Dolphin Restaurant Destroyed, Storm Damaged Santa Cruz Pier Repairs Underway – East Bay Times

SANTA CRUZ – The Dolphin Restaurant, which has called the Santa Cruz Wharf home for more than 50 years, was demolished bit by bit Wednesday to make way for needed repairs to the deteriorating south end of the more than 100-year-old wooden structure.

“The reason the Dolphin is being demolished is because there were numerous piers under the restaurant damaged or missing during stormsSanta Cruz Development Director Norm Daly said at the demolition site. “It’s impossible to replace those piles without the building being removed.”

RELATED: Capitola Wharf ‘Grand Reopening’ Celebrates Reconstruction After 2023 Catastrophic Storm

Daly explained that the city-owned building Dolphin called home was built in the 1960s and was “functionally obsolete.”

“It was about time something happened there,” Daly said. “This was a great opportunity to remove that building and then fix the piles underneath.”

Massive waves attacked the coast in December 2023, prompting the City of Santa Cruz to briefly close the entire Santa Cruz Wharf and several beaches. Although the pier reopened later that day, the viewing holes and Dolphin restaurant at the end of the pier were closed until further notice and remain closed due to damage.

With the building removed, completion of repairs is now on the horizon and is tentatively scheduled for March 2025. After the building is razed and the site cleared, construction crews can begin replacing approximately 60 piers.

“The number we found missing or damaged was slightly higher (than 60),” Daly said. “But those piles were adjacent to the noise piles and it was determined that they did not need to be replaced and the structural integrity of the pier would still be complete.”

Daly escorted the Sentinel with other members of the media behind the fence at the end of the pier on Wednesday to watch the demolition in action, and pointed out the damaged and tilted areas on the east and west sides of the pier.

“This damaged spot is similar to the other side,” Daly said, pointing to the east side of the pier. “This is a temporary fix to strengthen this section of the jetty. Once the piles are gone, there is no support under the floor, so this metal I-beam spans that distance where the piles are missing. And the iron rods that rise from underneath actually raise a bend, which is a major part of the frame. We take the bent part and stop it from falling any further.”

Daly explained that the pier, which celebrates its 110th birthday in December, has about 4,400 stays and 180 bends that keep it above the water. Each bend is numbered, he pointed out, with the first bend near the structure’s entrance and the last bend (183) at the end. He noted that wharf workers use assigned bend numbers to communicate the locations of problems on and below the structure.

The contractor responsible for driving the new piles into the seabed is Power Engineering Construction. Grace Bowman, the company’s project engineer, explained how construction crews will drive the approximately 60- to 70-foot-long wooden columns into the seabed.

“We’re going to bring a crane in here and position it so it doesn’t fall through the pier,” Bowman said. “There is a set of cables and a hammer. Lift the stack (with the crane), stab it through the hole in the deck where it will go. You put the hammer down and it’s a diesel driven impact hammer and it slams it into the ground.

Pier Supervisor Britt Hoberg and Santa Cruz Pier Recreation Coordinator Annalize Bryant took the Sentinel and other members of the media below the pier on a small craft Wednesday to assess the damage. Bryant explained that she was working at the pier last winter when storms destroyed and damaged numerous piers.

“I was near the edge where the damage happened and I was talking about the plan to close the end of the pier when I heard this loud pop,” Bryant said. “Nothing went down, but it was a sound I never want to hear again.”

“There are a lot of sounds here,” Hoberg added. “But you know when one is really bad.”

When construction ends next spring, the Dolphin may not return, but community members can rest assured that the beloved sea lion viewing holes will remain in place. Determining what will populate the south end of the structure after construction is complete will be determined through a series of community outreach meetings over the next six to nine months, according to Economic Development Asset Manager David McCormic, who serves as also as a project leader. Pier Master Plan.

“On top of all of that, in January, the Santa Cruz City Council approved the revised Pier Master Plan, which outlines the future of the pier,” McCormic said. “There was a concept for a landmark building in the plan and that was scrapped in favor of a public process to determine what happens here next.”