A former downtown Oceanside strip club could become the newest home for the California Surf Museum if the city redevelopment agency decides to spend $575,000 to fix up the empty storefront.
The museum would nearly triple its space if it moves from its 2,000-square-foot home at 223 N. Coast Highway into the defunct Play Girl Club a half block away at 312-314 Pier View Way.
The strip club has sat vacant since 2002, when the redevelopment agency bought the property as part of an effort to change downtown's once-seedy image.
The surf museum was founded in 1986 in Encinitas and moved to Oceanside in 1992. Since 1995, it has occupied, rent-free, a city-owned storefront that was once home to a corner drugstore.
The museum's permanent collection numbers more than 2,000 pieces, with 125 surfboards that can't be displayed at once because of lack of room. Stuffed into the small space are exhibits depicting the evolution of surfboards, the history of surfing and its distinctive place in the Southern California culture. About 20,000 visitors, including 1,000 students, tour the museum annually.
Yesterday, the city Redevelopment Advisory Committee unanimously recommended that the City Council approve a loan and property-use agreement with the museum to move into the old Play Girl Club space.
Jane McVey, economic and community development director, said the city would provide facade improvements, plumbing, painting and electrical work but that the museum would have to do any other renovations.
If the museum performs up to a set of criteria, it would not have to repay the $575,000 loan.
The museum has never charged admission and some redevelopment committee members said it should levy a $1 or $2 entry fee.
Museum board member Mike Burner resisted the suggestion.
“Our people do not have the same income level some others might have,” Burner said as committee members compared the surf museum to the nearby Oceanside Museum of Art, which charges a general admission of $8.
McVey said there had been interest in the Play Girl Club storefront for a restaurant, gymnasium, “muscle shop” or health-foods store. But city management thought that to maintain downtown redevelopment efforts the property should be used for something that would bring tourists, especially weekdays and off-season.
McVey said she had doubted the national and international reach of the museum until she saw an in-flight video publicizing it when she was returning from Hawaii.
Committee Chairman Rick Wright, who operates a gift store nearby, worried that the museum shop, which would be enlarged in the new space, would cut into the business of other downtown merchants.
Burner said most of the museum's merchandise will carry its logo and not compete with more generic souvenirs from other shops.
McVey said she also would consider a suggestion that the museum's rent for the publicly owned building escalate as the years go by. As written, the contract would charge $100 a month for five years, with an option for five more years.
Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com
