New Railings Planned for Manhattan Beach Pier

May 02, 2023

Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin demonstrates the new pier railing along with city staffers Johnny Sanders and George Jaimes.

The replacement railing will be aluminum rather than steel. It will maintain the current sea foam green color, will be ADA compliant with five rails, and will be created in sections, allowing repairs of individual segments.

The new railing is expected to last around 25 to 30years. The new aluminum materials used will not corrode like the currentgalvanized railings.

The renovation project, which is expected to begin in the fall, will include the railing along the pier aswell as a segment of an existing bicycle trail and lowerparking lot that perpendicularly bisect the pier entrance.

The Manhattan Beach Pier, built in 1920, is approximately 928 feet long and stretches fromthe end of Manhattan Beach Boulevard over the Pacific Ocean. In 1995, it was listed as a state historical landmarkas the oldest concrete pier on the West Coast. The pier handrails areconsidered a contributing feature of its historical association.

Between 1956 and 1960, the pier's two-rail steel pipe railing was replaced with a four-rail steel pipe system. The current four-rail system was installed between 1986 and 1992.

When considering a replacement, the city had looked at three alternatives: 1) the current five-rail railing; 2) a four-rail railing with thicker rails; or 3) a "modern" railing with five thin rails and a wood handrail on top.

The State of California Department of Parks and Recreation favoredHandrail Option 1 because it most closely resembles the current historichandrails.