Then the century's greatest road arrived. Route 66 was commissioned in 1926, carrying the country west from Chicago through eight states — and in 1936 the route was extended to Santa Monica, bringing America's Main Street to the edge of the continent. Dust Bowl migrants, GIs, vacationing families in station wagons: for decades the road delivered the nation to this beach, and the "End of the Trail" sign on the pier now marks the ceremonial finish line of the most famous drive on Earth — the official historic terminus sits a few blocks inland at Lincoln and Olympic, a fine piece of trivia for the road-trippers who made it all the way.
The sand wrote its own history. Just south of the pier in the 1930s, the original Muscle Beach opened — gymnasts, acrobats, and weightlifters working out in the open air, launching the physical-culture boom that reshaped American fitness before the scene migrated down the coast. And the beach itself — wide, state-run, and seemingly endless — became simply California's beach: the one the postcards, the songs, and the closing shots of a thousand films actually mean.
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.
