Things to do nearSanta Monica Pier

Santa Monica Pier has anchored the southern California coastline since it first opened in 1909, making it one of the oldest surviving pleasure piers on the West Coast. Over the decades it has served as a working municipal pier, a fishing destination, and a center of seaside entertainment, surviving storms, fires, and the shifting tastes of generations of visitors.

Today the pier is best known for Pacific Park, a small amusement park that sits near its midpoint and features a solar-powered Ferris wheel visible from miles along the coast. The Looff Hippodrome, a National Historic Landmark, houses a hand-carved carousel that dates to 1922 and remains one of the finest examples of early-twentieth-century amusement architecture in the country.

Anglers line the railings at the seaward end throughout the day, casting for mackerel, bass, and halibut in the same waters where fishermen worked a hundred years ago. Street performers, portrait artists, and musicians fill the boardwalk on weekends, giving the pier a lively, unhurried character that feels distinct from the broader bustle of Los Angeles.

The views from the far end take in the full arc of Santa Monica Bay, with the Santa Monica Mountains visible to the north and the Palos Verdes Peninsula to the south on clear days. Few places along the California coast offer this combination of history, working life, and open-sky beauty in a single walkable stretch.