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By Lookout Staff

January 31 -- As part of a $30 million project to build a new public beach club, Back on the Beach Café and the adjacent public parking lot will shut down next week.

Beginning February 4, the cafe at 445 Pacific Coast Highway will close its doors for renovation that includes adding a take out food service window and cosmetic upgrades.

Beach Parking Lot 10 North will be closed from February 7 through May 20 for resurfacing and re-striping after a trellis is installed at the entry pavilion component of the project.

Until the lot reopens, beach patrons are advised to carpool, ride a bike or use Beach Lot 9 North, City officials said. The self-pay machine at Lot 9 accepts payment for all-day or 2-hour parking.

The Annenberg Community Beach House project calls for combining the remaining elements of the historic Marion Davies Estate with new facilities that include a pool house, event house, gardens, a children’s water play feature and a public art element.

In December, the City began installing 16 monumental white pillars that evoke the iconic white columns of what was once an opulent 100-room mansion on the beach.

The work marked a milestone in the City’s plans to build a public beach club at 415 Pacific Coast Highway largely bankrolled with a grant from the Annenberg Foundation.

Open to the public in early 2009, the facility will include space for meetings and events, as well as opportunities for traditional beach recreation such as swimming, volleyball and beach tennis.

“The project is the culmination of an extensive community planning process that began in the late 1990s with the goal of taking advantage of the site’s attractive beachfront location, its colorful history and its potential as a unique public destination,” City officials wrote in a statement.

Developed in the 1920s by William Randolph Hearst for actress Marion Davies, the original estate became a gathering place for the rich and famous, who built lavish homes across the stretch of beach near Santa Monica’s northern border.

After Davies sold the estate, the mansion was briefly operated as a luxury oceanfront hotel and then demolished in the 1950s. The property was purchased by the State of California and leased to the private Sand & Sea Club for decades.

The site was briefly operated by the City as a seasonal public beach facility until the 1994 Northridge Earthquake damaged all the structures on site.

The project team includes Fred Fisher Partners Architects, Mia Lehrer & Associates, Charles Pankow Builders and public artist Roy McMakin.

For more information, visit 415pch.smgov.net. To be added to the project’s interest list, email 415pch@smgov.net.