Keith Bohr remembers eating lunch on the red stools inside the quaint sandwich shop Neptune’s Locker on the Huntington Beach Pier back in the ’80s, mesmerized by the surfers riding waves in the distance, he said.
Some 40 years later, Bohr and business partner Jeff Bergsma hope to bring a bit of nostalgia back to Surf City’s seascape, with a new pier eatery, Huntington’s on the Pier, near the same location he spent afternoons decades ago, a spot midway on the popular pier the duo hopes will become not just a place where passing tourists can soak in the sights, but a locals’ favorite.
City officials this week approved a lease agreement with the partnership for the former Let’s Go Fishing shop space, the final step in their years-long effort to get the go-ahead for the project.
“This is a big step in a long journey,” Bohr said following Tuesday’s City Council vote.
Plans for the project started in 2021 when the city requested bids for the concession space on the pier, previously occupied by the Let’s Go Fishing store for nearly three decades.
Bohr and Bergsma, under the business Surf City Partners, LLC, were selected to convert the space into a restaurant.
A rendition shows what Huntington’s at the Pier will look like, a new eatery that gained approval for a lease from the city on Oct. 1, 2024. (Courtesy of Surf City Partners, LLC)
In 2022, an agreement was put in place to include the restroom building across from the future restaurant, which will be remodeled as part of the deal, as well as creating a bait shack and a hot dog stand.
In May, the project got the green light from the California Coastal Commission, probably the hardest hurdle in the process, Bohr said.
Huntington’s on the Pier will have indoor seating for 50 and for another 25 on the patio, as well as a walk-up window. The building will add 220 square feet.
At the bait shack, there will be fishing poles for rent, with recycle bins put on the pier for fishing lines, a condition of the Coastal Commission approval.
Rent for the year will be $66,000, or $5,500 per month, with a 3% annual increase, and 3% of gross sales over $2 million will go to the city each year, according to the lease agreement approved by the council.
Rent credit of $300,000 – applied over 5 years – will be given for restroom improvements. The lease also waives up to $50,000 in city fees.
The lease with the city is for 19 years, to align with the city’s lease for the pier until 2043 with the state, with three 10-year extension options.
The project hopes to bring 20 to 25 new jobs and make at least $1 million in building improvements, according to the city staff’s report to the council.
Several people wrote into the city ahead of the meeting to show support for the project; one person saying it would draw much-needed attention to the pier, a 13-minute walk for the downtown residents.
“The city needs more locally-owned establishments that are personally invested in our community versus absentee nationally owned chains,” the resident said.
Bohr’s personal pier passion started when he got a job with the city’s downtown redevelopment department in 1987. Coming from the Midwest, the ocean and beach were new sights for the Illinois native.
In his mid-20s at the time, he reminisced about the bologna sandwiches and the smoked fish Neptunes once served.
“I would be amazed watching the surfers,” he said.
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The vibe at Huntington’s on the Pier will be retro, harkening back to the ’50s through the ’80s when Neptunes occupied the space, he said. Part of the dream is to bring back a locally owned business, like when Ella Christianson owned Neptunes from 1951 to 1988, he noted.
“She was part of the allure of going there,” he said.
There will be four cameras under the pier so patrons can watch the surfing action in the water live on the screens. A large wall on the restaurant building will act as a rotating art piece for local artists.
Bohr is a former city councilmember, serving in the mid-2000s, and was among the elective officials who approved in 2009 replacing old temporary trailers on the pier with the permanent buildings.
The next step is for building and architectural designs to get underway, with hopes of opening by next summer, he said.
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