Paving the piers
June Casagrande
Against a weak winter sun, the piers seem bleak, stripped down to
skeletons crawling with swarms of workers. But by the time the summer sun
reigns high, the rebirth of the Balboa and Newport piers will be
complete. Both will have a stronger appeal and stronger foundations.
The two historic landmarks on the Balboa Peninsula are undergoing
their most thorough renovation ever. On Jan. 2, the Balboa Pier closed
and, on Jan. 28, the Newport Pier followed. By time they reopen at the
end of February and March, respectively, both will have been effectively
gutted and refinished. The process is expected to add 20 years to their
lifespans.
The biggest part of the job, said Lloyd Dalton of the Newport Beach
Public Works Department, is replacing the concrete decks on each pier.
“The old pier surfaces were broken in a lot of places,” Dalton said.
“They were getting much too flexible in the ocean storms and wind. We’re
stiffening up the piers to their original structural integrity.”
Crews have torn up all the concrete on which tourists, visitors and
fishermen have walked since the piers were young. By Wednesday, pouring
of the new concrete was finished on Balboa Pier and just beginning on
Newport Pier. In a task involving about 30 workers at once, a hose
carrying just-mixed cement ran to the end of the 1,032-foot-long Newport
Pier from a cement mixer parked on the shore. Cement will cover the
wooden deck that serves as the under-skeleton of the 24-foot-wide pier.
“The deck will be all brand-new concrete,” Dalton said. “It makes it
stronger and also improves the look a great deal.”
This new surface will definitely make the most noticeable difference
on the Newport Pier. But on the Balboa Pier, an even more salient
improvement is on tap. The corroded metal pipe handrail running the
919-foot length will be replaced with a new wooden handrail.
“That’s going to be pretty striking,” Dalton said.
Beneath the piers, some less-striking but no-less-important work has
also played an important role in the $2.7-million renovation project.
Pilings rotted with time and weakened by powerful waves have been
replaced and reinforced, along with the steel attachments that hold them
together.
Another major change also combines functional and aesthetic
improvements. Trenches running along the westerly side of both piers will
hide utility lines from view, while giving workers better access to the
electricity, gas, water and phone services they carry.
When the bulk of the work on both piers is done by the end of March,
and when Ruby’s reopens on the Balboa Pier and Newport Pier Seafood
Company Restaurant reopens on the Newport Pier, a new chapter in Balboa
history will begin.
“These are pretty significant changes,” said Jim Fournier, local
historian and brains behind www.talesofbalboa.com.
The piers, he said, have been central to life on the peninsula since
their first incarnations. The Newport Pier was first built in 1889 as
McFadden Wharf. Seventeen years later, a companion -- the Balboa Pier --
appeared on the horizon to its west.
At its peak, McFadden wharf was the site where 550 ships each year
unloaded lumber and stocked up with local goods like produce and hides.
Then, in 1939, a summer storm wiped out the the wharf and the Balboa
Pier.
“They both had to be completely rebuilt,” Fournier said. “But it’s
commonly believed that McFadden wharf was in the same location as Newport
Pier, which replaced it. That’s not true. McFadden wharf was actually a
little further west than the pier now stands.”
When the McFadden trading legacy waned, buckling under rough
competition, both piers settled into their current personas as places to
walk, fish and watch the waves -- a legacy that will soon continue.
“The Balboa Pier has definitely been one of the center points of
Balboa,” Fournier said, recalling the late 1970s when it was the place of
huge Fourth of July celebrations.
“I remember kids would throw firecrackers up on the pier to make
everybody jump. Fourth of July was a really big deal in those days,” he
said.
Officials chose the winter months to do the work with locals and
tourists in mind, as well as management at Ruby’s and Newport Pier
Seafood. Both the restaurants are slowest in the winter months.
Contractor John S. Meek Co. is ahead of schedule for work on both
piers, thanks in part to good weather. By mid-April, when even the
finishing touches like new signs and a new parking entrance area at
Balboa Pier are complete, businesses and residents alike are looking
forward to enjoying beautifully redone piers.
“It’ll be really refreshing for the whole area,” Fournier said. “Those
piers are really important. Without them, this wouldn’t really be
Balboa.”
-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)
574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 june.casagrande@latimes.comf7 .
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