Tony’s on the Pier, the beloved local landmark and restaurant whose lease with the city expires next year, has entered negotiations for a possible extension.
Redondo Beach City Manager Bill Workman has had several meetings with Tony Trutanich Jr. and Michael Trutanich, sons of late great “Pier godfather” Tony Trutanich, a former fisherman and decorated WWII veteran who established the restaurant in 1953.
The restaurant, the oldest in the city and one of the most popular in the region, has attracted significant public support since the Trutanich family went public two months ago with its desire for a lease extension. Two “Save Tony’s” Facebook pages with more than 1,000 followers combined have formed, and a few dozen supporters appeared at a City Council meeting last month.
Workman said that the city is working with the Trutanich family in hopes of finding an agreement. He said rumors of the business’ demise have been greatly exaggerated on the Facebook sites.
“We are continuing to have a dialogue with regard to the pier and the types of things we see coming up next, including this summer’s Request for Proposals to get additional interest in the pier and harbor area,” Workman said. “It’s unfortunate there is a small group on Facebook that continues to mischaracterize the situation. Everything in my discussions indicates that Tony and the Trutanich family are not – and the city is not – closing Tony’s.”
Workman said the city intends to issue an RFP this summer that will offer a master leasehold that includes the Horseshoe Pier area as well as “a larger combination of properties” nearby. The city is following the recommendations of the so-called Kosmot report, an asset management plan commissioned by the City Council that advised the city to combine leases into a larger master leasehold in order to attract a larger investor. Part of that recommendation was not to extend the many smaller leases. As a result, Tony’s and several other longtime businesses are either already on month-to-month leases or soon will be.
Tony Trutanich Jr. said that he and his brother Michael are “working harmoniously with the city” to reach an agreement.
“We are working hard to try to come up with a good resolution,” Trutanich said. “I do understand the city’s point of view, having all the leases at zero, because it gives developers more options. I understand they have a good business plan. I just hope they fight for us when it comes to sitting down with a developer and help explain what an institution we are to the city.”
Last week, Trutanich posted an impassioned note on the “Save Tony’s on the Pier” Facebook page in which he said that every day he hopes for a phone call from the city agreeing to a lease extension.
“I personally feel as though Old Tony’s and the City of Redondo Beach are a part of the same family, that we share the same blood, we are connected, bonded,” Trutanich wrote. “That’s why it hurts to feel abandoned by the City and unprotected by them. I feel like the City Council is so excited to start a relationship with a development company they have never met before, that they have completely lost sight of the relationships that have helped them be able to sell the Pier in the first place.”
Councilman Steve Aspel said the city would not abandon Tony’s. But he also said that in order for the restaurant to obtain a long-term lease, the Trutaniches would have to commit to major capital reinvestment.
“We made it pretty clear that anyone who comes in there as a master leaseholder, they have to negotiate with Tony’s first,” Aspel said. “That is going to be one of the deal points. It’s not like anybody is anywhere close to saying let’s kick out Old Tony’s….Now, in a perfect world, we’d extend their lease, but in my mind the only way we are giving Tony’s a long-term lease is if they commit to upgrades. We want Tony’s to stay the way it is but we also want to make it better.”
Aspel said many of the people protesting the Tony’s leasehold situation hadn’t been at the restaurant in decades.
“I always ask, ‘When was the last time you were there?’” the councilman said. “A lot of the people who love Tony’s haven’t been there in 20 years. They love it for nostalgia. We want to make it a moving operation, not just a place people say they had their first date in 1985.”
It doesn’t appear the city is in negotiations with any of the other businesses on the Horse Shoe Pier, such as Starboard Attitude or Shark Attack.
Workman emphasized that the city’s larger goal of spurring revitalization in the harbor area is gaining traction.
“The bigger picture is revitalization to the pier and harbor area,” he said. “And we are talking to leaseholders about whether or not they want to participate in the RFP, but there are plans for the future. While I can’t divulge the specifics of whom we are talking to and the final components of the RFP, we’ve got very good reception with regards to Redondo Beach and who we are as a city. It’s a good place to be.”
Trutanich, in his Facebook post, expressed some frustration that Tony’s wasn’t already written into future plans given its history on the pier.
“I find it amazing that Old Tony’s helped put the Redondo Beach Pier on the map, and here we are 60 years later begging for a new lease,” he wrote. “Basically when a new developer purchases the master lease on the Horse Shoe Pier, he or she might decide that Old Tony’s doesn’t fit into the overall future theme of the redevelopment plan, close us down and bulldoze the building the next morning.”
“[I] just wish the City would realize that a development company that would want to tear down Old Tony’s is probably not the best development company to be owning the master lease.” ER
