Santa Monica as a town dates to 1875, when a Nevada silver senator, John P. Jones, and a ranching colonel, Robert Baker, laid it out as a seaside resort — a 'Pearl of the Pacific' they hoped would become Los Angeles's great port. Jones gave the city the long ribbon of bluff-top land that became Palisades Park, still its finest public space; the railroad arrived the same year; and the town incorporated in 1886. The port ambitions faded — San Pedro won that prize — but the resort stuck, and Santa Monica became the place Los Angeles went to the beach.
Our Santa Monica logo carries the California Republic bear and star above '1850,' the year of statehood — the shared retro emblem of every Merlin Classics California place. Drawn in a worn black-and-white that recalls a WPA poster or old pier signage, the bear-and-star is California in shorthand: tough, independent, sun-bleached. The bear is the through-line that links Santa Monica to every other California place we make. What makes this one Santa Monica is everything around it — the pier and the wheel, the Route 66 sign, the palm bluffs, and the long beach on the bay.
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 beach, and a walkable downtown, all on a bright Pacific bay. People come for the pier and the End of the Trail, for sunsets off the bluffs of Palisades Park, and for an easy California beach day with a long history behind it. It is iconic, friendly, and unmistakably Southern California.
