Manhattan Beach State Pier

The first pier here went up in 1901 on pilings made of used railroad rails, carrying a wave motor meant to generate power for the Strand's lights. A storm took it in 1913, and part of the machine may still lie under the sand. Money, lawsuits and the First World War held up a replacement for seven years. City engineer A.L. Harris answered in concrete, with a rounded end shaped to give the swell less to hit. The 928-foot pier opened on July 5, 1920. A wooden extension added in 1928 lasted twelve winters. The concrete did not move.

What the plaque says

Designed by City Engineer A.L. Harris, this pier was constructed by the City of Manhattan Beach during the years 1917-1920. The roundhouse building was added a year later. Harris' innovative design featured a rounded end to the pier, which helped it withstand the pounding of the Pacific. Although the roundhouse was reconstructed in 1992, the pier itself survives as Southern California's oldest remaining example of early reinforced concrete pier construction. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 1018 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Manhattan Beach, December 2, 1995.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bruce's Beach — 0.7 mi
  Willa and Charles Bruce ran a seaside resort here for Black families until the city took the land in 1924. It came back in 2022.
• Point Vicente — 9.7 mi
  Volunteers have counted the gray whale migration from this bluff for four decades, over water where shore whalers nearly finished the same herds.
• Santa Monica Pier — 9.9 mi
  Where the Mother Road runs out of continent, and where the End of the Trail sign gives the drive somewhere to finish.
• The Banning Museum — 11 mi
  The man who made a harbor out of an open bay: freight, dredging, the first railroad in Southern California, and a cupola for watching ships.

More markers nearby

• Old Salt Lake — 2.4 mi
• Site of the Childhood Home of the Beach Boys — 5.1 mi
• Site of Adobe Home of José Dolores Sepulveda — 7.1 mi
• Centinela Springs — 7.4 mi