
Santa Monica also helped teach the world to fly. In 1921 Donald Douglas founded Douglas Aircraft here, building planes in a converted movie studio; in 1924 the U.S. Army's Douglas World Cruisers lifted off from Clover Field — today's Santa Monica Airport — and returned 175 days later as the first flight around the world. The company grew into one of the giants of American aviation, and for a generation the DC-series airliners that shrank the planet were born a mile from the beach.
Our Santa Monica logo carries the California Republic bear and star above "Est. 1850," the year of statehood — the shared retro emblem of our California places, drawn in a worn black-and-white that recalls a WPA poster or an old pier ticket. The bear links Santa Monica to every other California town we make; what makes this one Santa Monica is everything around it — the road's end, the wheel, the carousel, and the beach that stands for all beaches.
Why People Visit Santa Monica
Santa Monica rewards visitors with a rare mix — a historic amusement pier, the western end of Route 66, miles of state beach, and one of America's great walking downtowns, all on a bright Pacific bay. People come for the pier and the End of the Trail, and stay for the sunsets off the bluffs and the easy, salt-aired grace of California's beach city.