Pleasure Pier, Galveston, 1948-61, Seawall @ 25th. Tilman Fertitta is bringing it back, bigger and better, in May 2012.
In the years following World War II, trips to Galveston always brought to mind the enormous Pleasure Pier at Seawall and 25th. Built in 1948 as a recreational facility for the military stationed on Galveston Island, the place converted into a commercial fun spot to go that really didn’t die until Galveston got whacked by Hurricane Carla in 1961. After Carla, the site pretty much rested in shambles until the Flagship Hotel was built on the site in 1965. Then, already well beyond its better days, the Flagship took its own hurricane hit from Ike in 2008 and went into waiting for its current resurrection in new form.
Tilman Fertitta to the commercial rescue.
Restaurant magnate and Galveston native Tilman Fertitta is now in the process of restoring the seawall site to a state beyond its former glory. A 1100 foot long extension from the beach into the Gulf of Mexico is under rapid construction to bring back the glorious Pleasure Pier in a form it never knew the first time. For $60 million dollars, the new Pleasure Pier will feature modern incarnations of the old carnival rides, places to buy souvenirs, do more serious shopping, dine, and be entertained in ways that Fertitta hopes will help Galveston continue to sell itself as something more than a day trip destination of local tourists.
In spite of the murky gray Gulf waters, Fertitta and Galveston want international tourists to eventually see Galveston Island as the Texas version of Florida’s South Beach. They have some ground to cover to reach that goal, if ever, but that’s another story for another day. Big dreams have to start somewhere – and they seem to require the presence of dynamos like Tilman Fertitta to even have a chance. For now, I’m sure that Fertitta and Galveston will settle for delivery on their planned May 2012 Grand Opening and an overflowing crowd that books 90% of the best hotel rooms on the Island.
Channel 13 did a nice tight story on the new “Pier” recently and it is available at the following link.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8523095
Have a nice week everybody and, if you live in Houston, watch out for the frog-strangler rain that we are supposed to get on Tuesday.
Tags: Flagship Hotel, Galveston, Pleasure Pier, Tilman Fertitta
The Pecan Park Eagle 
March 19, 2012 at 3:43 pm |
I look forward to my first trip to the new pier.
Incidentally, Bill, I know that you meant to indicate that the Flagship Hotel was done in by Ike in 2008, but somehow your brain conjured 1908.
Enjoy the balmy day.
Mark
March 19, 2012 at 4:42 pm |
Thanks, Mark. I’ve made the correction, thanks to you. I was only a century behind the times in my original “1908” error – about par for me. Only the atomic clocks is my home run on time.
March 19, 2012 at 3:58 pm |
Galveston was once under the control of the Maceo crime family. At one time, the pier was meant as an illegal casino for the Mob. I’m told there were trap doors built so that, should the police ever try to bust their operation, the trap doors could be used to jettison any damning evidence into the Gulf before the cops were able to work their way to the end of the pier.
March 19, 2012 at 5:01 pm |
The story of the trap doors and places to hide gambling machines actually goes with the great Balinese Room, I believe. That was on a different pier not far away. Galveston’s beachs were once fairly crowded with piers holding bathhouses and restaurants. I’ve done a fair amount of research on all of this, and we included it in a couple of short documentary-type pieces. The Maceos, for whom Tilman Fertitta’s father worked, did indeed run dozens of gambling operations, big and small, on both the island and the Galveston county mainland, however, I personally would never describe them as a crime family in the sense that most people use that term today.