Where in Marina del Rey can you book a table that sits on the harbor itself? This November it is aboard a 1930 yacht tied up at 4445 Admiralty Way. The California Yacht Club owns it and has opened it to the public. The shoreside restaurant the County expected on that site has not opened, so the boat out front is doing the job.
What Happened at 4445 Admiralty Way
Tony P's Dockside Grill closed on Sunday, June 29, 2025. That October, Los Angeles County announced a license agreement with the California Yacht Club. It let the club use the former Tony P's site while the club and the County worked out a lease amendment. The plan was a sea-to-table restaurant and gathering space. The County said the project was in design and aimed to open in Spring 2026, and that CYC members would have bar service in the meantime.
Spring 2026 has come and gone, and no opening date has been announced for that restaurant. The building has found another use. According to The Argonaut, the club's clubhouse moved into Tony P's old building after its own clubhouse burned. That fire came four months after Jeff Weiss and his partners bought CYC in August 2023. Weiss is the third owner in the club's 103-year history.
So the building on the site is busy, but as a members' clubhouse. The part of the property anyone can book is the dock in front of it.
The Boat at the Guest Dock
CYC bought the yacht Northwind at the end of 2024 and moored it at the club's guest dock, directly in front of the former Tony P's. The Argonaut describes the boat as the first step in Weiss's larger plan to open the club, and the Marina with it, to people who are not members. The paper's headline calls it the Marina's only public upscale waterfront dining destination.
The boat is older than the harbor around it by more than three decades. BOAT International reports that Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company in Wisconsin built it and delivered it in 1930 to its first owner, Charles Martin Clark. In June 1961, a later owner from a Greek shipping family, Marcos Nomikos, hosted Jacqueline Kennedy aboard. The Argonaut adds that the shipyard built only two yachts, since most of its work was commercial vessels. The boat has room for eight guests and 12 crew, and the University of Alaska chartered it for five months in 1990 to study the waters near Kodiak Island after the Exxon Valdez spill.
Two popular parts of the story don't hold up as firmly:
- Dunkirk. The yacht has been linked to the 1940 evacuation, but BOAT International found no official record of Northwind as one of the Dunkirk Little Ships.
- Length. The venue's history page says 130 feet. The Argonaut and the Westside Current say 135. Accounts from the boat's early years, cited by BOAT International, put it at 123 and 125 feet.
The yacht came to Los Angeles in 2016, when CYC member Tom Jones bought it from a marina in Bremerton, Washington. When he decided to sell, he had already put $3 million into it, according to The Argonaut. The club spent last winter on more work. Weiss told The Argonaut the top deck in particular takes a beating from the weather:
"Because of the size of the boat, she's 135 feet and 96 years old, we used the winter and hired a team that specialized in retrofitting."
The Northwind soft-opened on April 3, and MyNewsLA reported its official public opening on Monday, June 29, 2026. That was a year to the day after Tony P's closed.
What a Booking Gets You
The Northwind works on prepaid reservations, not walk-in tables. The venue's site currently lists two regular services.
The Sunset Experience, Thursday through Saturday, 3 to 10 p.m. Through the venue's OpenTable page it costs $86.70 per person, prepaid. Dinner starts with house chips and caramelized onion dip, then lemon-chile hummus with za'atar pita. For the main you choose a lobster roll with basil aioli and osetra caviar served with a Caesar salad, braised short rib over polenta, or herbed quinoa and vegetables with ginger-miso purée. Dessert is a brown butter caramel budino or a passionfruit and chocolate sorbet.
The Brunch Experience, Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It costs $71.40 per person. You get a welcome cocktail called the Scuttlebutt, made with cherry vodka, lemonade, agave and lime, then a homemade cinnamon roll. Mains are avocado toast with salmon lox, an ahi poke bowl, a short rib breakfast burrito, or Belgian waffles with hot honey butter. The bar stays open until 6 p.m.
Both services follow the same rules:
- Guests must be 14 or older, and only guests 21 and over are served alcohol.
- Stiletto heels aren't allowed on the historic decks. Block heels and wedges are fine, and slippers are available on board.
- Pets aren't allowed aboard.
- Ticket holders park free in the lot at 4445 Admiralty Way. Facing the water, the boat is to the right of the building.
- The boat runs at the captain's discretion. If weather cancels service, the venue reschedules at no extra charge through [email protected].
Early press coverage, including The Argonaut, described a Friday through Sunday schedule. The venue now runs evening service on Thursdays too.
November Moves the Sunset Right After Boarding
The booking page tells guests they can "come early for golden hour or settle in as the marina lights come up." In summer, when the boat opened, those were two separate visits. Since the clocks went back on November 1, they fit inside the same early stretch of the service.
According to timeanddate.com's November 2026 table for Los Angeles, the sun set at 4:59 p.m. on November 1. It will set at 4:49 p.m. on November 15 and at 4:43 p.m. on November 30. Boarding starts at 3 p.m., so a November Thursday on the Northwind works out like this:
- 3:00 p.m. Service begins. The harbor is still in full afternoon light.
- Roughly 4:00 to 4:45 p.m. Golden hour over the Main Channel. Under two hours after boarding.
- About 4:45 to 5:00 p.m. Sunset, depending on the date.
- 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Five hours of service after sunset, as twilight fades and the marina's lights become the view.
If you book a 7 p.m. table in mid-November, you'll be eating long after dark. The light the venue is named for comes during the first two hours of the shift, which in this season makes it closer to a late lunch than a dinner reservation. The current experience listings on OpenTable run through November 20, so check the booking page before planning a late-month visit.
The Rest of the Calendar Sits Along the Same Channel
The County's own winter programming is a short walk up the water at Burton Chace Park, 13650 Mindanao Way. It also starts around dusk and ends well after dark.
- Neighborhood Game Night runs Tuesdays, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., on November 10, 17 and 24. Walk-ups are welcome, but the County suggests registering on Eventbrite.
- Sandy Brushes runs Wednesdays, 5 to 6:30 p.m., on November 11, 18 and 25.
- The Marina del Rey Farmers' Market runs year-round on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., in Marina Lot 11 at 14101 Panay Way.
The biggest night of the season also centers on the Main Channel. The 64th Annual Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade is Saturday, December 12, 2026, rain or shine. Roaming carolers start at Chace Park at 4 p.m., and food trucks, a photo booth and a kids' art corner run from 4 to 8 p.m. A show runs from 5:45 to 6 p.m., followed by the parade from 6 to 8 p.m. The County calls the 5:45 show a Holiday Light Show. Visit Marina del Rey calls it a drone show, lists the theme as "Hollywood Under the Stars," and names David Chokachi as Grand Marshal. During the show, no boats may enter the Main Channel between Basins B and H.
Parking near Chace Park may be easier by then. Lot 4, near the Visitor Center at Admiralty Way and Mindanao Way, has been closed for construction since December 1, 2025. It is being rebuilt as a three-level garage plus a surface lot, with 368 spaces between them, open around the clock, with EV charging and a sail-shaped art piece by FreelandBuck facing Mindanao Way. The County's timeline puts the end of construction in December 2026. The County has not said whether the garage will open before the parade.
At 4445 Admiralty Way, a 1930 hull spent last winter in retrofit so it could take on the weather and seat the public at the old Tony P's dock. For Steven Moran and the team at Steven James Design & Development, that kind of work is familiar. Restoring a structure so it holds up for another generation and gives people a reason to gather is what we do on every home we touch. If you're weighing a restoration or remodel near the water, schedule a consultation to discuss your project.
