Better days for the ‘Queen of the Pier’

JERRY PERSON

Can you imagine for just a moment what a lady who had spent more than

half of her 74 years working would feel if she lost her business of

37 years and most of her dearest friends within an hour?

This is just what happened to one of our legends of Huntington

Beach.

A while back, I received a letter from Huntington Beach resident

Donald Sinex in which he recalled coming here from his home in

Alhambra as a child in the 1940s to swim in our salt-water plunge.

Sinex remembers the buildings that sat on our old pier, Neptune’s

Locker and the Captain’s Galley, and the grand lady who ran them.

This week we’ll look back at the lady, Ella Christensen, who is

fondly remembered as the “Queen of the Pier.”

Ella had not always been a resident of our city, but to so many

generations of Huntington Beach citizens, she was an icon of our

pier.

It was in 1914 that our new concrete pier opened and also the same

year that Ella first opened her eyes to a new world.

When Ella grew up she married Carl Christensen, and the two took

up farming. Along the way, two children, Joy and Carl Jr., were born.

But farm life was taking its toll on Carl’s health and the local

doctors advised him that if he kept at farming, it would eventually

kill him.

So in 1951, the family left its farm in Akron, Colo., and headed

west for California. The family arrived that year and took up

residence in our city, making their home at 633 Hartford Ave.

At this time, Port L. Woods and his wife Genevieve of 214 3rd St.

owned the bait stand on the pier.

Ella and Carl were able to purchase this bait and tackle

concession stand from the Woodses on April 21, 1951 for $2,500. Their

new business became known as Carl’s Bait & Tackle Shop. In 1971, Carl

and Ella purchased another concession on the pier and opened

Neptune’s Locker, a sandwich counter and pub.

Everything looked rosy for Carl and Ella, but Carl passed away in

1972, leaving Ella to carry on with the business. In 1975, Ella

acquired the adjacent concession, the Captain’s Galley, across from

Neptune’s Locker. Carl’s Bait Shop was renamed the Tackle Box and

became the place for fishermen to get their fishing tackle.

Huntington Beach resident Willy Beyer spent many hours fishing off

our pier and checking what was new at the Tackle Box. He also watched

the sun set while seated on one of Ella’s 17 red vinyl-topped chairs

in Neptune’s Locker.

Many a high school student would earn extra money working for Ella

during the summer.

Over the years, many of our lifeguards got to know this 5-foot

lady, and so did their children. Ella would watch for any lifesaving

emergencies when the lifeguard tower was closed.

There was one time when two intoxicated guys jumped off the pier

into the cold water. Ella was right on the phone calling Marine

Safety Officer Mark Panis. As one of the two guys struggled for

shore, the other one had to be rescued by an ex-junior lifeguard when

Panis arrived to render first aid. Those two men owe their lives to

the fast actions of this little lady.

In 1983, Ella’s luck continued when the big storm damaged fellow

pier business owner John Gustafson’s End Cafe.

But the good luck couldn’t continue forever.

It was in the late morning of July 12, 1988 that Ella received a

phone call from a local newspaper reporter wanting to know what she

thought of the city closing the pier.

This had been the first time she heard that the city was closing

the historic pier. City Administrator Paul Cook and his staff had

decided to withhold the news from Ella. To tell her any earlier would

have created a rush out to Ella’s for one last beer and this would

create a dangerous situation, Cook said.

I think that they withheld the news because if her customers or

the lifeguards found out, they would have hung those officials up by

their thumbs.

“City officials” told Ella that when the pier reopened, they could

not offer her any guarantees or first options to operate pier

concessions on the new pier.

So much for city loyalty to Ella after so many years of dedicated

work by her to our city. This broke Ella’s heart.

The two buildings at the head of the pier were moved off the pier

and stored at the Public Works Yard to be used at a later date, or

that is what the city told the preservation community at the time.

But those promises were never kept and later the buildings were

destroyed.

Like those two buildings that are no longer with us, neither is

Ella.

In Sinex’s letter he wrote, “Sure it was a little tacky with

telephone-pole stools, but it had great sunset views and cheap

happy-hour shrimp cocktails.”

For many of us who knew her, she will always remain the “Queen of

the Pier.”

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.