Redondo Beach Pier
A pier of multiple generations and numerous names, from the official “Municipal Pier” to the “Endless Pier” to just “The Pier,” the pier in Redondo Beach started out as a disjointed group of wharves built, starting in 1888, to handle the enormous lumber trade from the Pacific Northwest. The current seventh generation horseshoe-shaped pier stands 25 feet above the water, spans 70,000 square-feet of open space and connects to a remnant of the wooden Monstad Pier that was built in the 1920s. In 1988, the pier was severely battered by two winter storms, and on May 27 it burned to the waterline due to an electrical short circuit (the fire was so large that a SigAlert was announced for the San Diego Freeway several miles away). The pier’s modern reinforced concrete version took 6 1/2 years of planning and construction, opening on Feburary 11, 1995.
Redondo Beach, Los Angeles County
Photographers: John Bare, Andrew Schmidt