Corporate Sponsors Being Sought for Pier

Signs bearing the well-known names and logos of corporate sponsors may soon join the well-recognized Ferris wheel and carousel on the Santa Monica Pier.

To raise revenue for the operation of the landmark, officials from the city and the Pier Restoration Corp., which jointly manage the pier, are now looking for corporate sponsors.

In exchange for money contributed to pier operations, corporations would be able to place advertising on the pier or negotiate “exclusivity agreements.” For example, under such an arrangement, only a particular product brand hawked by a corporate sponsor would be sold on the pier.

Jan Palchikoff, executive director of the Pier Restoration Corp., said the goal of the program is to make the pier economically self-sufficient without becoming too commercial.

“We don’t aspire to be a Disneyland or Universal Studios or anyone else,” she said. “We don’t want to look like anyone else out here. We have to be very sensitive.”

City officials hope that a steady flow of corporate cash could allow the city to decrease its subsidy to the pier, which traditionally operates at a deficit.

The city’s 1998-99 budget includes $682,000 in funds for the pier, according to pier officials.

Palchikoff said the pier corporation is negotiating with several potential sponsors, with the goal of signing on as many as 16 sponsors from the soft drink, airline, media, banking and hospitality industries.