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.
The twentieth century layered on the rest: the 1920s "Gold Coast" of beach mansions brought the first Hollywood money to the sand; the palm-lined bluffs of Palisades Park became the city's grand balcony; the Third Street Promenade turned downtown into one of America's great walking streets; and the farmers market grew into a Wednesday institution that feeds half the restaurant kitchens in Los Angeles. Through it all the pier kept its promise — and in 1998 the Ferris wheel went solar, the first of its kind, so the wheel over the Pacific now runs on the same sunshine that built the town.
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.
