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Two tall towers toppled, too troubling
by Robb Fulcher
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A drawing by architect Ron Yeo shows a new look proposed for the lifeguard building on the south side of the Hermosa Beach Pier. The drawing shows the building’s eastern face. |
The notion of twin 25-foot towers flanking the entrance to the Hermosa Beach Pier was officially toppled, trampled and buried Monday after residents shook their heads a in collective and vigorous "No."
"The community said ‘No, we don’t like the towers, so we say ‘No, we don’t like the towers,’" said Councilwoman Julie Oakes before joining her colleagues in a unanimous tower-killing vote on Monday.
The council had previously placed mock-up versions made of scaffolding covered with green netting at the pier and asked for public feedback.
"The fabric of our community is exemplified in our open spaces," Oakes told about 15 residents who attended a special Monday workshop meeting. "It doesn’t have to be opulent, it doesn’t have to be bizarre, it has to reflect our community."
With the towers out of the way, the city council moved along with a larger project to redesign the open area at the base of the pier, between the Pier Plaza promenade and the pier itself.
Plans call for amphitheater-like cement steps to the north of the pier, providing seating about four feet high that would look in toward the plaza and out toward the ocean. The lifeguard station would be refurbished, and the unsavory public bathroom building to the south of the pier would be replaced.
The council on Monday ditched a plan for raised planters that would also serve as benches in the open area at the base of the pier. On the other hand the council added benches to an observation deck planned atop a low garage roof on the lifeguard headquarters building just south of the pier.
The council also opted to incorporate the dark pavement on the Plaza promenade into whatever designs are eventually used at the base of the pier.
The council will ask architects to propose design elements for the pavement itself in the open area and on the observation deck. Possibilities include a previously proposed nautilus shell-and-wave pattern, a compass rose nautical design, a starburst design or a sundial similar to the one gracing the entrance to the nearby Beach House Inn.
Plaques may be included to honor famed local surfers, vintage jazz musicians and volleyball players.
The council voted 3-2 to replace stairs to the pier with a slight incline, a long 4 percent slope that would rise almost imperceptibly to the pier.
The council also voted to place new beach showers at the edge of the sand rather than further east along the cement, at the suggestion of Councilwoman Kathy Dunbabin.
The work will be funded by a $1 million donation to the city by longtime resident David T. Schumacher, supplemented by Los Angeles County Proposition A funds. ER