Struggling icon

Despite its million-dollar view and location on busy Pacific Coast Highway, the Malibu Pier has suffered hard times in recent years. That could change with a recently announced deal for two new restaurants at the site, a state historic point of interest that opened to the public in 1934. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Sept. 15, 2014 10:23 PM PT

MALIBUPIER Despite being one of the great coastal icons of California, the Malibu Pier has struggled to get the respect its colorful past would suggest it deserves. Groves. 28 inches w/photos. 5:30 p.m. (short)It has been lashed by winter storms that destroyed pilings, forcing costly repairs. It has endured construction delays caused by financially overextended contractors. It has spawned legal or verbal tiffs between contractors, between the state and its concessionaire and between concession partners. And for the last dozen years it has stood forlornly at the southern end of Malibu Lagoon State Beach as the California Department of Parks and Recreation prodded the piers concessionaire to install the eateries and other amenities needed to revive the popular venue and get revenues flowing once again. But things may be looking up..

Jefferson Wagner will handle rentals of kayaks and boogie boards as part of new concession plans at the Malibu Pier. But Wagner, owner of nearby Zuma Jay Surfboards, attributes delays in developing the pier to his partner in the concession. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

Anglers try their luck at the Malibu Pier, where the concessionaire and the state Department of Parks and Recreation hope that new amenities will resurrect the once-vibrant venue. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)

The pier was commissioned in the early 1900s by a businessman and his wife as a shipping wharf for hides and grains from their vast Malibu rancho. Since then it has served as a movie location, a World War II lookout post and the site for sport fishing and other recreation. (Brian Vander Brug / LAT)