The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf opened in 1914. Secured by 2,000 Douglas-fir pilings driven 21 feet into the ocean floor, it is 2,745 feet long, or more than half a mile, and is the longest wooden pier in the United States. The wharf evolved from a steam ship dock to a base for commercial fishing run mostly by Italian immigrants. From 75 to 100 fishing boats unloaded salmon, sea bass, rock cod, and sole every day. After the Santa Cruz Harbor was built in the 1960s, the wharf’s primary business became tourism. Today it is an important gateway to the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and a place to stroll, eat, and shop, and some businesses are still operated by the original Italian families. The Boardwalk once had its own pier, the Pleasure Pier, built in 1904 in front of Neptune’s Kingdom. Besides recreation, it supported a pipeline that delivered salt water to the Boardwalk’s indoor swimming pool, the Plunge. When the Plunge closed in 1962, the Pleasure Pier was dismantled.
