COMMUNITY PROFILES Keeping up the soul
By JESSICA ROBERTS Special to the Daily Press
SM PIER — The pier is Santa Monica’s most recognizable landmark, drawing 3.5 to 4 million visitors each year and putting a face on the city for visitors, locals and Hollywood alike.
But who takes care of a piece of wood that important?
Ben Franz-Knight is the executive director of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation, a nonprofit created to promote and manage the venerable Santa Monica draw. Franz-Knight is charged with keeping the “delicate balance” between improving the pier’s commercial success and overloading its limited space.
He has a great appreciation for the history of the pier and wants to keep the soul of Santa Monica alive and well.
Franz-Knight sat down with the Daily Press last week to talk about the pier, its place in the city and getting peppy.
What is going on at the pier over the holidays? “Our focus for this holiday season, it’s been two years since we had a Rose Bowl pep rally — one of the teams down here on the pier — so we’ve been very aggressively pursuing that. I think it’s really important. We’ve lost out to Universal CityWalk. You can go to the beach and the pier for your pep rally and then go to Universal CityWalk.
“It’s a pretty complex process and so we track it every week. I think we’ve contacted over half of the top-25 teams and their schools in the country and let them know about the pier and we’d like to have them down here and have a pep rally.”
How did you come to Santa Monica? “I followed my heart here. I met my wife up in Seattle when she was a graduate student at the University of Washington. I was working up there, and shortly after we met, she let me know that she was moving to LA and wanted to know if I would come with her. Of course, I said,‘sure, why not?’ Didn’t have anything to lose, so we moved down here and then started working here at the pier as a temp in the administrative assistant position [in 1999-2000].”
What did you think of your job at the pier? “It was a pretty amazing place to work. I remember the first day I came in, I walked down the hall here in the carousel and one of the other folks that works up here had a surfboard in their office, and I said,‘Why do you have a surfboard in your office?’‘Oh well, sometimes we go out surfing at lunch.’Wow, if that’s not the coolest thing! I grew up in the wheat fields in eastern Washington and always dreamt about surfing. This is a place I really want to work. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure I get this job.And just fell in love with the pier and got to know all the people and the issues.”
Did you learn to surf after that? “I did indeed learn to surf, initially on my lunch hour. I have two young kids now, so I don’t get to surf nearly as much as I’d like to.”
How did you come to be executive director? “My wife had an opportunity to be a professor up at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and I went back to graduate school to get my Master’s degree in psychology. So we moved up there, and it’s a beautiful place to live. While I was up there, I got a call that Pier Restorations was looking for an acting executive director. I’d always said that this was a job I always felt I really could do. So I sent down a proposal and my resume to the board and they gave me the acting position. My wife very graciously left her position in Cal Poly for me to pursue that and ended up getting the permanent position.”
Where do you live now? “During that time, we moved to an apartment here in Santa Monica, and the apartment was just too small with two kids. I really wanted a house for my family, so we found a great neighborhood in Long Beach and moved down there.”
How does Santa Monica compare to Long Beach? “During the course of 2004, we spent a lot of time studying other piers and wharfs in California, and Long Beach Rainbow Harbor was one of the areas we studied. It’s how I discovered Long Beach is not such a bad community.
“But what they have there is all new. And what Santa Monica had in the ’70s was the wisdom to keep the pier. Long Beach went the other direction, they tore down all their old amusements and then spent millions of dollars trying to rebuild it. They have a wonderful venue down there, Rainbow Harbor, but it doesn’t have any soul. Luckily, Santa Monica Pier still has that.”
Do you like the political scene in Santa Monica? “Absolutely. I think one of the most unique things about Santa Monica is that while it has a small, well, relatively small, population — 80,000-85,000 residents — it has the complexities and politics of a major metropolitan city. So you get all of Los Angeles coming into play here, and it’s especially interesting on the pier, because the pier ends up being a focal point of a lot of those issues. In the ’70s there was a “Save the Pier” campaign. They ousted the council that was seated and saved the pier. Out of that grew Santa Monica for Renter’s Rights. So the pier still symbolizes the people’s pier. We get to deal with that, with a lot of those issues and the politics that go with it. I find it incredibly fascinating.”
What about the public’s involvement in the pier? “It’s unprecedented I think to have a community the size of Santa Monica and have such an active resident base in the process. That’s what makes it really rewarding. The public process is alive and well here, and when it doesn’t work, the residents immediately let you know — ‘hey, you need to talk to us about this.’ So I think that makes for a very exciting work environment.”
Can you measure the impact of the pier on Santa Monica?
“It’s a process that we’ve been undertaking for the last year, looking closely at all of the various impacts of the pier. Obviously, the pier is an incredibly valuable resource to the city, but from a commercial standpoint, it’s limited in its square footage and limited in the number of commercial ventures that are out here, but the actual benefit to the city is far greater than that.
