Shark Attack to Close After 24 Years

After serving three generations of visitors to the Redondo Beach Pier, Chuck and Judy Milner will close their seventh and final shop in November.

Shark Attack, one of the pier's longtime anchors, is known for its World War II memorabilia, gems, tourist items, jewelry, fossils and shark teeth, as well as the 16 1/2-foot preserved great white shark Georgette.

"All of the time, people come in and say they remember seeing Georgette (the shark) when they were a kid, and now they're bringing their children in," Judy Milner said in a news release. "Shark Attack has been a landmark on the pier since it opened. People … visit Georgette regularly."

Shark Attack opened in 1989—the year after a massive fire destroyed many structures, including four of their five shops at the time, on the Redondo Beach Pier.

"The fire was devastating, but we knew there was nowhere else we wanted to be but on the pier," Milner said.

In total, the Milners have owned and operated seven shops on the pier, according to the release.

"We have been Redondo Beach Pier people for over 40 years now," Milner said. "It's hard to imagine not being out here anymore."

And as for Georgette, who weighed 3,400 pounds when she was caught off the coast of Washington and was taxidermy dry preserved? She'll be donated to the Ocean Institute in Dana Point.