Monday, April 30, 2012

The "Endless Pier"

Tourism was the Redondo Beach's main source of income in the early part of the 20th century: Redondo had a luxury hotel (the Hotel Redondo), a popular amusement area (El Paseo), a salt water plunge and a tent city where tourists could stay for a pittance and enjoy the ocean climate.

When a major storm caused considerable property damage along the Redondo Beach coastline in 1915, temporarily dampening the tourist trade, Redondo's citizens took action. They passed a $125,000 bond issue to build a structure that came to be known as the "Endless Pier."

The triangular structure was called "the most unique over-the-sea structure in the country." Its two legs met in the ocean at a plaza-like area, where a pavilion with a restaurant was built.

Tourists and fishermen loved the structure, which was completed and dedicated in 1916. Chamber of Commerce literature of the time claimed that 10,000 people could find entertainment there at any one time.

By December 1925, carousel operator Arthur Looff had opened his Hippodrome, advertised as "the Finest Hippodrome Carousel Building in the United States." The Hippodrome he had built on the Santa Monica Pier in 1916 to hold his carousel there stills stands today, and was made a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
Unfortunately, the pier structure itself was troubled from the very beginning. A fierce storm had damaged the pier while it was still under construction In1916, and another storm 20 months after it opened almost destroyed it.

By 1926, the Endless Pier's concrete-and-steel construction showed signs of deterioration, so much so that amusement park promoter C.A. Langley was unable to build his planned addition to the pier unless the structure were to undergo substantial repairs. His consultant reported that the concrete pilings were weakening and the deck was sagging in some places.

In 1928, the Redondo City Council condemned the Endless Pier, and City Engineer Victor Staheli prepared plans for a replacement. The City selected contractor P.W. Krantz to demolish the Endless Pier and construct a new timber Horseshoe Pier, the forerunner to the current Redondo Beach pier, in the same general location.

Though some still refer to the current pier as the Endless Pier, the original Endless Pier only lasted for twelve years.

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