Melissa Giaimo
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Slow-growth advocates continue to hurt the small-town feel of Malibu by thwarting plans for a dinner boat aimed at revitalizing the Malibu Pier and community life. Opponents of the plan, including Wagner’s investment partner in the pier Alexander Left, contend the boat is too large.
Supporters hope the dinner boat will revitalize the pier, which until 1995 was central to community life in Malibu. Despite extensive renovations to the structure, the pier, once bustling with business, is empty. The restaurants, bait-and-tackle-shop, retail stores and museum on the pier are closed.
Jefferson Wagner, fondly known after his surf store as Zuma Jay, has lived his entire life within 10 miles of the Malibu Pier. Despite enormous personal expense, time and setback, Wagner, as pier operations manager, is committed to revitalizing the pier, which he, along with many other Malibu natives, regards as epochal to community life.
“I grew up on the pier,” Wagner said. “I have … childhood memories of that pier when it was a vital part of Malibu, and I’m going to stick with it probably as long as I can.”
Much of the hubbub seems to stem from misunderstanding the size of the boat. Wagner says an article in the Feb. 21 edition of Malibu Times misrepresents the boat as a 400-person capacity cruise ship, conjuring images of an ocean liner carrying hoards of gawking celebrity-seekers to Malibu’s elite shores.
But the proposed boat is not a cruise ship. Measuring 120 feet in length, dinner boat is a more accurate description, according to Wagner. Criticisms that the boat is too large are unfounded when considering that most local fishing boats are 65-75 feet.
Permanently docked in Marina del Rey, the dinner boat would hardly be an eyesore. Arriving and departing from the pier, the boat would cruise 100 to 200 reserved guests along the coast while serving a gourmet meal. The trips would run three times a week from approximately 6 to 10 p.m.
Jutting 780 feet into the Pacific and dating to 1905, the pier is the most recognizable landmark in Malibu. Its understated, cobalt art-deco sign is the archetypical symbol of the seaside community. Real-estate agents feature the pier in almost every advertisement, like the City Council does on tourism brochures, to signify Malibu’s small-town feel.
Locals often complain that the pier is not open after dark, but keeping the pier open longer costs money. Wagner says he could afford to hire night watchmen to keep the pier open later using the revenue from the dinner cruise.
Opposing pier development is another slow-growth effort that creates an artificial feeling of community instead of a
genuine small-town. Locals who cringe at the idea of the pier attracting visitors and revenue – those who prefer the pier as an empty landmark to stroll with their dogs – misunderstand the purpose of a pier and real small-town life. After California’s piers stopped serving as working ports, piers all along the coast in the early 1990s became actual community centers, that is, places to dine, fish and often enjoy entertainment in the form of roller coasters or casinos— West Coast versions of Coney Island.
By bringing a dinner boat to Malibu Pier, Wagner aims to restore community life, not diminish it. The sign for the pier reads: “Malibu Sport Fishing Pier: Live Bait and Charter Boats.” Clearly the pier has fallen from its purpose if visitors can no longer buy live bait or charter boats.Wagner laments that after the millions the state invested in renovating the pier, all the public can do is walk on it.
Revitalizing the pier has not been easy. Since Wagner began investing in the pier in 1999, he has received no income from it, operating the pier at break-even or loss, according to Wagner. Although the state has invested $10 million in renovations, maintenance of the pier is left to the private sector. Wagner stepped in to run the pier as a service to the community.
Wagner and partner Left, a San Francisco attorney, formed Malibu Pier Partners, LLC, assuming responsibility for all food service and businesses on the pier, in December 2004.
In March, 2006, Wagner told the Graphic that trademark, environmental and internal disputes between the business partners and also the Malibu residents about the future of the pier kept businesses from reopening. Two lawsuits against the Pier Partners also halted operations. But now, Wagner says only internal conflict stands in the way.
The visitors brought by the dinner boat operation could expedite the reopening of other pier businesses. In an exceptionally challenging time for local businesses with rising rents and limited space, the pier could serve as a magnet for of entrepreneurship.
Pepperdine students rarely visit the pier, because they see nothing worth visiting. And they’re right. There’s nothing at the pier but fishing, an empty parking lot and bored lifeguards.
The pier, a barren remnant of its former exuberant self, is little more than a landmark to tout on advertisements, a symbol of what Malibu community life could be. It is time for Malibu to overcome its growth and visitor phobia and revitalize the pier.
No one is suggesting converting Malibu Pier into another Santa Monica Pier. A dinner boat operation is the appropriate type of moderate growth Malibu needs to maintain its cherished small-town feel. Opponents of it are crushing what people love most about Malibu.
03-01-2007