They are among the most beloved landmarks to dot the coastline, where memories are made taking sunset selfies and sunrise strolls and marriage proposals are sealed with a kiss before the sparkling horizon.

But at three of Orange County’s iconic piers – Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Seal Beach – restaurants once a perk for visitors strolling out over the Pacific Ocean below now sit vacant waiting on city leaders tasked with envisioning a future for the popular destinations.

Newport Beach this week begins the tear down of the long-standing restaurant building at the end of its pier, which has been deteriorating in the ocean air for a decade.

The demolition work marks the start of the seaside city’s pier revitalization efforts. For locals, it’s about time.

Michael Kratzer and wife Brenda, of Costa Mesa, were found on a recent overcast day taking their usual stroll to the end of the pier, something Kratzer said he’s been doing for 67 years.

“Tear it down,” he said, after stopping at the wire fencing to look at the city’s posted announcement about the project and the closure at the end of the pier.  “This one has been run down for a lot of years.”

An upscale beach community such as Newport Beach, which draws millions of visitors from around the world, should have something the town can be proud of, he said, though he understands the challenges a city can face when it comes to getting needed permitting approvals from regulatory agencies.

“When you come down, it’s an experience and an adventure, rather than just going out to dinner,” Kratzer said about why he likes strolling the pier. “Go look at the surfers, enjoy the sunset, enjoy the water – everybody likes the water. It’s why I live here.”

But longtime Newport Beach surfer Bill Spurgeon warns against bringing in anything too upscale to the pier.

“Any classy restaurant will fail. Piers have a history of this a mile long. Ruby’s (Diners) are the longest surviving type of business because they match the normal clientele that walks a pier,” he said. “People seem to not dress up to walk out on a bait-ridden pier for a fancy dinner.”

An upscale seafood restaurant was set to occupy the Newport Beach Pier’s vacant building at few years back before the plans fell through.

“Burgers, shakes and coffee seem to last longest in the pier world,” Spurgeon said. “Huntington is the only pier with enough traffic to support an end restaurant, in my opinion.”

But that restaurant space has been vacant since that Ruby’s Diner closed more than a year ago.

The operators who run the Malibu Farm restaurant and café on the Malibu Pier bought the Ruby’s Diner lease for the Huntington Beach Pier out of bankruptcy and have plans for a pop-up restaurant this summer and a permanent eatery by the end of the year, Councilman Dan Kalmick said.

“Fingers crossed we get something cool out there, we need something,” he said, noting he’d hope for a mix of casual and upscale options.

Huntington Beach also has plans in the works to create an eatery about halfway up the pier. City officials are in talks with the group Surf City Partners to occupy a pier bungalow that has long been a bait and snack shop. The idea is to create a restaurant-bar with indoor and outdoor seating that could be open by the end of the year.

Though Surf City Partners has the exclusive operating agreement, they still need to go through the city planning process before opening anything.

“I like the concept,” Kalmick said. “It’s thoughtful and it’s kind of bigger picture.”

The Huntington Beach City Council voted last September to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a local group proposing to replace a bait shop midway down the pier with a indoor-outdoor sit-down restaurant and bar.

He’d like to see even more additions to update the pier, such as better lighting or even adding golf cart services to ferry people from the base to the end so they don’t have to walk the nearly quarter-mile.

And, the red-roof restaurant building at the pier’s end should be preserved, Kalmick said. It’s an iconic landmark for the city featured in countless images and videos.

“It’s one of the top things people think of when they think of Huntington Beach, if it’s not the No. 1,” he said.

A fire at the end of the Seal Beach Pier in 2016 burned down a Ruby’s Restaurant, a structure that’s yet to be replaced. (FILE PHOTO KEN STEINHARDT/SCNG)

A few months ago, Seal Beach city leaders started talks with a duo familiar with local restaurants, tasking them with providing at least three different concepts that would be “compatible with our pier and community, from an aesthetic sense and that would be financially practical for our city,” Mayor Joe Kalmick said in an email.

A fire in 2016 destroyed a vacant Ruby’s Diner at the end of the northern OC city’s pier.

“When the ideas are fleshed out, a detailed presentation will be made to the community for feedback, including the consideration of having no food service structure on the pier,” Joe Kalmick said.

A restaurant at the end of the pier in Seal Beach, CA burned in 2016 and officials are deciding what, if anything, should replace it. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Because of the pandemic and other city matters, the process has taken a lot longer than originally anticipated, he said. “But we are optimistic that the final options will have been well thought out and we will be able to attract an operator, and have a great outcome.”

In Newport Beach, attempts over the last decade to find a new tenant to fill the vacant restaurant space on the pier’s end were unsuccessful and the building fell into disrepair. In October, the City Council voted to demolish the building and study options for revitalizing the pier as well as the McFadden Square area its base and the adjacent parking lot – a process that could take years and millions of dollars.

Constructing a new restaurant building on the pier could cost $3 million,  officials said.

It’s an exciting step in making the pier and boardwalk area a “highly desirable destination,” Councilwoman Diane Dixon said.

“It’s just time for a refresh,” she said. “It needs a facelift.”

The building demolition is expected to be finished by the Memorial Day weekend.

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The city may opt to put a new restaurant mid-way down the pier, so it’s not such a long walk and doesn’t interfere with the fishermen who like to frequent the end of the pier.

Dixon noted the community will be involved in the process of determining what is the best fit for the area.

“It will be interesting to see what people think about the pier. There’s a romantic notion about walking out to the end of the pier, (but) our pier is not attractive,” she said. “It has been an unattractive nuisance. But how can we make it better?”