What is the Capitola Wharf for right now? Before the 2023 storms, the answer sat at the end of the deck. The Wharf House served casual seafood with an ocean view from nearly every table, and it had music and dancing all summer. Today the deck, pilings and railings are new, the lights stay on for evening walks, and the end of the wharf has no restaurant.
Two decisions this winter will shape it: who builds and runs a permanent marketplace there, and the lease terms for the one business still working on the wharf.
What 2024 Rebuilt, and What It Left Off
The Capitola Village business association puts it plainly: the historic wharf "broke in half during the huge waves of winter 2023." In February 2024 the City Council approved demolishing the damaged buildings and told staff to start long-term planning. The Wharf Resiliency and Public Access Project finished that same year. It widened the wharf, replaced 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, a new gate, and lighting along the length of the deck. The wharf reopened to the public in September 2024.
That project paid for infrastructure and amenities. It did not include any buildings for businesses. The restaurant that gave people a reason to walk out to the end, order lunch and stay a while was not part of it. Everything since 2024 has been about filling that gap.
The Only Business on the Deck Works Out of Sheds
Capitola Boat & Bait is the wharf's one commercial tenant. Tina Williams and her brother David Morris run it, and the family has had the business for nearly three decades. When the wharf reopened, the city gave the shop a cluster of temporary sheds as its storefront. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported in July that the shop is still in them. The city doesn't allow holes in the sheds, so the family hangs fishing line and rubber bait on freestanding pegboard walls. The same sheds hold the wooden skiffs, kayaks, paddleboards, bait and a boat-repair area.
In the same Sentinel story, Williams said that with the Wharf House gone, fewer people have a reason to spend time on the wharf. Looking down the deck, she said:
"As you can see, there's not many people out here."
The shop has kept up its tradition of giving local teenagers their first jobs. New hires learn to sell tackle, teach customers to fish and, over time, repair boats. For now, that small operation is the wharf's whole business life, and its future hangs on the same decisions as the deck's.
A Winter Afternoon With a Rod
The quiet deck is good news if you fish. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife lists Capitola Wharf as a public fishing pier in Santa Cruz County. Its rules say you don't need a fishing license to fish recreationally from a public pier in ocean or bay waters, though other fishing regulations still apply. Size limits, seasons and bag limits all fall under those other regulations, so check CDFW's current rules before you keep anything. This is general information, not legal advice.
According to Williams in the Sentinel, people fishing off the wharf or from a rented boat bring up lingcod, rock cod, halibut, flounder, sea bass and sometimes octopus. Some catches have to go back, like the giant sea bass and the octopus. Either way, the shop will photograph your catch for a book that also holds pictures of some of its first customers from the 1990s, with your name, the date and what you caught. The fish-cleaning station from the 2024 rebuild is right there on the deck.
The Dates That Decide What the Wharf Becomes
The permanent plan has been in the works since the rebuild. These are the steps so far, taken from the city's own request for proposals, its bid page and council agendas:
- Spring 2024. Fuse Architecture develops seven concepts for the wharf. A public survey draws more than 1,000 responses.
- June 26, 2025. The City Council chooses a hybrid of two concepts: a fishing concession with flexible market space, and permanent structures with a full-service restaurant.
- April 23, 2026. The council reviews the draft Capitola Wharf Master Plan. It notes the community's strong preference for permanent, year-round uses and asks that the renderings be treated as guidance rather than a blueprint.
- Late June 2026. The council turns down a proposed policy that would have required a request-for-proposals process for most leases of city-owned property, according to the Sentinel. The city has only three such commercial leases: Capitola Boat & Bait, Capitola Beach Company in Esplanade Park, and the patio outside Britannia Arms.
- August 31, 2026. The wharf marketplace RFP closes on the city's bid page.
- October 8, 2026. The council's closed-session agenda lists lease terms for the wharf with "TDD, LLC dba Capitola Boat and Bait." Interim City Manager Rudy Escalante is the city's negotiator.
- December 31, 2026. Boat & Bait's current lease expires.
The city's bid page lists the RFP as closed without naming an operator, and the October 22 council agenda had no wharf item. After the bidding policy failed, Williams told the Sentinel the business felt more stable. "We are still here," she said. "Hopefully we'll be here in the future."
What the Plan Would Put Out There
The city wants a private partner to finance, build and run a new development on the wharf and lease the space from the city. The conceptual plan includes:
- One marketplace building with a restaurant, a market, a bar and a fishing concession under one roof
- A year-round restaurant with a dining room, commercial kitchen, bar and entertainment area. Hours would be negotiated as part of the lease.
- A separate building with two public bathrooms and a lifeguard station, including storage for a marine rescue watercraft and a lookout area
- Everything from 2024 stays: 40 benches, four picnic tables, four viewing stations, the fish-cleaning station, the three-stall restrooms near the entrance, 10 bike racks, the boat hoist and the buoys
Proposers were invited to submit their own site plans, so the final building could look quite different from the renderings. The plan does keep a fishing concession inside the marketplace, which means bait and boats stay part of the wharf's future. Who runs that counter depends on the lease talks and the RFP.
November 12 Shows What the Plan Is Aiming For
On Thursday, November 12, from 1 to 5:30 p.m., Outstanding in the Field sets a long table on the wharf at 1400 Wharf Road. The Monterey Bay Fisheries Trust hosts, and the meal brings together Santa Cruz County farmers and Monterey Bay fishermen. Jim Denevan, Outstanding in the Field's founder and a Capitola local, runs the kitchen in his hometown. Tickets are on Outstanding in the Field's site.
There's also a cheaper way in. Every $25 donation to the Capitola Beautification Project buys a raffle ticket for two seats at the dinner, and winners are announced Sunday, November 8. Donations help pay for the Village's holiday decorations, beach maintenance and new signs.
For one afternoon, the wharf will have food over the water and a crowd at the far end, the two things the marketplace plan is meant to bring back year-round. After the dinner it goes back to benches, lights, rods over the rail and a bait shop in sheds until the council makes its picks.
If you have memories of the Wharf House or a photo in the Boat & Bait catch book, we'd love to hear them. And if you're wondering how this stretch of the Village affects what your own place is worth, The Portola Group can walk you through it over coffee. Start with your instant home valuation, and we'll take the conversation from there.
