A spring spruce up at the Oceanfront
Virginia Beach Fishing pier gets an overhaul before it opens April 2
VIRGINIA BEACH — For 71 years, the Virginia Beach Fishing Pier has been an Oceanfront fixture, rooted in sand and weathered by salt, but still balanced over the waves.
TV commercials, movies and reality shows have been filmed on it. Celebrities have visited it.
Not much has changed on the 880-foot long wooden structure during its storied lifetime. The pier, at 15th Street, is still considered one of the area’s best for ocean fishing. Hurricanes have tried to wash it away, but it always recovers. And developers have set eyes on it, with unfulfilled visions of Ferris wheels.
Now, the three families who have owned it for generations are foregoing past ideas of selling or redeveloping it, and instead, are hunkering down and giving it a makeover. They’re keeping it in the family.
David Bailey, a representative of one of those families, and his partner, Traci Mixson, will breathe new life into the pier. Pete Murden, Bailey’s grandfather, was one of its original owners.
Brian Murden, Bailey’s cousin, stopped by the new Pier House Bait and Tackle last Thursday morning to check on the renovations. “It’s time for the new blood,” said Murden, who will co-manage the pier with Bailey.
At one point, the pier owners — the Lachman, Bonney and Murden families — had it up for sale. The upkeep was costly, and they paid out of pocket several times to rebuild after storm damage, Bobby Lachman has said.
Several years ago, they submitted a proposal to partner with the city on a $250 million project to rebuild the pier out of concrete with a Ferris wheel, shops and restaurants. The idea fizzled.
“The city just shelved it,” Murden said.
When Bobby Lachman retired this year from running the bait and tackle shop, Bailey and Mixson bought it. They’ve been sprucing up for spring with plans to open for the season April 2.
“It was so gray and dingy in here,” Bailey said Thursday morning inside the shop. “We’ve opened it up and made it a lot brighter.”
They’ve brushed on a new coat of aqua blue paint, modernized the counter and added new inventory, based on feedback from customers on Facebook. On the fishing end of the pier, they’ve installed new cleaning stations, cutting boards and top rails. The benches will be painted.
“We’ve listened to our fishermen, and we’ve tried to bring in everything they requested,” Mixson said.
Expect to see new rods and tackle, rain gear, seafood sauces and a greeting from a French bulldog puppy, the shop mascot. It’s name is yet to be decided, but “Hook,” “Flounder” or “Minnow” are in the running.
On weekdays, locals will enjoy discounts at the tackle shop, on pier
fishing and at Ocean Eddie’s restaurant, which opened for the season last week.
“I love the youthful energy of the new management crew,” said Jeff Hague, who runs Ocean Eddie’s. He’s also been working on upgrades, replacing furniture and bar tops at the restaurant.
Mixson is considering ways to make better use of the unused space on the pier. Years ago, Lachman could fish out of the window of the tackle shop. Now the beach is wide, and 140 feet of the pier is over the sand.
Soon artists will be able to sell their wares under colorful tents on that space. There will be tables and chairs for people who get take out from a window at the rear of Ocean Eddie’s.
“People on the beach will know there’s something going on up here,” Mixson said. “We want to get more attention on the place, make it more friendly.”