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# Boathouse a symbol of Santa Monica
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/boathouse-a-symbol-of-santa-monica/
- Published: 2002-04-15T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:14:23.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Pier, #archive-import

*By Cindy Pfeifer*

Editor: Having worked on the pier for eight years and having had some personal experience regarding some of the issues raise by Michael Klein’s letter regarding the Boathouse, (April 4, 2002), I feel compelled to respond.

“Shambles?” Definitely no. In need of some remodeling? Definitely yes. “Leaking Plumbing?” Apparently Mr. Klein is not familiar with the inspection procedures on the pier. Every Monday the city does an under the Pier inspection — one of the items being plumbing. Many of the businesses, along with the Boathouse, have plumbing that is only accessible to the city as access to these areas is locked with the city holding the key.

The incident I believe that is being referred to is when approximately 20 feet of pipe, under the building, collapsed after a moderate earthquake. The city apprised the Boathouse of the situation and within an hour the Boathouse had plumbers there working to repair the damage. The plumbing was for the downstairs bathrooms which had only been used for a few hours since the previous inspection. The city called the health department, who found no reason to close the restaurant, and all clean up was inspected and approved by the appropriate inspectors summoned by the city. The city continues to do their weekly inspections and they have reported no further occurrences.

“Problems with access for the disabled?” Both levels of the Boathouse are wheel-chair accessible. The lower level by a ramp that goes directly into the restaurant and the upper level by a ramp that leads to the pier and provides wheelchair access to all the pier businesses but one. The only business on the pier not wheelchair accessible is the Pier Restoration Corporation itself!

“Political maneuvering?” I have only attended one leasing meeting and I found it so disheartening I have never attended another one. During this meeting (approximately two years ago), one of the PRC board members was telling how he had been sitting downstairs at the Boathouse with Patty and he had observed what he felt were major hazards and felt that it was imperative that the leasing committee change the capacity of the downstairs of the Boathouse during this meeting. Never mind that he stated this had happened at least a year prior, never mind that he had apparently said nothing about this at the time nor asked for any official inspections, never mind that he had made no attempt to see if there had been any inspections done since or any changes. Never mind all of that because he was just sure that this was a dangerous situation that needed to be dealt with now, at least a year later, by decreasing the capacity. I am not sure what shocked me more, the fact that he would find this an appropriate timeline, if he truly felt there was a dangerous situation, or the fact that not one person at that meeting called him on it. Since this meeting I have spoken with a third party, who was present during the conversation with Patty, who has a totally different take on the conversation that was purported to having taken place.

Mr. Klein emphasizes the need for a successful restaurant in the Boathouse site. Let’s see, the Boathouse has been there for 50 years, always paid their rent, paid taxes, participated in community events, continued over the years to upgrade and expand the building (until the city put them on a month to month lease), provides long term employment in what is generally a high turnover field, provides regular family events — maybe I need a new dictionary because according to mine, there is already a successful restaurant at 301 Santa Monica Pier.

Santa Monica (Editor’s note: Cindy Pfeifer is the manager of the Boathouse.) Operation something

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 15, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041502.pdf?ref=smdp.com)