Great Day Santa Monica

Santa Monica is an amazing place to visit for a day or a weekend. From the pier, amusement park rides, 3rd Street Promenade, movie theaters, restaurants, street performers and of course the great sandy beach, there's something for everyone.

 

Everything is close to each other with parking structures throughout the area. We parked in Lot 6 on 2nd street: free first 90 minutes, then $1.00 for every hour thereafter. Not bad if you're headed out only for a few hours.

 

Restaurants run the gamut of cuisines and price. As my son and I were eager to get to the pier, we stopped for a quick bite at Stefano's Pizzeria. They primarily sold pizza by the slice, which I'm sure is one reason why there were a number of high schoolers here. Their outdoor tables are also great for people watching as it was right on the corner of Arizona and 3rd.

From here we walked south on the Promenade past the dinosaur statues, stores and a street magician then through the Santa Monica Place open air mall.
 

Then we joined the throngs of people and headed to the pier on this glorious sunny 75-degree January day. From the top of Ocean Boulevard you have to walk down a long ramp to the pier itself. At the top of the ramp were two sets of street performers. One set was a pair of guys wearing a Trump mask and the other a Kim Jong-un mask who were posing for pictures with tourists. The other was a music dance troupe.

 

On the pier is the historic merry go round, restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp, lots of vendors and musicians. I particularly enjoyed watching two young women sing while their father played a ukulele. There were also fishermen on the pier and people swimming in the water. From the pier, are great views of Santa Monica beach and Malibu to the north. Looking south is Venice Beach  and the hill of Palos Verdes.

 

After walking to the end of the pier and passing a sign that said "66 End of the Trail",  we headed back to the car. We stopped at an intranet coffee shop and picked up a good smoothie for the hour and a half long drive to go 15 miles back home. Traffic from Santa Monica to anywhere in L.A. after 4:00 is a tough.

 

A great day out in Santa Monica!

A Day Out: Santa Monica Pier

Singers, snakes, and shakes! These are just a few of the interesting things one can do at the Santa Monica pier.

Saturday afternoon I took the family to the Santa Monica pier. It had been over five years since I had made the trek to the pier and while many things had changed and many more were still the same.

Parking and traffic were just as bad as I remembered. However, the city of Santa Monica now has an interactive parking map with real time updates on how much space each lot has at any given time. It showed us that all the public lots on 4th St. were at 93%, but a lot on 2nd St. was at 33%. Here's link to the site: Santa Monica Parking Map

Parking was free for the first 90 minutes and $1 for each half hour thereafter.

From here we walked ten minutes to the bluffs overlooking Santa Monica beach.

Near the cannon pointing towards the pier, yes a WWII canon sits on the bluff, five men had a number of boa constrictors and exotic birds they allowed bystanders take pictures with in exchange for tips.

From here we followed the throngs down to the pier.

There were more food places than I remembered: a Bubba Gump Shrimp, Pier Burger, Mariasol and a number of others.

There were multiple performers and singers on the pier as well. One woman sang about San Diego and at the very end of the pier with the sun setting behind him, a young man sang "Here Comes The Sun," by George Harrison.

People were still fishing off the pier like when I was a child and one teenager caught a baby mackerel using fishing line wrapped around his hand and kernels of corn from a can of Del Monte sweet corn on a hook.

The arcade and rock shop were also still here, as was the guy with a megaphones reciting bible versus. Probably a different guy, but same depressing message.

Then we headed over to Pacific Park on the pier and rode the Ferris wheel where we saw the last glow of the sun disappearing on the western horizon. This entire area was much filled in since my last visit. I believe the Ferris wheel was the only attraction.

For dinner we ate at Pier Burger which had very good french fries and shakes and then headed back home.

A great way to spend a day.