By M.G. Perez / 7SanDiego / December 7-8, 2025
The most recent round of King tides off San Diego’s coast dissipated over the weekend.
While the rising water provided a beautiful show, it also served as a reminder in Ocean Beach of the battered, badly damaged pier that has been closed since October 2023.
“My favorite memories (on the pier) are definitely the cold winter and the hot chocolate I got from the cafe,” said Chelsea Banales. She grew up in San Diego and visited OB frequently with her dad when he went fishing on the pier. As an adult, she brings out-of-town friends to her favorite beach and doesn’t understand why the pier hasn’t reopened.
“I really hope that they don’t just abandon the project because of money and it loses its infrastructure, coming down and then is just completely forgotten about,” Banales said.
The structure officially opened on July 2, 1966, as the San Diego Fishing Pier. The 1,971-foot concrete pier is the longest of its kind on the West Coast.
Decades of storms and the churning ocean made the pier unsafe as pilings sank and pieces of the structure fell off. After closing it for good more than 2 years ago, the City of San Diego planned to replace it rather than repair it.
Architect renderings and a design of the new pier were approved after several public input sessions. The new design is much more expensive than the cost would have been to repair it again. Estimates range from $170 million to $190 million.
State and federal grants are expected to cover the cost. The City has only raised $8.4 million used in the initial design process.
“It’s a beautiful old pier. It’s a sad way for it to end, there’s nothing noble about it at all,” Geoff Page told NBC 7, Sunday. Page has lived in Ocean Beach for 45 years. He is a long-time community activist and a reporter for the OB Rag newspaper. He and another neighbor discovered the pier had been recently vandalized. Cables cut and yards of copper wire removed.
He reported it to the City and said nothing has been done about it. Page also said he plans to file a police report this coming week.
“You’re not (just) building it for Ocean Beach. You’re (re)building it for the people in this county, and all the tourists that come. The pier is dying,” Page said.
NBC 7 reached out to the City of San Diego for comment. A communications representative said there was no one available on the weekend.
According to information on the City’s website, the OB Pier Renewal Project has just begun the permitting and environmental review process.
A pier is great if it is not expensive to build and expensive to maintain. A pier is great if it not really expensive to build and really really expensive to maintain
I agree with Teddy. I visited OB several times as a tourist and found the pier to be overrated. The Beach and the Newport Ave. vibe were more fun. Tear it down and enjoy the expanded view of the beautiful Pacific Ocean sunsets. Hot Chocolate is still available. How is that for resistance. Love OB!
Approved by who? Trump? That minor media mini mogul?
Local TV Station Interviews Rag Writer Geoff Page on the State of the OB Pier… Really? The OB Pier is dying? What next? Our current president is an old, crazy man? The 60+ year old pier has been a wonderful addition to OB, our city, our state, our region, and our country and now it’s time to tear it down and build a better one. This can be done; we just built a beautiful new bridge across the San Diego River/flood control channel for about $150 million… and a new pier is almost as important as that bridge. Granted with our current president finding this money will be tougher, but this project is well worth whatever it takes. Hey: Let’s award the Donald a Piece Prize… a whole piece of the best pizza made in OB… in exchange for $200 mill.
Don’t forget Geoff is our expert on the pier; Geoff was the one along with the Rag that broke the story that the OB Pier was finished. It took years for the city to catch up, part avoidance, part denial. And when local media calls, the Rag will certainly respond.