Santa Monica Pier
Landmark entrance to the Santa Monica Pier
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| Type | Amusement Pier |
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| Spans | Pacific Ocean |
| Locale | Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Opening date | September 9, 1909 |
| Coordinates | 34°00′31″N 118°29′55″W / 34.00861°N 118.49861°WCoordinates: 34°00′31″N 118°29′55″W / 34.00861°N 118.49861°W |
| Designated | August 17, 1976 |
The Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California. With an iconic entrance, the pier is popular with residents and visitors as a landmark that is over 100 years old.
The pier contains Pacific Park, a family amusement park with its one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art, solar paneled Ferris wheel. (This should not be confused with Pacific Ocean Park, a former amusement park a few miles south of Santa Monica Pier, which operated from 1958 to 1967 and is now demolished.)
It also has an original carousel hippodrome from the 1920s, the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium operated by Heal the Bay, shops, entertainers, a video arcade, a trapeze school, pubs, and restaurants. The pier's west end is a popular location for anglers. The pier is also very popular for Pokémon Go.
During the summer months the pier is venue to weekly outdoor concerts, movies, and other family friendly activities, many that are free to the public.
Santa Monica has had several piers; however, the Santa Monica Pier is two adjoining piers that long had separate owners. The long, narrow Municipal Pier opened September 9, 1909, primarily to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers, and had no amenities. The short, wide adjoining Pleasure Pier to the south, a.k.a. Newcomb Pier, was built in 1916 by Charles I. D. Looff and his son Arthur, amusement park pioneers. Attractions on the Pleasure Pier eventually included the Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome building (which now houses the current carousel and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), the Blue Streak Racer wooden roller coaster (which was purchased from the defunct Wonderland amusement park in San Diego), the Whip, merry-go-rounds, Wurlitzer organs, and a funhouse.
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