Forrest Gump’s momma said “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”  With the rebirth of Galveston Island’s Historic Pleasure Pier, Texas is gonna get its first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. restaurant.  So it appears Forrest Gump’s momma was right.

Galveston’s Pleasure Pier, about 40 minutes south of Houston, will join New York’s Coney Island Luna Park, Chicago’s Navy Pier, and the Santa Monica Pier as a waterfront entertainment venue when it opens Memorial Day weekend. 

“Much of our plans for redeveloping the Pier are inspired by the people and places that define Galveston’s rich heritage.  We intend to perpetuate that vision with the Pleasure Pier, and create a lasting legacy for future generations,” said Tilman J. Fertitta, owner and CEO of Landry’s, a nationwide, diversified restaurant, hospitality and entertainment company. 

The project’s visionary and a Galveston native is also the creator of the popular Kemah Boardwalk, inland on Galveston Bay.  Fertitta’s eatery and entertainment empire extends from Texas to about 30 states including Nevada, where he owns the Las Vegas landmark casino the Golden Nugget.

Born on June 25, 1957, Fertitta was 4 years old in 1961 when the iconic Pleasure Pier was closed as a result of Hurricane Carla.  Although he was just 8 when the Flagship Hotel was built in its place in 1965, nothing stimulated Fertitta’s imagination like the vintage Pleasure Pier.

Now, memories of bygone days, when children played games and mounted rides on the pier have inspired the Texas tycoon to resurrect the historic venue.  At a cost of $60 million, the Pleasure Pier will be a family destination with enough space to accommodate up to 7,000 visitors daily.

“We’re extremely excited about the Pleasure Pier; it correlates with everything that’s charming about Galveston, and provides added character to the Island,” said Leah Cast, public relations manager for Galveston Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.

In line with that character is the Texas Star, one of 16 midway amusement rides poised to grace the 1,130-foot pier. The towering swing will give riders a bird’s eye view of the Gulf of Mexico as it rises more than 230 feet above the Gulf.  Texas Star will be the tallest amusement ride in the Lone Star State.

The Iron Shark roller coaster, which boasts a 100-foot vertical lift and hair-raising drop, will evoke blood-curdling screams from pier-goers.  The Pirate’s Plunge, a twisting and turning log-flume ride will accommodate five people per boat.  But visitors may want to delay lunch until after they disembark.   

A host of other tourist attractions await the 3 million tourists expected to visit each year. Two of the hottest rides are the Galaxy Ferris wheel and a double-deck Carousel.  Both rides are sure to trigger nostalgic memories for baby boomers.

The Pier Pileup, old-fashioned bumper cars, the Gulf Glider, a classic swing carousel, and the Texas Tea, a set of six teacup-shaped rides, will thrill parents and grandparents as much as the children.

“In the South, there is nothing like the Pleasure Pier.  We feel this is going to help the rebirth of Galveston, especially after Hurricane Ike in 2008,” said Cast, adding that Carnival Triumph, Carnival Magic and Mariner of the Seas cruise ships are new, larger capacity arrivals that helped boost tourism.

In fact, last summer Galveston saw more tourists than ever before.  Surprisingly, the spike came three years after Hurricane Ike had decimated the island and surrounding oceanfront residences and businesses.

“It’s amazing, with so many cruise ships coming here now, we feel that Galveston is experiencing a new Golden Era in its history,” said Cast, pointing out two future cruise ship additions: Disney Magic in the fall and the Crown Princess in December.

Lollipop & Pop Candy store will adhere to the pier’s slice of Americana, too. The store will sell Coke bottles made of wax and sticky, gummy candy-including Bit O’ Honey-among an array of sweet and sugary products.

Food venues include Bubba Shrimp Co. restaurant, purchased by Landry’s, Fertitta’s company, in 2010. The California chain consists of 33 national and international restaurants.  Bubba Shrimp Co. is the only restaurant chain named after the popular Hollywood movie titled Forrest Gump.