“We serve as an international symbol for Southern California, we’re on the Jay Leno show. When there’s the playoffs, they show the pier sign. There’s lots of filming and TV activity out here.
“What would Santa Monica be like without the Santa Monica Pier? It’s kind of hard, you almost can’t separate the two, which is certainly what the residents said when the council wanted to tear the pier down. How could you do that? How could you separate the pier from Santa Monica? I think it’s one of the things that makes Santa Monica so distinct and unique.”
How much time at work do you spend on the pier? “I actually spend a lot of time out on the deck, talking to everyone from maintenance workers to the tenants. I firmly believe that’s the only way you can have a true sense of how things are going is to go out there and interact. I think if you sat in an office and made all your decisions, you wouldn’t be well informed. I also believe in that sense of community, people need to have that direct access. It’s something I’ve maintained since the first day I was here — it’s an open-door policy, anyone from one of the vendors to the street performers to a guest to the largest tenant on the pier, they all have equal access to my office and to me and approach me out on the deck.”
Do you come to the pier outside of work? “I have a 3-year-old [Max] and a 1-year-old [Sofia] and I do bring them down here sort of incognito to come and play at the pier. It’s really quite fun for me actually, because people usually see me in a suit and tie. I put on a baseball cap and jeans and I can walk right up to folks and they have no idea who I am. It also means that on my personal side, I get to experience the pier as a guest, which is really, really cool.”
What do your kids like to do? “I would say, without question, they have three favorite things to do. Obviously, riding the carousel is high on their list. My son loves the coin-operated rides in front of the arcade. I quickly ascertained that it was probably wise for me to not actually put quarters in and he just loved to climb from one to the next to the next, so he really enjoys that. And then the rides in the amusement park, he absolutely loves that.”
Where do you eat at the pier? “I’m a big hot dog fan, so I definitely enjoy the hot dogs. Hot Dog on a Stick is close, so when the hot dog vendor on the pier is not open, I go there. Probably shouldn’t, but that’s probably my biggest weakness as far as the carnival food goes. The hot dog vendor that has the little cart on the corner of the carousel actually makes a really mean little dog.”
Where are your roots? “I grew up in eastern Washington, in a small town — Pullman — which is Washington State University, and I’m still a Cougar at heart. Then I went to the University of Washington and got my BFA in Sculpture. It’s an easy choice. You grow up in Pullman, it’s a town of 6,000 permanent residents, you’re going to go somewhere else to college, but it’s certainly a big issue with a lot of my childhood friends.
“Football, the Cougars for the last four or five years have been a really strong program. They actually went to the Rose Bowl. It was a great treat for me, they actually had a Washington State pep rally on the pier when they came to the Rose Bowl a few years back, which was very cool.”
Do you think the pier will change a lot in the next five to 10 years? “I certainly hope not. One of the biggest challenges in this job, and I think for the pier restoration board, is to preserve the asset that the pier is but balance that with careful planning for the future that doesn’t mess it up. That’s really the key. There’s lots of ways you could increase revenue and create more activity, but a lot of those ways would be damaging to the character and the history of the pier. It’s a really delicate balance.”
What plans are in the works? “Things like brining back the boats and the gangway, that’s an important part of that. It’s a small piece. Is it a huge economic impact just isolated with the gangway? No, but does it enhance the relevance and the history of the pier? Absolutely.
“There’s a big development in the middle of the pier — 370 Santa Monica Pier — that will give us the opportunity to bring in a few other pieces that we’re missing, say a fresh seafood counter, some additional restaurants that are of a distinct palate, some kind of food service that’s not offered on the pier, a mix of retail, whether it be something that’s specific to California culture — we don’t have a surf and skate shop on the pier — it might be a great place for that.
“Another small piece would be, in the carousel, we’re looking at adding a classic soda fountain in one corner of the carousel, which I think would just be tremendous. It’s a small thing, but these are the little surprises that when you come down complete the experience for a visitor. So those are the sort of very careful steps we’re taking towards the future.”
Are you concerned about the environmental impact of the pier?
“It’s been a huge concern, we have Heal the Bay here with the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. I was at the task force on the environment last night talking about the boat access and the gangway and really getting their expertise to ensure that as we move forward the projects meet the sustainable goals of the city and environmental stewardship. The health of the bay is really critical.”
Any special holiday attractions? “We have some decorations. You know, the pier really serves for the most part as a release for those who are in the frenzy of shopping, and we really like to be able provide that. I’s a very popular destination during the holidays, and I think, really for that reason. I think it’s valuable.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 27, 2006. Read the original PDF.