It’s the heart of the beach town, a nostalgic place where memories have been made for nearly a century.
The San Clemente Pier is celebrating its 95th birthday this year, with October dubbed “PierPride” month and several fundraising gatherings that have marked the milestone in recent weeks.
“It’s an overused word, but it’s iconic,” Eileen Kawas, president of the nonprofit PierPride, said of the wood structure. “Everybody who comes to San Clemente knows about the pier… We have so many stories, people who have proposed, people who met on the pier. Everyone has a story about the pier, whether it was a junior lifeguard jumping off the pier, meeting someone special or having lunch at Fisherman’s (Restaurant and Bar).”
Earlier this month, on Oct. 7, a dozen people got to jump off the pier for $1,000 each – legally and under lifeguard supervision of course – as a thrilling way to raise money toward pier improvements.
Among the 12 jumpers was a family – two parents and their three children – who did the plunge together.
“It’s always a fun event,” Kawas said.
At a “Light The Future of the Pier” fundraiser on Oct. 19 at the historic Ole Hanson Beach Club in North Beach, PierPride raise nearly $50,000 through auctions and other donations, putting the effort near the $200,000 goal for the year, Kawas said.
Another fundraiser earlier this month was held at the Fisherman’s restaurant, which put on a sunset dinner meal for 60 guests.
“We do what we do because we all love the pier and we want to do it for future generations,” Kawas said. “We’re glad we have people who come together and are able to feel the same way.”
The pier was built in 1928 by the town’s founder Ole Hansen. The Santa Fe Railroad stopped at the pier since the very beginning, the underpass built in 1927 as a way for train visitors to get to the waterfront.
The wooden, 1,200-foot-long pier has a storied past, including being used by rum smugglers who traveled from Mexico and Canada, waiting in the dark of night before making their way to a trap door beneath the pier where they could offload the illegal booty.
It pier is where Dana Wharf founder Don Hansen first launched his fishing operation about 75 years ago, before the charter boats moved to the nearby Dana Point Harbor when it was built in the ’70s.
Still today, the pier is a popular place for anglers hoping to catch diner, and Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching still hosts an annual fishing derby with the city to teach the next generation of anglers.
Storms twice battered the pier to pieces, once in the late ’30s and again in the ’80s.
An estimated 2 million people a year stroll the pier. While it’s an important part of the coastal town’s identity, it’s no easy task to maintain.
PierPride, a volunteer group, formed after redevelopment funding used for maintenance dried up about a decade ago “to fill those gaps in funding between what the city can provide and what the community would like to see,” Kawas said.
“It is a strain on a small community to have a pier,” she said.
In recent years, signs about local wildlife and the Dana Point Headlands have been added, vibrant art has spruced up the restroom building and earlier this year, netting was added to keep birds from gathering and pooping into the water.
One of this year’s big goals is adding permanent holiday lighting. At the recent Casino San Clemente event, Mayor Chris Duncan auctioned a “turning on the lights” scheduled for Nov. 27 to a bidder who offered $2,500 to do the task.
Fundraising will also go toward adding more bike racks at the base of the pier and improving accessibility, as well as a digital Marine Safety sign by early next year.
Looking ahead, planning is already underway for the big celebration for the pier’s 100th anniversary, with hopes of refreshing the entry to the pier area before that milestone. PierPride will work with the city and RSM Designs, along with the community, to come up with ideas and designs, Kawas said.
“We would look to create a sense of arrival for the 2 million visitors who come to the pier,” she said. “It’s a major pinch point for our city. When it was built in 1928, when you look at the original pictures, you knew you had arrived. It is so important to the community, we want to make sure we preserve it for the community.”
