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 built his railroad and his mile-long wharf, and for a time the port dream was real: Santa Monica served as the region's port of call into the early 1900s, until San Pedro took the harbor trade for good. The city incorporated in 1886 and kept the better inheritance — the beach.
Our Santa Monica logo carries the California Republic bear and star above "Est. 1850," the year of statehood — the shared retro emblem of our California places, drawn in a worn black-and-white that recalls a WPA poster or an old pier ticket. The bear links Santa Monica to every other California town we make; what makes this one Santa Monica is everything around it — the road's end, the wheel, the carousel, and the beach that stands for all beaches.
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.
