Where the Wharf's Swordfish Landed, and What's Still Standing at Victoria and Channel Islands
November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
Linnea von Wissmann stood at the back of the crowd on August 15 and raised her bidding paddle every time someone else looked up at the roof. The fish was still on its perch above the Spudnuts building. It was nine feet long and metallic blue, with a broken bill and peeling paint. When she reached $2,500, nobody bid higher. As she told the Ventura County Star, she knew what would happen next: "I knew everyone who drives down Victoria Ave is going to go, 'Where did the fish go? It's at my house now.'"
Her house is in Oxnard Shores. She and Patrick Salamunovich moved there from Santa Monica 15 years ago. Crews cut the swordfish free on September 1, and it now rests in a backyard in the beach neighborhood.
The same thing is happening to Fisherman's Wharf as a whole behind the green fence at Victoria Avenue and Channel Islands Boulevard. Its pieces are being handed out. One landmark went to a neighbor's yard. Another becomes the logo of the business replacing it. A large share of the ground was never slated for demolition at all.
The wharf is older than the fish. A Harbor Department filing says the retail and commercial complex was built in 1972. It held five restaurants, nine retail spaces, a beauty salon, six commercial offices, a former museum and live-theater space, and four public restrooms. Developer Bud Smith built and owned the businesses there. He also built much of the rest of Channel Islands Harbor.
Smith fished for swordfish from the bow of his 83-foot yacht, The Dry Martini. The Star reported that he and Carlos Coella, his dockmaster and right-hand man, decided a fiberglass swordfish with a real bill belonged on top of a prominent wharf building. They hired Danny Crave, an Oxnard shipwright who was 34 at the time. He told the Star that Coella asked him to build it for Smith's birthday. Others say the two men came up with the idea together.
Crave built it in a workshop on Oxnard's Fifth Street from foam, fiberglass and a pole. The glass eyes came from a taxidermist in South Dakota. The long, flat bill came from a swordfish caught by Marc Hermann, Smith's frequent fishing partner. Crave was paid $600, at $15 an hour, and told the Star he wished he had asked for more. The fish went up on the Spudnuts building just before Christmas 1995. Compass points were added later so it would look like a weather vane.
The fish went up while the wharf was still busy. "It was booming," Ronnie Tegland, Smith's grandson, told the Star. "There were people on the weekend." The story describes commercial fishermen bringing their catch to the seafood market, along with gift shops, restaurants, bars and the lighthouse.
That didn't last. After Smith sold his harbor properties, the complex slowly emptied. When von Wissmann arrived about 15 years ago, the Star reports, the wharf was mostly empty apart from the Spudnuts doughnut shop, a few other stores and a Chinese restaurant. The Harbor Department now describes the property as aging and largely vacant before redevelopment began.
The swordfish stayed up there the whole time. Von Wissmann drove past almost every day and checked on it. "It just spoke to me," she told the Star.
Karls is the family-owned German company redeveloping the site. It could have hauled everything away with the rubble. Instead it held a charity auction of wharf landmarks at the August 15 kickoff. Bidders could buy a fisherman statue, Spanish cannons and the rooftop swordfish. According to the Harbor Department's September Director's Message, more than 350 people came. The Oxnard High School band played, and the auction raised $14,000 for local nonprofits. KEYT reported that attendees also helped paint the temporary green fence that now surrounds the site.
A few days after the auction, a Karls Village official presented the swordfish to von Wissmann. A construction worker drilled into the cork over one eye and found three damp, weathered photographs inside. One showed Coella. The other two showed Crave, who had tucked them in when he built the fish because, as he put it, it seemed like the thing to do. On September 18, Crave came to look at the fish in its new backyard and offered to help restore it.
The Spudnuts building it stood on for 31 years came down on September 14.
The auction moved a few landmarks off the site. The project plans keep many more where they are. The Karls lease covers about 11 acres, and the Harbor Department says nearly 6 of them will be redeveloped. The other 5 acres stay in their current uses, with improvements planned for parts of them.
| Piece of the wharf | Under the Karls plans |
|---|---|
| Lighthouse | Kept and built into the design; already painted with the Karls logo and "Eat, Shop, Play" |
| Southern parking lot | Kept, with new surfacing, striping, ADA access, EV infrastructure and landscaping |
| Public park and bioswale | Kept, with new paths, native plantings and informal seating proposed |
| Public restroom | Kept in its current use |
| Transient boat slips | Kept in their current use |
| 1972 retail buildings | Demolished starting August 2026 |
| Rooftop swordfish | In a backyard in Oxnard Shores |
The redeveloped part is planned at about 60,000 square feet of retail, dining and recreation. That includes a market-style building, restaurants, a café and bakery, and family entertainment areas. The Harbor Department says the plans include no apartments or condominiums.
Robert Dahl, the owner of Karls, comes from a family of strawberry growers and has known Oxnard for 41 years. He described the plan to KEYT this way:
"It's a place for families, no entrance fee, it will be a beautiful place for eating something, having fun with kids or without kids, a place to visit."
Karls runs eight "experience villages" in Germany, and Oxnard is set to be its first in the United States. The Harbor Department's overview of the project notes that photos of the larger German locations don't necessarily show what will be built here. The harbor version is designed around nautical features and the region's maritime and farming history.
On the east edge of the fence, Hopper Boat Rentals is at 2741 Victoria Ave. It rents boats, kayaks, pedal boats and paddleboards. In June, the Harbor Department said the business would stay open during construction.
The fence went up this year, but the approvals took several years. The Harbor Department requested proposals in 2022 and held 12 community workshops in 2023 and 10 more in 2024. The project was substantially revised in response to public feedback before it reached the county and the Coastal Commission. These are the dates since then:
The wharf may not be the last property near this corner to change. In its September message, the Harbor Department said several developers were looking at the former Whale's Tail restaurant site, though many details are still undecided.
The kept park and boat slips mean the harbor's busiest month goes on next to the construction site. Channel Islands Harbor's 7th Annual Food & Toy Drive runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, at Harbor Landing. It benefits Food Share of Ventura County and Toys for Tots. The next morning, the 2nd Annual Reindeer Paddle brings kayakers and paddleboarders in holiday outfits onto the water from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The 60th Annual Parade of Lights, themed "Aloha Afloat," follows on December 12 from 7 to 9 p.m.
After the holidays, Visit Oxnard says the local whale-watching season typically runs from late December through late April. Trips go out with Island Packers, Channel Islands Expeditions and Channel Islands Whale Watching.
This winter, the lighthouse still stands at the corner with its new logo, and the swordfish that stood above the Spudnuts building for 31 years is in a backyard in Oxnard Shores.
Marketing a waterfront home means telling the story of the place around it, from a swordfish built for a birthday to a lighthouse carrying a new logo. If you'd like help telling your harbor-side home's story while Karls Village is under construction, Palmieri Stein Group can help. Start your coastal home journey with a conversation.
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