> aerial shot taken in the afternoon of March 4. 1983 shows the devastating results of the March 2 storm that took out the center section of pier.
>Soon after the March 2nd storm, the tv news vans and reporters left, and the crowds went with them. The Seal Beach community quickly came together to raise funds for the rebuilt pier that still stands today (in spite of some minor damage and the occasional fire).
This same storm also wiped out Island Esther, a man-made island that Chevron Oil had built three-quarters of a mile from the Seal Beach shore in 1965.
A Coast Guard spokesperson told the L.A. Times that โabout all thatโs left is the makings of a good fishing reef.โ Chevron would later convert the remains of Esther into an oil platform raised 50 feet above the water. You can find an amazing shot of a swell breaking over Oil Island Esther on March 1. 1983 and more dramatic photos of pounding Seal Beach surf at Surfline.com.
https://sbfoundersday.wordpress.com/2010/03/02/pierless-seal-beach/