REDONDO BEACH : Etched Images on Pier Delight Visitors

Visitors to the Redondo Beach Pier walk among seaweed, jellyfish, dolphins, whales and even scuba divers--life-size images of ocean life that have been etched into the surface of the rebuilt pier.

Children visiting the pier hop from one image to another, shouting aloud the names of animals they recognize.

Adults are also fascinated by the etchings.

“I like the theme. It goes along with the community, and it ties in with the family,” visitor Helen Takis of Torrance said.

The pier was rebuilt after a fire and two storms destroyed part of the horseshoe-shaped structure in 1988. It reopened to visitors Feb. 11.

Pier architect Edward Beall says the idea for the sandblasted images was a combination of the best suggestions the city has received for art on the pier.

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Beall designed the collection of images, which span 96,000 square feet, to portray daily life in the sea. More than 1,800 etchings run the length of the pier, blending the newly rebuilt part of the pier with what remains of the original.

“I think it’s great fun for a youngster or an adult to walk across these things. None of us really get that close to these animals, [but] you understand when you leave the pier just how big these animals are,” Beall said.

Through the combined efforts of Progressive Concrete, a San Diego-based company, and Steel Grip Coating of Los Angeles, each image was sandblasted into the surface of the pier, individually stained and sealed with a weatherproof coating.

The 40-foot whales, 10-foot hammerhead sharks and four- to nine-foot sea lions are full-scale enlargements of drawings done by Beall, based on research at the Cabrillo Beach Museum and the Monterey Aquarium.

“The fish and mammals are in swimming position as if they are just swimming under the pier,” Beall said.

The etchings are just part of the city’s master plan for the pier. Awnings shaped like sails have been added. Guardrails designed to look like the rails from 1930 ships surround the pier. Other additions to the nautical theme are still to come.

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But funds are running low with more than $10 million already spent on the reconstruction of the pier and an additional $265,000 for the etchings.

To raise funds for additional artwork and statues for the pier, the Redondo Beach Pier Assn. plans to add a starfish walk of fame, a takeoff of the stars that line the sidewalks of Hollywood.

Bronze starfish will be added to the pier, each bearing the names of up to 10 donors.

Money raised will be used to purchase a nine-foot statue of the head of a whale that will appear as if it is breaching the surface of the pier, along with fountains, rocks, seals and flying pelicans that will be placed on poles to demonstrate the six-foot wingspan of the birds.