Pacifica residents fear what's next for city's iconic pier as damage increases

Last week, Pacifica residents were shocked when the city abruptly closed its iconic pier after cracks developed in its base. Since then, the damage has increased at an alarming rate, and many residents fear the end is near for the 53-year-old structure.

On winter days when the tide was high and the ocean rose up in massive waves, people would gather on the Pacifica Pier just to experience the sound and fury under their feet.  But nothing like that has happened in the last few weeks.

"Maybe a week before, the swell was maybe 10 feet. But that, believe it or not, isn't very big for here.  It can get much bigger during the winter," said resident Matt O'Brien.

But perhaps the constant pounding was just too much for the pier, built in 1973. O'Brien and Sierra Robbins live a block away, and on Saturday, they came out to see the damage. O'Brien said the level of the sea has risen to the point where there is no more protection for the pier.

"Well, you can see the waves hitting the base of it, constantly," he said. "There's no sand built up around it anymore, so it really gets hammered by all the swells and it's not even winter."

The city posted a photo of the inch-wide crack on Thursday, but just two days later, the crack had become a chasm, as the base of the structure appears to be splitting all the way to the ground.  

"I had to come down to see it for myself because I don't know how much longer it's going to be here," said resident Raquel Iverson.  "It is so much worse because you think of all that cement. And you think of cement as being really strong and it's, what, maybe a foot now or more that it's separated? It's just amazing."

A local emergency has been declared, and a city official said a structural examination has already been done and they're waiting for the report to decide what options there might be. But no one who saw it on Saturday held much hope that it could be repaired.

"I had a day off today, had to come down to see it and it's just, it's awful, you know?" said Graham Gates, who lives a few blocks away.  "And even if they wanted to try to fix it, I don't know how you'd go about it. I think it's over, unfortunately."

At the base of the pier sits the Chit Chat Cafe, a well-known gathering spot for the fishermen who used to crowd the pier. It's so dangerous now that the owners weren't even allowed to remove any of their equipment, and the community is rallying to help them with an online fundraiser.  

In December of 2023, the pier was damaged by high tides and large waves, and it was temporarily closed in January of 2024.  It reopened a few weeks later after undergoing nearly $20 million in repairs.  The city said it hasn't made any decisions about what to do this time, but it seemed pretty clear to Sierra Robbins that there weren't many good options.

"I think it will be either fix it or demo it," she said.  "But I imagine that demo-ing might be even more expensive than fixing it, in my mind.  But, yeah, I don't know.  It'll be a different town without the pier, for sure."

Mike Belisari grew up in Pacifica and said his dad, an immigrant from Italy, used to fish from the battered old pier almost every day.

"It's a brutal environment, you know?  It's lasted 55 years, I guess, something like that.  My dad passed away a few years ago, and now it's time for the pier to pass away too, I guess."

It may be inevitable, but people like Graham Gates are still coming to grips with the idea that they may be losing the town's most familiar landmark.

"Yeah, people say, 'oh, you're from Pacifica,' and I'd say, yeah, I'm by the pier," he said.  "What do I say now?  It's kind of like, oh, I'm by the beach, but it's not the same, you know?"