
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.
Today Santa Monica is California's beach and the end of America's road. Its story runs from the Tongva coast and the senator's 1875 resort, through the amusement-pier era, the birth of Douglas Aircraft, and the 1936 arrival of Route 66, to the solar wheel turning over the Pacific tonight. Wear a little of the place where the road runs out and the ocean begins.
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.