> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Boathouse bobbing in turbulent waters - URL: https://www.smdp.com/boathouse-bobbing-in-turbulent-waters/ - Published: 2002-03-27T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:10:46.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Business, Pier, #archive-import *Boathouse served with notice to vacate by Sunday* It’s official: Santa Monica has torpedoed its own Boathouse. The Boathouse restaurant, a mainstay on the Santa Monica Pier for the past 50 years, was ordered shut down by authorities Tuesday. After years battling the city and the Pier Restoration Corporation to keep her business, owner Naia Sheffield lost her fight last week when Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Diana Wheatley ruled that the Boathouse owes the city $25,000 in back rent, plus attorney fees. A court-ordered notice to vacate the premises was issued by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, mandating that Sheffield close her family’s long-time business by Sunday. Wheatley ruled that the restaurant must leave because its lease was terminated by the PRC. The city commission took the action to make way for the movie-themed restaurant Bubba Gump, part of a chain. Shefffield and her attorney, Kelly Bixby, argued that the PRC offered the Boathouse a long-term lease more than three years ago but ended up only offering a month-to-month lease. The city gave the Boathouse until last fall to vacate the premises. But Sheffield didn’t budge, which prompted the city to file a lawsuit seeking to oust her business. It’s widely known that behind-the-scenes political maneuvering has been occurring on the PRC for years, particularly when it comes to the Boathouse — which many officials believe is an eyesore on the pier. They also cite the restaurant’s problematic clientele over the years as a reason not to renew its lease. Many PRC members also wanted a more family-oriented or fine dining establishment to replace the Boathouse. When the Boathouse made its proposal to remain at its location, it was the last one chosen out of several bids by the PRC, said Ken Genser, a city councilman and the PRC liaison. A controversial series of non-decisions by which the city refused to honor its own mandate to change the membership of the PRC may loom behind the apparent demise of the Boathouse. Sheffield filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming breach of contract, violation of her right to due process and unlawful takings. She also alleged that the PRC violated the state’s open meetings law and that the city intentionally misrepresented the lease agreement. A federal judge dismissed the suit earlier this month. Bixby said he’s turning to the Santa Monica City Council for help in keeping the Boathouse afloat. He told the Daily Press Tuesday that he filed a resolution with City Attorney Marsha Moutrie Monday that would seek to resolve the matter. However, he wouldn’t go into specifics about what the resolution seeks and whether Sheffield will appeal the court’s decision. “This is an opportunity with the city council to resolve the issue,” Bixby said. “We are just attempting to get harmony. “They want to throw us out but my client is not willing to walk away from this,” he continued. Moutrie was unavailable for comment. It is unclear whether the city council can even intervene in the Boathouse’s plight. Boathouse representatives say the restaurant attempted to pay the city its monthly rent, but the city sent the checks back — a claim city officials say is true. The Santa Monica City Council voted this past summer to enter into a contract with Bubba Gump after the PRC considered several bids — including the Boathouse — to occupy the 4,500-square-foot building located on the beach. The chain is expected to open its restaurant here next spring after it renovates the building. The PRC’s leasing guidelines, passed last year, prefer locally-owned businesses on the pier. The guidelines even say chain restaurants are not wanted. “The combined scope of commercial development and casual recreation ambiance are important factors in defining the unique character of Santa Monica Pier,” the guidelines state. “Leasing and licensing of city-owned buildings and pier deck area will be subject to a preference for local independent, non-formula businesses and activities that are financially and operationally capable of providing the preferred uses. A formula business is that which requires by contractual or other arrangement the maintenance of standardized services, decor, uniforms, facility design and format substantially identical to another operation.” Bubba Gump has opened several successful restaurants throughout the country, including one on San Franscico’s Pier 39. Genser said the guidelines are not set in stone. “It’s a preference, not an absolute,” he said. But some officials wonder why a local preference statement is even part of the PRC’s guidelines if it is going to be ignored. “With all of our discussion about promoting local community-owned and serving businesses on the Promenade and other business districts, the PRC’s decision to go with this overly-commercial chain restaurant makes the city seem like a bunch of hypocrites and I’m sickened and embarrassed by it,” said Santa Monica Mayor Mike Feinstein. > “The PRC’s decision to go with this overly-commercial chain restaurant makes the city seem like a bunch of hypocrites and I’m sickened and embarrassed by it.” — — MIKE FEINSTEIN Santa Monica Mayor He added that the PRC’s meetings go widely unnoticed by the public so much of the lease negotiating and selection process of the new tenant went without community debate. “This was a decision made largely out of the light of public inspection and is a decision I believe that is out of step with an overwhelmingly large part of the community,” Feinstein said. Until last year, the majority of the PRC’s 11-member board had been serving since the mid 1980s. The city council approved a plan in 2000 that would rotate out members who have served the longest and be replaced with new people. However, some city council members delayed the new appointments last summer, saying that unfinished business needed to be cleared before the old members were removed, Feinstein said. “The old members were kept on long enough to put it through,” he added. During the time of the delays, the PRC signed a lease with Bubba Gump with little public input. “A very significant public policy was rushed in order to get Bubba Gump in there,” Feinstein said. “This direction had nothing to do with this community’s political reality today.” PULLQUOTE: “The PRC’s decision to go with this overly-commercial chain restaurant makes the city seem like a bunch of hypocrites and I’m sickened and embarrassed by it.” Santa Monica Mayor Mike Feinstein *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 27, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/032702.pdf?ref=smdp.com)