> ## 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 owner won’t go down without a fight - URL: https://www.smdp.com/boathouse-owner-wont-go-down-without-a-fight/ - Published: 2002-04-12T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:14:15.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Opinion, Pier, #archive-import *By Naia Sheffield* We, at the Boathouse, have read Mr. Michael Klein’s editorial opinion letter published April 4, 2002, in the Santa Monica Daily Press. On behalf of my family, Boathouse employees, and patrons, I want the people in Santa Monica to know that they can bet that I am going to fight for the integrity of my family and the contributions my family have made to Santa Monica and, to a lesser extent, the greater Los Angeles community, for the last 50 years. My grandfather, Ben DeSimone, built the Boathouse almost five decades ago. Ben, his daughter and my mother Patricia DeSimone, and I have continued the restaurant during the good times and the bad times experienced on the pier. Since my grandfather passed in 1989, I am happy he was spared seeing the disregard by the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation and the Santa Monica City Council of Santa Monica’s culture, historical beginnings, and the true meaning of doing and attracting business on the Santa Monica Pier. Many people have contacted us in bewilderment that the Boathouse may not continue in business. In 1993, my mother went before the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation’s so-called leasing committee and received approval to negotiate the termination of our 20 year lease earlier so that we could obtain a lease for many more years. Mr. John Gilchrist, the then executive director of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation, promised us that all terms of the lease were acceptable to him. We discovered later, after Mr. Gilchrist retired, that his promises were not being honored or respected by the representatives of the City of Santa Monica through the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation and/or its identical twin sister, the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation Leasing Committee. When we were promised a new lease, it was the beginning of a process whereby we were prepared to invest millions of dollars in this old restaurant. We also agreed to provide the utmost in disability access to our restaurant as we have for years. After we were promised a lease by Mr. Gilchrist, we attempted to temporarily “shore-up” the restaurant by investing some $300,000\. The Boathouse, for certain, is showing its age. Nonetheless, we have kept on paying our rent, storm or no storm damage. The Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation has pointed its finger at us for being old. Interestingly, the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation has been composed of corporate board members which have participated as corporate board members since its inception, nearly 20 years ago. The negative buzzwords by city officials about the Boathouse being a motorcycle themed restaurant abound. The first and historic Route 66 was a transnational automobile route from coast to coast. Legend has it that the west side termination point was the Santa Monica Pier. The emphases on motorcycle images were a very convenient way for the Santa Monica City Council and the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation to conjure up, denounce and degrade our years of service so as to purposefully mislead others to replace us by incorrectly “tagging” us with a motorcycle moniker, through its undefined and deceitful lease program. To further nurture the economic and cultural well-being of the Santa Monica Pier visitors and the Santa Monica Pier tenants, we have heard that the Santa Monica City Council and the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation consider that Bubba Gump Shrimp is a chain restaurant, but only a “small chain.” This is blatant violation of the guidelines. Gee whiz, should a multiple chain restaurant financed by Paramount Studios, the financial partner of Bubba Gump, and an investment banker from Pennsylvania, fall within the established public pier guidelines published by the City of Santa Monica and relied upon us for so many years be considered as a local business enterprise? How about a mom-and-pop restaurant existing for more than four decades? Since the incorporation in 1983 of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation, there have been many business failures on the Santa Monica Pier which have cost the City of Santa Monica dearly in terms of good faith and hope. If it were not for a continuous flow of monies “gifted” by the City of Santa Monica through the Santa Monica City Council, the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation more than likely would fail to exist if it were treated as a normal business enterprise. This is not what the City of Santa Monica had in mind when it founded Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation. We continue to enjoy an “A” rating from the Department of Health and have enjoyed numerous awards and patron endorsements for our affordable seafood. We are happy to continue our unique service to those folks without socks in their shoes. The old Boathouse has the character in what has made the City of Santa Monica a special place for many years. Unfortunately, a landmark family business that is proud of old business and is only one of a few other beach cities on the California coast that now exist, enjoy the cultural ambiance of the Boathouse, which the City of Santa Monica and its representatives will deprive the people should they get their way. Thanks for your support to continue the memories. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 12, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041202.pdf?ref=smdp.com)