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# Boathouse razed to make way for Bubba Gump
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/boathouse-razed-to-make-way-for-bubba-gump/
- Published: 2004-11-09T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T05:26:52.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*Shell game nears end, as Gump work begins*

*By KATHLEEN BISHOP Special to the Daily Press*

The venerable Boathouse has finally sunk.

Demolition of the 50-year-old former restaurant was completed last week, making way for a new Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant after years of legal wrangling and planning setbacks.

According to architect Howard Laks, construction on the new 9,000-square-foot, $4 million space will begin immediately, and Bubba Gump should be ready to open its doors to patrons in mid-July.

Work on the site was slated to begin earlier this year, but City Hall delays and minor changes pushed it back.

“They’ve got their building permits, so they have gone through all of our processes,” said Liz Bar-El, the city planner overseeing the project. Final approval had to be made by the Coastal Commission, which always has the last word before any project gets its permit, according to Elana Buegoff, who handles leases on the pier for City Hall.

While the necessary corrections have been made and obstacles overcome, Buegoff admitted the project has taken considerably longer than city officials had hoped. The Bubba Gump project has been delayed for years, partly because of a lawsuit brought against City Hall by the Boathouse’s former owner, and partly because of planning concerns by city officials.

Naia Sheffield, whose family had owned the Boathouse for 50 years, sued the city of Santa Monica in 2001 after officials didn’t renew her month-to-month lease. City officials feared the restaurant’s new motorcycle theme would attract an undesirable clientele, so they began shopping for new leasees.

Sheffield brought a $50 million suit against the city and the Pier Restoration Corp. for breach of contract in attempts to keep the restaurant once owned by her grandfather. After years of legal wrangling, Sheffield’s suit was tossed out of court and the U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the city.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. will pay $10,417 in base rent per month — almost twice what Boathouse paid — plus $1,889 annually for common maintenance and 2.5 percent of the restaurant’s food, beverage and retail gross sales.

The pier location will mark the 14th in the restaurant chain, which is a spin-off of the 1994 film “Forrest Gump.”

Despite the struggles to get the restaurant up and running, Bar-El still has confidence it will have been worth the effort.

“They (Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.) think it’s worth it, too, or they wouldn’t have stuck with the process and done it,” she said. “One thing that’s been consistent is that planning and economic development and all of us have been very excited and supportive of this project.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/110904-02_01.jpg)

Fifty years of history has been reduced to rubble at the Santa Monica Pier. (Photo: Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 9, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/110904.pdf?ref=smdp.com)