The end of Malibu Pier has been closed since January 2025. The repair crew finally has a contract and a date. California State Parks awarded a $2.125 million emergency contract to Cushman Contracting Corporation, scheduled work to begin in mid-October, and expects to finish by the end of January 2027.
Finishing the repairs won't reopen the end of the pier. After the work is done, State Parks plans to inspect conditions before it decides anything. The businesses that used to fill that stretch also depend on a concession agreement that the state is about to put out for bid again. The January date speaks only to the structure.
What the pier offers this winter
Most of the pier is still open, and the businesses at its base are working around the closure. The current picture, drawn from the State Parks closure FAQ and the pier's own site at malibupier.com:
Spot | Status this winter |
|---|---|
Pier walkway | Open up to the closure point, sunrise to sunset daily |
Malibu Farm Restaurant, landside | Open; brunch 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, dinner from 3 p.m. |
Malibu Farm Pier Café, end of pier | Closed |
Surfshop/Souvenir Shop, end of pier | Closed |
Ranch at the Pier | Temporarily operating inside the Malibu Cabana |
Fishing | Allowed in designated open areas only |
Boat tours | Suspended |
Beach rentals | Available before you walk onto the pier |
If you fish, Ranch at the Pier still carries bait, tackle and rental rods from its temporary spot in the Malibu Cabana, which also stocks umbrellas, beach chairs, towels and surfboards. The State Parks pier page still puts Ranch at the ocean end. That's out of date for now, so head to the Cabana.
What $2.125 million buys
The contract covers structural work only. Cushman's crew will repair or replace deteriorated and missing pilings and put in new bracing, all paid for by Proposition 4, the 2024 Climate Bond. A specialized ocean engineering consultant identified those pilings in a structural assessment completed in June 2026, after above-water and underwater inspections confirmed the end of the pier needed significant repairs.
The schedule tightened because of the weather forecast. The Santa Monica Daily Press reported that Gov. Gavin Newsom's September 21 emergency proclamation, issued ahead of what is projected to be a historic El Niño season, cut the red tape on contracting and permitting. State Parks is working with the State Fire Marshal, the California Coastal Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the State Lands Commission and the State Water Resources Control Board to speed up reviews.
That puts the work in the ocean during the months when big swells are most likely. Storms have damaged this pier before, and winter is when the pilings take the most punishment.
The line in the FAQ that matters most
State Parks answers the reopening question directly on its closure page:
"Following completion of this work, California State Parks will evaluate conditions and determine next steps. Due to the complexity of the repairs needed, a tentative timeline for reopening the pier has not been determined at this time."
The same page says inspections found the end of the pier "will need to remain closed until full repairs are completed." So the end of January is the earliest the state could start that evaluation. A swell that interrupts the work in December pushes the evaluation back too.
Who reopens the café
Suppose the structure is cleared tomorrow. Someone still has to run the businesses out there, and that question is open as well.
Since August 1, 2005, the pier has been operated under a State Parks concession held by Malibu Pier Partners, covering the restaurants, retail and boat tours. Accounts of when the 20-year term ended differ. A State Parks annual report lists July 31, 2025. A Malibu Times timeline of the pier published in July 2025 said December 31, 2025, and expected a new request for proposals within six months.
The state's own schedule shows that solicitation hasn't happened yet. On the State Parks list of future concession opportunities, current as of September 14, 2026, Malibu Lagoon State Beach comes first. The listing covers restaurant, food service, retail, sport fishing, boat tour and beach equipment rental, and it sits in a group of RFPs planned through March 2027. The page notes the list can change at any time.
That category list matches what has gone quiet at the end of the pier: the café, the shop, the sportfishing and the boat tours. Whoever wins that solicitation will set the terms for most of what a visitor can buy or book at the end of the pier once it is safe to stand on.
The city has already weighed in on one proposal for the pier. In a staff report for the July 13, 2026 Malibu City Council meeting, City Manager Joseph D. Irvin asked the council to consider a letter of support for Pier to Pier LLC's concession application at Malibu Pier. Pier to Pier, working with Harbor Breeze Cruises, proposes a scheduled passenger ferry. It would start with events and add daily routes later, linking Malibu to Santa Monica, Marina del Rey, Redondo Harbor, San Pedro and Long Beach for roughly $50 round trip on two 100-foot, 149-passenger catamarans. Service would begin only after an agreement with State Parks is in place. The report includes a June 8, 2026 support letter signed by Mayor Bruce Silverstein. For now it's a proposal, and it's one more use of the pier that runs through a State Parks agreement.
The pier has been through this cycle before
The pier's history suggests reopenings come in stages, with the far end coming back last.
- 1942 to 1944. Frederick Hastings Rindge built the pier in 1905. A 1942 storm nearly destroyed it, and it was rebuilt in 1944, according to Los Angeles Times archives.
- 1983. California bought the pier in 1980. Three years later a winter storm undid much of the nearly $2 million the state had spent on structural repairs.
- 1993 to 2000. El Niño storms in 1993 and 1995 damaged the pier and closed it. Rehabilitation came in 1998 and 1999, and the pier partly reopened in 2000.
- 2008. A $10 million restoration reopened in stages, with a grand reopening gala on June 29.
- 2014 to 2017. Hurricane Marie hit on August 22, 2014 and took out more than 70 pilings at the seaward end. The Malibu Cafe out there stayed closed for an extended period during repairs.
The money shows how long the Marie repairs lasted. The Malibu Times timeline lists the state's rent from the pier at $657,973 for 2015–2016 and just $32,272 for 2016–2017, which it attributes to the repair period. Rent was back to $771,589 in 2017–2018. Even then, the full recovery took several fiscal years after the storm. The landside restaurant at the base kept going: Malibu Farm took it over in March 2015, in the middle of that stretch.
The current closure follows the same pattern. The Malibu Times ties the damage to the January 7, 2025 winds that also drove the Palisades Fire. Officials were cautious after the end of the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf collapsed on December 23, 2024. State Parks dates the closure of the end to January 2025, while the Malibu Times timeline lists March 10, 2025 as the date the end was temporarily closed for structural assessment. The base is open and Malibu Farm is serving there. The end is waiting again.
Using the pier between now and spring
Since the January date marks the start of an evaluation, it makes sense to plan around the parts of the pier that are open now. Weekend brunch at Malibu Farm, an afternoon of fishing from the open areas, and a stop at the Malibu Cabana all work this winter. Boat tours and the end-of-pier café don't belong on any plan until State Parks announces otherwise.
State Parks says it will post repair milestones on its closure FAQ and the Malibu Lagoon State Beach page. Questions go to [email protected]. Malibu already sits on the future opportunities list. When State Parks actually issues the RFP, its concession opportunities page points bidders to Cal eProcure, where issued solicitations are posted. A reopening date for the end of the pier depends on both.
The pier has been part of our family's Malibu since before it was state property, and we're following the repair and the concession together this winter. If you have a question about how changes at the pier, along the Civic Center or on any stretch of this coast affect your own plans, the Brian Merrick Team is glad to talk it through with you. Work With Brian.
