More From Santa Monica California
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Santa Monica California Vintage Retro Unisex Embroidered Fleece Jacket - White Logo
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Kiss at Still Water - Silhouette Art Giclée Unframed Art Print
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Santa Monica California Vintage Retro Premium Crewneck Sweatshirt - Black Logo
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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.
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.
