The only shop on the Capitola Wharf has walls it built itself. When the city put Capitola Boat & Bait into a cluster of temporary sheds after the wharf reopened in September 2024, it didn't allow holes in the structure. Co-owner Tina Williams told the Santa Cruz Sentinel that she and her brother, David Morris, set up freestanding pegboard displays for the rubber bait and fishing line instead.
Those pegboards say a lot about where the wharf stands heading into November. The repair work is finished. What's missing is the business that used to pull people out to the end of the wharf. On September 10, the Capitola City Council directed staff on how to fill that gap, in two steps. Staff is to seek a small, short-term food-and-beverage concession, possibly in a prefabricated or sea-container structure, while the search for a permanent restaurant partner stays open another year. No date has been set for a permanent restaurant.
The Deck Is Already Done
Walk the wharf this week and almost everything a pier needs is there. The city's Wharf Resiliency and Public Access Project was completed in 2024. It widened the wharf, replaced the failing pilings and decking, and added new restrooms. Community donations paid for seating, picnic tables, ADA-compliant viewing stations, bike racks, a fish-cleaning station, a water fountain, public art, an upgraded gate and entryway, and new lighting for evening walks.
The city's request for proposals, issued May 7, 2026, counts the fixtures that stay no matter what gets built:
- 40 benches
- 4 picnic tables
- 4 viewing stations
- 1 fish-cleaning station
- A 3-stall restroom near the entrance
- 10 bike racks
- 1 boat hoist, plus the buoys
That's a full set of public amenities. Forty benches is enough for a lot of people to sit and look at the bay. What the list leaves out is anything to eat or drink at the end of the walk, and that's the job the Wharf House did for decades.
What the Wharf House Used to Do
The city's own description of the Wharf House reads like an inventory of what's gone. It sat at the end of the wharf. It was casual and family-friendly, served classic seafood, had ocean views from nearly every table, and hosted entertainment and dancing all summer. The January 2023 storms broke the wharf in half and damaged the restaurant beyond repair. Williams told the Sentinel that the city eventually demolished both the restaurant and the old Boat & Bait building because of structural problems.
Boat & Bait came back. The restaurant didn't. Williams told the Santa Cruz Sentinel this summer that with the Wharf House closed, fewer people have a reason to spend time on the wharf.
The shop still does a lot from its sheds. It rents wooden skiffs, kayaks and paddleboards, sells bait and tackle, and repairs boats. Williams said the teenage employees who come to the shop for their first jobs eventually learn to do those repairs. The business has been in the family since Sally John, Williams and Morris's mother, bought it in 1997. When a proposed city leasing policy seemed to put its spot at the tip of the wharf at risk, 13 people spoke against the policy at the June 26 council meeting and more than 40 sent letters supporting the shop. The Council rejected the policy.
So the fishing half of the old wharf is still running and still has strong community support. The restaurant half is the part the city is still working out.
How the City Got to a Stopgap
When | What happened |
|---|---|
January 2023 | Storms break the wharf in half and damage the Wharf House beyond repair |
February 2024 | City Council authorizes demolition and starts a Wharf Master Plan |
Spring 2024 | Fuse Architecture presents seven concepts; more than 1,000 people take the public survey |
September 2024 | Rebuilt wharf reopens; Boat & Bait moves into temporary sheds |
June 26, 2025 | Council picks a hybrid of a flexible market space and a full-service restaurant |
April 23, 2026 | Council reviews the draft Wharf Master Plan |
May 7, 2026 | City issues an RFP for a private partner to finance, build and run the marketplace |
September 10, 2026 | Council directs staff to extend that RFP one year and prepare a separate RFP for a short-term concession |
Early 2027 | The temporary concession RFP is scheduled to return to Council |
The permanent plan is ambitious. The conceptual master plan puts a restaurant, market, bar and fishing concession together in one structure, with a separate building for two public bathrooms and a lifeguard station with a lookout and storage for marine rescue watercraft. The restaurant is meant to stay open year-round, and the city says keeping the wharf an active fishing wharf is important. The city isn't building any of it. The RFP asks a private company to finance, build and operate the project on land leased from the city.
That's a big ask of an operator, and the September direction reflects it. According to the minutes, the Council wants to keep looking for a partner to run food and beverage on the wharf "while retaining flexibility to address storm resilience." It kept the permanent RFP open for another year. It also told staff to write a second RFP for something smaller, cheaper and short-term, in a prefabricated or sea-container structure, and required Planning Commission review before the project comes back to Council. The city's September newsletter, Capitola Waves, says the interim concession is planned for the next two to three years.
Put together, those decisions tell residents what to expect. The next place to buy a drink or a snack on the wharf is planned as a small, short-term concession, possibly in a prefabricated or sea-container structure. On the city's own schedule, it won't reach Council again until early 2027, and it will need Planning Commission review before that. If the concession runs two to three years, the permanent restaurant is a late-decade project at the earliest.
The One Sit-Down Meal on the Deck This Fall
Until then, a long table on Thursday, November 12 is about as close as the wharf will get to a restaurant this year. Outstanding in the Field is holding a dinner on the Capitola Wharf from 1 to about 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $415.
The lineup is local:
- Host: Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust, the nonprofit behind a Community Seafood Program
- Host fisherman: Hans Haveman of H&H Fresh Fish
- Guest winery: Ellie Loustalot of Nicholson Vineyards
- Kitchen: Outstanding in the Field founder Jim Denevan, who grew up in the area
- Partner: the Capitola Village and Wharf Business Improvement Area
The event listing describes the wharf as "reopened, repaired, and revived with a new deck and pilings" and promises a feast with Santa Cruz County farmers and Monterey Bay fishermen. For one afternoon, the wharf will have a kitchen, a bar and a crowd at the far end, which is the setup the master plan wants to make permanent.
The Capitola City Council's next scheduled meeting is the same day, November 12.
The Wharf and Village Calendar
For anyone whose regular walk goes down the wharf and back up through the Village, here's the near-term calendar:
- Any day now: Capitola Boat & Bait at 1400 Wharf Road rents skiffs, kayaks and paddleboards and sells bait and tackle. Fall hours aren't posted, so call the shop's listed number, (831) 462-2208, before heading out.
- Thursday, November 12: The Outstanding in the Field dinner on the wharf, and a City Council meeting the same evening.
- Saturday, November 14: Sip & Stroll in Capitola Village, with local wines poured at about 30 shops. It's a good follow-up to our look at the three wine rooms that replaced one in the Village.
- Early 2027: The temporary wharf concession RFP is scheduled to return to Council.
The evening lighting on the wharf is already in. The fish-cleaning station is open. The Capitola wharf still has no restaurant to walk out to.
Our agents work out of the Capitola Village office, a short walk from the foot of the wharf, and we're glad to talk through what the city's wharf timeline means for your part of Capitola. David Lyng Real Estate has been part of this stretch of coast since 1980, and we'll keep following the wharf as it changes. Contact Us.