By Benjamin Marcus, Columnist
While working on Part Two of the interview with Jefferson “Zuma Jay” Wagner about the past, present, and future of the Malibu Pier, this timeline of the pier began to alchemize. It got interesting, so while we polish Part Two of Zuma Jay’s interview — and run it by attorneys — here is a timeline of the major events battering the Malibu Pier going back into the 20th century. Legal and meteorological, a lot of trouble and strife by land and sea swirling around the Malibu Pier.
1970s: The Malibu Sport Fishing Pier serves primarily as a commercial and sport fishing pier — a well-known local destination, with bait shops, boat rentals, and restaurants.
1976: Severe winter storms damage the pier significantly, highlighting its vulnerability to heavy surf.
Feb. 10, 1980: A real estate auction was held in Malibu and the star property offered was the Malibu Pier, the first time Bill Huber put it up for sale — after buying a storm-damaged pier around 1944 for $50,000 [2025 $907,976.85]. Bids of $3 million and $3.1 million were received, but Huber did not sell at that time.
Later that year, the State of California did buy the pier for $2.5 million [2025 $9,670,204.79], in somewhat battered condition. The pier continued to operate under the State Department of Parks and Recreation, which leased space to the commercial operations on the pier.
1983: Another series of winter storms cause substantial damage; repairs are made, but some sections remain weakened.
Late 1980s: Decline in sport fishing activity; parts of the pier are shuttered intermittently for repairs and safety.
1988–1989: In March 1988, Joel Ladin took over the concession lease for Malibu Pier after the previous tenant left. He attempted drastic rent hikes and failed to recruit replacements, ultimately abandoning the lease later that year.
In April 1989, Ladin sued the State of California for over $20 million [2025 $51,422,823.19], claiming fraud and misrepresentation — alleging the pier required $3.5 million to 4 million in repairs rather than the state’s $400,000 estimate.
1993–1995: The historic pier was heavily damaged by El Niño storms in 1993, and another storm severely damaged it again in 1995. It was declared unsafe and the state closed it to the public.
Feb. 4, 1994: The LA Times reports: “The state’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which owns the pier, hit the [owners of Alice’s Restaurant] with a 30-day eviction notice Tuesday, demanding ‘significant amounts of unpaid back rent.’”
Co-owner Bob Yuro, who opened Alice’s in 1972, conceded that he had often been behind on rent since 1991, but vowed to fight the eviction on the grounds that the state had reneged on a promise to apply rents to renovate the decrepit pier, badly damaged in a 1983 storm.
The dispute only compounds the restaurant’s financial troubles — it suffered $70,000 damage and slower business as a result of last fall’s wildfires — and throws into doubt the future of a Malibu icon favored by surfers and Hollywood stars.
The damage caused by storm-tossed surf is a central part of the current dispute. Yuro said the state, which paid $2.5 million to a private owner for the pier in 1980, has not honored an agreement to use rents to fix up the battered pier. The renovation cost has been estimated at $2.5 million.
“In the last 13 years I have paid them nearly $2 million in rent and absolutely no repairs to the pier have taken place,” Yuro said.
Yuro’s company, Japademy Inc., had sought a 20-year contract with the state to manage any business on the pier but could not land the concession after four years of negotiations. Over the years, Yuro’s plans for the pier included an additional restaurant, gift shops, a jazz club, and an expanded sport-fishing business.
1995: Alice’s Restaurant closes.
1997: The State of California seeks private operators to redevelop and maintain the pier, issuing leases to revive it as a dining and retail destination.
1997: California transferred the pier to the City of Malibu with the provision that Malibu fix and maintain it, something the city did not have the funds to do. The pier reverted to the state.
1998–1999: The pier is closed for reconstruction and rehabilitation to restore public access and safety.
2000: Portions of the pier reopen after structural improvements.
September 2001: During early pier restoration efforts, partners “Darian” and Federico clashed over workmanship and materials. Darian secretly recorded threats — including references to “breaking legs” and “gorillas.” In 2000, Darian obtained a restraining order; by 2001, he filed a federal lawsuit alleging threats, use of substandard materials, environmental damage, wrongful arrest, and other claims.
2003: In 2003, Stephen Harper (Agoura Hills) filed for federal trademark and domain usage rights for “Malibu Pier” targeting apparel and merchandising.