Bubba Shrimp Co. will serve Southern dishes, including Mama’s Blue’s Southern Charmed Fried Shrimp and Mama Blue’s Shrimp Gumbo.  Additional items include Forrest’s Seafood Feast and Bubba’s After the Storm Bucket Boat Trash. The restaurant plans a laid-back Alabama ambience and room for 350 visitors.

Next door to Bubba Shrimp Co will be Gump on the Run, a fast-food version of the restaurant for those who want to eat and run.  Other kiosk-food options include hot dogs, cotton candy and pretzels.   The aroma of fried funnel cakes-as iconic as the pier itself-will please those with a sweet tooth.

But revival of the old Pleasure Pier wouldn’t be complete without vintage souvenirs and historic memorabilia.  Those shops and boutiques, run or owned by the ubiquitous Landry’s company, will be on the pier and across the street.

Although Seawall Boulevard is dotted with Landry’s properties, including San Luis Resort, Spa and Conference Center, flanked on one side by his Rainforest Café and the Holiday Inn Resort on the other, Feritta didn’t always have an all-encompassing presence here.

Nearly 70 years have passed since the original Pleasure Pier was built in 1943 as a playground for the military.  Situated at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard, the city of Galveston bought it after World War II and ran it as an amusement park.  It was hailed as the largest of its kind in the nation until 1961.

The Pleasure Pier was finally dismantled four years after Carla had laid waste to the island. The 7-story Flagship Hotel was built in 1965 in its place.  It billed itself as the only hotel in the nation built entirely over water.                 

For more than 40 years, the Texas landmark stood as a symbol of man’s power over nature.  Then in 2008-like a recurring nightmare-Hurricane Ike ravaged this island city of some 48,000 residents, and the Flagship Hotel.

Fertitta had bought the aging hotel (where he had been a lifeguard as a teen) in 2004 for $500,000. But the hotel was so severely damaged in 2008 that in 2011, he ordered the hotel’s demolition.  Fertitta had determined that redeveloping the Pleasure Pier would be the best investment.

“We have a proven track record for projects of this magnitude and complexity, and understand what is required to concert today’s battered pier into a world-class venue,” said the 54-year-old Fertitta.

Ironically, the island that was beaten to a pulp by Hurricane Ike, is now posting “help wanted” signs along the sandy, windswept Seawall.  The San Luis Resort is currently doubling as an ad hoc employment office.

Even before the pier and subsequent hotel were built, Seawall and 25th was a magnet for beach lovers and locals alike.  Fertitta used to ride his bike as a boy along the sandy Seawall Boulevard.  The concrete wall was first built after a hurricane in 1900.

Despite the devastation and the death of thousands in the hurricane of 1900, the Electric Park was built in 1908. It was situated across the street from the 1940s Pleasure Pier.  Electric Park boasted rides, vaudeville shows and a “freak show,” featuring a man covered in tattoos.

Since life is like the proverbial box of chocolates, residents weathered another hurricane in 1915. This hurricane wiped out the Electric Park, replacing it with the Pleasure Pier in 1943. Yet in spite of the odds, Fertitta isn’t the only one drawn to the island’s rich history and mystique.  

From Juan de Grijalva, the Spanish explorer who discovered it in 1519, to the Spanish who named it Galvez in 1777 for Bernardo de Galvez y Madrid, Spain’s Louisiana governor, pirates and pedestrians who stroll along Galveston’s promenade have been subliminally smitten with it. 

“Like people, all cities have a past.  If Galveston were a person, it would be a feisty, still beautiful Centenarian with tales to tell of pirates, great tragedies and opulent lifestyles,” wrote the late Robert Nesbitt, local author and historian.

For ticket information or more on Galveston Island’s Pleasure Pier, go to pleasure-pier.com  For more information on Galveston beaches, resorts and hotels; contact Galveston Island Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (GICVB) galveston.com

Rosie Carbo is the Lifestyles Editor for Wandering Educators   

Photos courtesy of Rosie and Victor Carbo. Historical photos courtesy of Landry's.