redondo, Culver City, Hollywood and other areas then brought the matter before the State Railroad and Warehouse Commission. Redondo held a special election in December 1923 on the issue, and the majority of voters approved a short franchise extension.
This extension allowed the lumber industry to phase out of Redondo. The Pacific Electric did not request another extension of the Wharf No. 3 franchise. Local lumber companies arranged shipments to be handled through San Pedro/Wilmington. By June 1926, the demolition of Wharf No. 3 was completed.
Elimination of the cargo Wharfs heightened the need for docking facilities in Redondo. In November 1925 Captain Hans C. Monstad proposed a peir to provide landings for all fishing boats and please crafts operating in Redondo Beach. On November30, 1925 the City Council approved a 20 year franchise allowing Monstad to construct a landing and fishing wharf at his own expense. Construction of the 300’ long Monstad Pier commenced the next week. Captain Monstad extended his pier 100 additional feet in 1937 and 50 feet in width in 1938. The Monstad Pier became a boarding point for water taxis and fishing vessels.
Ultimately the solution for commercial and recreational boating in Redondo Beach was the creation of King Harbor. However, public recreational use of Redondo Piers proved to be a lasting element of Redondo Beach’s history.
| Pleasure Piers From the time of Redondo's establishment, Redondo Beach also flourished as a resort due to the efforts of entrepreneurs such as Captain J.C. Ainsworth, R.R. Thompson, and Henry Huntington. By 1890, the Hotel Redondo was constructed a quarter mile south of Wharf No. 1 (where Veterans Park is located). |
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| Passenger travel service was available at the Redondo Wharf. Visitors could stay at the Hotel Redondo, constructed between Wharf No. 1 and Wharf No. 2. Huntington purchased the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway Company and incorporated them in the Pacific Electric Railway service and constructed tourist attractions such as the Salt Water Plunge. The Wharfs were extremely popular with the public for sport fishing use. | |
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By 1914, while Redondo's cargo trade was diminishing, citizens of Redondo Beach expressed their desire for a Municipal Pier. The Redondo Board of Trustees employed George W. Harding, Structural Engineer, who prepared a report offering five alternative pier designs. The Board chose an alternative described in the report as a "V-shaped pier [which] would be something very unique and different from any pier I [Harding] have seen on the coast." Harding then designed what became known as the Endless Pier. Constructed of reinforced concrete, it included a "sun parlor" observation building, shade structures, fish market, boat launch, and fishing area. A 450-foot long northern leg left the shore at the same location as old Wharf No. 1, just north of the Pavilion. At the western end of the northerly leg stood a 160-foot x 200-foot platform. From this platform, the Pier came back to shore just south of the Bathhouse on the 450-foot southern leg. The completed Pier was dedicated in a two-day event in August of 1916. The storms that hit the Wharfs had equally severe effects on the Endless Pier. Three quarters of the western platform of the Endless Pier was severely damaged the night of the March 6, 1919 storm, and the sun parlor building was lost. The remainder of the Pier was temporarily useable. There was no shortage of persons wishing to construct new piers or additions to the Endless Pier during the 1920s. Mr. C. Berry applied to the Corps of Engineers in January 1920 to build a wharf north of the Endless Pier. In January 1921, the Board of Trustees leased all the area inside the Endless Pier, and additional submerged land north of the Pier to Ernest Pickering, owner of the Ocean Park Pier. Prior and Church asked for a lease to enclose the Endless Pier in 1924. On February 2, 1925, the Board granted a 20-year lease to Arthur Looff for a 150-foot by 120-foot pier extension adjacent the north leg of the Pier. In November 1925, C.A. Langley, amusement promoter, won approval from the Board to lease the inside of the Pier and construct a deck over it. Also in 1925, Mr. Hans Carstensen proposed a fishing pier where the landing to the Municipal Pier was located. Of all these entrepreneurs, only Arthur Looff completed construction. By December 1925, Looff opened his Hippodrome, advertised as "the Finest Hippodrome Carousel Building in the United States." The Board of Trustees denied Carstensen's bid in January 1926. That same month Langley told the City Council the Endless Pier would have to undergo substantial repairs before construction of his proposed addition inside the Pier. His consultant reported the concrete pilings under the storm damaged Pier were deteriorated, and the deck sagged in places. In 1928, Mayor Hopkins and the Redondo City Council condemned the Endless Pier, and City Engineer Victor Staheli prepared plans for a replacement pier. The City selected contractor P.W. Krantz to demolish the Endless Pier and construct a new timber Horseshoe Pier in the same general location. Construction was supervised by a new City Engineer, D.L. Bundy. Since the 1940s, the size of the Pier has increased, and many uses have been added. The Monstad Pier was again widened. Restaurants and shops were constructed along the Horseshoe, and a western platform was built. By connecting the west end of the Monstad Pier with the center of the Horseshoe Pier in 1983, the Fishing Promenade provided more space for sport fishing. Even the route of the annual Super Bowl Sunday 10K run has included the Pier. In 1988, the Mayor and the City Council found themselves in a similar situation to their 1915 and 1928 predecessors. January storms battered the Pier, and destroyed the Fishing Promenade. In May, fire destroyed most of the Horseshoe Pier. After considerable debate, public hearings and a referendum, Redondo Beach again took action to rebuild the Pier. On July 29, 1993, Redondo Beach held "Launching Ceremonies" to kick off reconstruction. The reconstructed Pier opened in 1996. It contains many historical references and similarities to the past Piers. Theodore Anvick, Structural Engineer, designed the new Municipal Pier as a reinforced concrete structure, using advanced versions of the materials used in the 1915 Endless Pier. Using technology impossible in 1915, Mr. Anvick developed the structural design using a three-dimensional computer analysis. Architect Edward Beall designed shade structures that symbolize the sails and masts of the old sailing ships that visited Redondo. The new Pier connects the 1926 Monstad Pier, the remainder of the 1928 Pier, and the location of the 1889 Wharf No. 1. A northern platform is located near the site of the original Looff Hippodrome Building, and a new triangular platform has been built near the location of the original Endless Pier west platform. Replacing the wooden Boardwalk is a new concrete Boardwalk accessible to physically challenged persons. The Fishing Promenade has been return in its old location. The concrete pilings are a brown color to complement the wood piles of the old Pier. The next time you visit the Pier, don't forget to reflect on both Redondo's past and future. By Rick Becker with source material obtained from: Gloria Snyder, The Redondo Reflex newspaper (various editions), Old Redondo (Legends Press), Ride the Big Red Cars (Trans-Anglo Books) and Santa Fe, Route to the Pacific (Omni Publications) | |
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Historical Society
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