Cayucos Pier

The famous Cayucos pier was constructed in 1872 by Captain James Cass, the founder of Cayucos, and was then rebuilt and lengthened to 982 feet in 1876. The pier helped to establish Cayucos as a commercial port for ships sailing from Los Angeles and San Francisco to bring in passengers and goods such as butter, milk, lumber and other various goods. The pier boosted the Cayucos economy until the railroad and trucking put it out of business and it was no longer a working pier as of 1920. However, the pier continued to help the economy by bringing people from the San Joaquin Valley over for the Mediterranean climate and great fishing. Today, the pier remains a symbol of history in Cayucos and brings beauty and commercial life to the area. After years of wear and tear by the ocean and limited maintenance, the Cayucos pier was closed for safety reasons on July 5, 2013. The pier was missing 14 crucial pilings and had dozens of unattached or weakened pilings that had been degraded by worms, large storms and waves. The County had the pier stabilized in December 2013 and scheduled it for rebuilding it October 2014. The entire project is estimated to cost around $4 million. The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors awarded a $1.7 million dollar contract to Morro Bay-based Associated Pacific Constructors Inc. Construction on the pier began in October 2014 finished in 2015.