See how Pismo Beach took ‘bad 80s remodel’ of old city hall, reshaped it into new police annex

Pismo Beach celebrated the opening of a new police and parking annex building in one of the city government’s oldest buildings downtown.

Local officials and law enforcement gathered at the building that was the former Pismo Beach City Hall in the 1940s and ‘50s — a small white building on the corner of Dolliver Street and Hinds Avenue — to tour the new facility, which went through a host of internal and external upgrades over the past year.

Police Chief Jeff Smith said the $1.5 million facility is a welcome upgrade to the agency’s downtown presence while its new headquarters on Bello Street also undergoes construction.

“We had talked years about updating this building, one that just was kind of run down and really been remodeled to accommodate tourism,” Smith said. “With the growth of the city and how busy we are downtown, we wanted to create a space where we could have not only our parking but our bike team, so they could have quicker responses.”

The renovated property was fully refitted for police work over the course of the past year, adding storage for the department’s bikes and off-road vehicle for beach responses, and provides office space and parking for police and parking workers, Smith said.

The renovation was done to bring a less well-used city property back to useful condition and restore its historic aesthetic, which dates back to its roots as a San Luis Obispo County government office in the 1930s.

“We wanted to continue to honor that history and keep that the uniqueness,” Smith said. “We could do a cool modern building, but it’s not Pismo, and it’s not why people come here.”

Vintage downtown Pismo Beach building gets a facelift

City engineer Eric Eldridge, who oversaw the reconstruction effort over the past year, said the construction work came in two phases: undoing the restoration work of the past and retrofitting the building for the future.

“The city got it at some point when they incorporated, and then they did what we keep calling a bad 80s remodel,” Eldridge said.

Until 2023, the building featured a beige stucco color scheme with sloped roofs and was lacking in many modern amenities that are commonplace in most government buildings, Eldridge said.

He said the facility lacked any kind of heating or cooling, and didn’t have running hot water — not exactly a place where police workers would want to spend their break time.

“We just wanted to try to embrace the classic California, so we went with neon signs out front, which is kind of pretty typical for (downtown),” Eldridge said.

Other lighting improvements included adding neon blade signs to the front of the building and providing illumination for the large concrete clamshell that is repainted each season.

Eldridge said because the clamshell is a popular photo spot with tourists, he gave it nighttime illumination so it’ll always be photo-ready.

Inside, the building now has restrooms, a break room, office space, a walk-up booth where people can resolve parking issues and get in contact with police.

The redesign was drawn up by architect Rubio Medina, with electric work from Thoma Electric, Inc., fire suppression services from Collings and Associates, plumbing by BMA Mechanical and structural engineering from DCSE Associates, Inc., according to a staff report on the building work.

Smith said the new annex’s location downtown will save officers time getting around the city and take some traffic and pressure off of the main police office.

“Anytime my bike team needed use a bathroom, or had to run a report or even using the Polaris (beach vehicle), they would have to go all the way to 1000 Bell, jump on that and come back,” Smith said. “Now, we’re a block away with the Polaris if there’s something big on the beach.”

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