In response, the State Parks Department counter-filed its own trademark claims. By July 2004, litigation began in federal court.
December 2004: Malibu Pier Partners, LLC signed a 20-year concession contract with California State Parks. This agreement gave them responsibility for all commercial operations on Malibu Pier — including food service, retail, sport-fishing boat tours, and beach equipment rentals.
November 2006: Jeffrey Bonbach who served as “Director of Development” for Malibu Pier Partners, files a lawsuit against Malibu Pier Partners for “unlawful termination.”
Aug. 15, 2006: After a two-week trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, an eight-member jury decided unanimously that the state Department of Parks and Recreation is the rightful holder of the Malibu Pier name and malibupier.com internet domain name.
The verdict was handed down in a case involving Stephen Harper, a self-styled business-development specialist who took advantage of the fact that the state did not register the Malibu Pier name when it acquired the deteriorating structure 26 years ago with the aim of preserving it.
October 2006: Where sportfishing boomed on the Malibu Pier post-war into the 1960s, the popularity slowly faded into the 1960s. In 2006 a sportfishing operation begins to run the Scorpio from the pier. Skippered by Tom Durr and Rick Hayes, who planned to primarily run three-quarter-day trips to the nearby Big Kelp Reef — west of Point Dume.
December 2006: State Parks notifies Alexander Leff he is in breach of contract for “failing to pay rent on time, not submitting construction documents in a timely fashion, and allowing a shirtless man to collect parking fees from the back of a pick-up truck without offering receipts.”
Feb. 21, 2007: The Malibu Times reports that a Malibu couple — Dianne Wachs and Joe Feese — proposed a “400-person capacity cruise ship that would take people from the pier to a ride up and down a portion of the coast while they enjoy a nice dinner and the scenery.” They presented the idea to Jefferson Wagner — who liked the idea — and Alexander Leff who gave the idea a “Chinese no,” which means he didn’t respond. Didn’t happen.
June 29, 2008: In mid‑2008, following a $10 million restoration, the Malibu Pier reopened in staged phases: the pier bar in spring, the grand reopening gala on June 29, and the Beachcomber eatery in early July, with additional amenities launching through the summer.
June 2008-December 2011: After five years of no food or beverage operations on the Pier, Beachcomber Restaurant Opens at Malibu Pier (in the prior Alice’s Restaurant location)
August 2008-June 2011: Ruby’s Shake Shack, a company formed by the same operators of The Beachcomber, opens at the end of the Pier where Malibu Cafe is now.
April 2009: The Los Angeles Conservancy announced that the Malibu Pier was the recipient of its 28th annual“Preservation Award” as recognition for its outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation. The Conservancy said that the “State of California showed solid stewardship of this beloved public resource by reversing decades of decay while staying true to its historic character.”
Sept. 3, 2009: Malibu Pier Sportfishing LLC submitted two applications to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for licenses to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages on two of its boats: The Malibu Sportsman, a 48-foot-long wooden fishing boat, and The Aquarius, a 55-foot-long vessel that has been fishing from the Malibu Pier since 1934.
Jan. 26, 2011: The Malibu Times reports: “Jeffrey Bonhach, who was once hired to head project development at Malibu Pier, died Jan. 12. According to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office, Bonhach took his own life. He was 53.
Actor Peter Fonda discovered Bonhach’s lifeless body slumped over in a car on Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades about 2 p.m. last Wednesday.
After Bonhach had left the Malibu Pier project, he was later involved in a lawsuit against Malibu Pier Partners in 2007.”
June 2011: After three years in operation, Ruby’s Restaurant closes at Malibu Pier.
Dec. 29, 2011: After three years in operation Beachcomber Restaurant also closes at Malibu Pier citing low visitor numbers and high rent.
Aug. 21, 2013: A fire broke out at the Malibu Pier around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday after a cigarette became stuck between two planks on the far end of the pier. The blaze was quickly extinguished with damage to 20 planks and no reported injuries.
September 2013: Helene Henderson — the hardest working woman in show business — opens her first Malibu Farm location as a pop-up café at the end of the pier, which almost immediately draws large crowds and long lines to the former Ruby’s space.
