Landry’s Corp. is close to revealing plans

GALVESTON — When it first opened in the late 1940s, Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier was the place for entertainment and fun. By this summer, Tilman Fertitta hopes that cache returns as his Landry’s Corp. marks the return of the historic entertainment pier, with a few modern twists.

The track and loops for a roller coaster already are in place, a ride called the Sky Shooter already stands tall, and the framing for the various amusements, games and eateries are taking shape on the 1,130-foot pier at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard.

For weeks, crews have been working on the pier that once was home to the Flagship Hotel that was dormant since Hurricane Ike struck in 2008.

By Memorial Day, construction should be complete for the entertainment complex that Fertitta said will rival Chicago’s Navy Pier and Coney Island’s Luna Park.

“It will be the typical Tilman Fertitta, Landry’s project that’s first class,” Fertitta said Friday. “It will be a place where families will go to have fun and feel safe and really enjoy themselves.”

Not wanting to spoil the surprise of what Landry’s officials are calling the “big reveal” Monday, Fertitta is keeping the plans for the Pleasure Pier close to the vest but hinted at what’s to come.

There will be a “shrimp-themed” restaurant at the pier to go along with the rides and amusements games that will line the pier.

The pleasure pier has long held a nostalgic place in the heart of those who remember Galveston as the carefree destination of the Third Coast.

“It’s exciting to bring it back,” Fertitta said. “It’s going to be one of the great amusement piers in the country.

He said the concept wasn’t hard to come up with, given the history and positive feelings the public already had for it.

Fertitta said while the pier will feature modern rides and amenities, it’s designed to give visitors the feel of an earlier era in Galveston — including a double-decker carousel and a nostalgically-themed Ferris wheel that will rotate near the end of the pier.

While some might compare the project to Fertitta’s Kemah Boardwalk, he doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t see a relationship with what we are doing down here,” he said.

He also believes the timing is just right for the project.

“The timing is perfect,” he said. “The economy is better and this is coming online just at the right time.”

Which is good news for Fertitta, who estimates he will spend more than $40 million on the pleasure pier by the time it opens to the public.

That’s a far cry from he $2 million used to get the pier built in the early 1900s.

Galveston native author Bill Cherry said the idea for the pleasure pier was first hatched in the 1930s by Galveston Mayor Brantley Harris, who arranged some complicated land deals with the state and federal governments to build a convention center on the pier.

Cherry said Sam Maceo also supported the pier concept as a backup location for a casino, should his famed Balinese Room be shutdown by state officials.

“They were under the opinion that the law enforcement on the property could only be provided by federal marshals,” Cherry, author of “Bill Cherry’s Galveston Memories,” said.

“Somehow, the state attorney general got wind of that opinion and convinced the U.S. government to rule that laws and enforcement there would be consistent with the state’s laws. Consequently, gambling, liquor and wild women would be illegal there as well.”

Carnival owner Howard “Robbie” Robbins later would bring his traveling carnival to the pier as a home base. It also was home to Claude Allen’s “Golden Garter” melodrama while Harry James and Paul Neighbors performed nightly in the Marine Ballroom, Cherry said.

Robbins’ dream struggled to take flight or draw the huge crowds he had hoped. After Hurricane Carla crashed into the island in 1961, it appeared the pier’s heyday was over for good. By the 1970s, however, it emerged again when developers built the Flagship Hotel.

In recent history, the hotel struggled even before Hurricane Ike destroyed it in 2008. But Fertitta said he saw the potential of bringing back the entertainment venue on the pier and using the blueprint of success enjoyed by other Landry’s entertainment venues across the country.

He is confident the new and improved Galveston Historic Pleasure Pier will become a major tourist draw.

“I’m most excited what it will do for tourism in Galveston,” Fertitta said.