Long before the road or the pier, this stretch of coast was home to the Tongva (Gabrielino) people, who lived along Santa Monica Bay for centuries. A Spanish expedition camped nearby in 1769 and left the name of a saint on the place; through the Mexican era the land was ranch country, part of the great Sepulveda grant. The Tongva remain part of the Los Angeles region today, and the bay they knew is still the heart of the city that grew here.
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.
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.