Gross revenue from the pier concession leaps dramatically after Malibu Farm begins operations. From $743,434 in 2012-13 to $2,502,186 the following year. And that upward swing has continued, year to year.
2013-2014: Revenue from Pier concession: $2,502,186; To state: $427,214
2014: Adamson House and Malibu Pier designated as part of a California State Historic Landmark area, recognizing their cultural significance.
May 15, 2014: Alexander Leff opens his own Malibu Pier Restaurant at the landside restaurant on the Pier, the first dining destination on the Pier that he operates.
Aug. 22, 2014 : Hurricane Marie turns Malibu into Jeffrey’s Bay. Minds are blown. Hurricane Marie damages the seaward end of the Pier which loses over 70 pilings. Malibu Cafe is temporarily closed and stays closed for an extensive time period as the pier is repaired.
March 2015: After less then a year running his own restaurant, Alexander Leff calls it quits and Malibu Farm takes over the Landside Restaurant.
2015: One Gun Ranch opens Ranch at the Pier, “a boutique-style store featuring a curated mix of surf and skate gear, beach essentials, boutique gifts, local artisan wares, fishing supplies, and even spa items like organic lotions. This shop was founded in 2015 by Alice & Ann as a “Malibu Lifestyle Store” that blends the coastal and ranch cultures of the area.”
2014/2015: Revenue from Pier: $7,449,890. Rent to state: $617,951
2015-2016: Revenue: $9,648,323. To state: $657,973
2016-2017: Revenue: $10,927,040. To state: $32,272 (This is when they were doing Hurricane Marie repairs and the rent might have gone to pay for the repairs)
2017-2018: Revenue: $14,961,648. To state: $771,589
2018-2019: Revenue: $14,001,203. To state: $783,103
2020: COVID-19 pandemic closures affect the pier’s businesses for several months.
2019-2020: Revenue: $11,102,427. To state: $578,533 (partial COVID)
2020-2021: Revenue: $8,184,196.38. To state: $136,684.32
2021-2022: Revenue: $13,706,509.02. To state: $743,788.05
2022-2023: Revenue: $13,700,190.24. To state: $729,624.11
Aug. 2, 2021: State Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) writers a sternly worded letter to Department of Parks and Recreation Director Armando Quintero, questioning whether Malibu Pier Partners should be given a three-year extension on the concession contract on the contractual grounds that “whenever the concession has been severely and adversely impacted through no fault of the concessionaire by an unanticipated calamity, park closure, major construction, or other harmful event or action, including, but not limited to, drought, restricted access, and fires.” The justification provided in the May 4, 2021, letter for extending the contract term related to financial hardship associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic falls under this condition.
Stern also called into question the business practices of Malibu Pier Partners: “First, it is not clear that contracting with this concessionaire is in the best interests of the state. Since 2005, under this concessionaire, Malibu Pier has seensignificant turnover in the businesses operating on the pier, with multiple vacancies on and off for significant periods of time.
“Further, my office has received multiple complaints and concerns both from the City of Malibu and sub-concessionaires operating on the pier regarding the concessionaire’s operation and management of the pier and the adjoining parking lot. This has included allegations of general mismanagement and neglect, including a failure to respond to and address issues when they arise, like leaking roofs, water damage, wood rot, termite infestations, and waste water backups resulting in sewage spills.”
Dec. 23, 2024: An abnormally strong, consistent winter swell creates a historic day of big-wave surfing at Mavericks. The same swell sweeps down to Santa Cruz and collapses 180 feet of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf. The Dolphin restaurant and a bathroom go into the briney, along with two construction workers and a lot of equipment.
This inspires evil images of the end of the Malibu Pier going into the water with dozens of shoppers, fishermen, kids, diners = no bueno.
Jan. 7, 2025: The strong winds that powered the Palisades Fire also caused structural damage at the Malibu Pier. Local officials saw the collapse of the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf on Dec. 23, so erred on the side of caution.
March 10, 2025: The end of the Malibu Pier was temporarily closed for structural assessment. This closure includes the Malibu Farm Pier Café and the Surfshop/Souvenir Shop located at the end of the pier.
Dec. 31, 2025: The 20-year concession agreement between the State of California and Malibu Pier Partners ends this year. A Request for Proposals for a new concessionaire will be announced in the next six months.