The Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica and is a prominent, 100-year-old landmark. It’s the endpoint of the legendary Route 66.
The pier contains Pacific Park, a family amusement park with a large Ferris wheel. It also has a carousel from the 1920s, an aquarium, shops, entertainers, an arcade, a trapeze school, a pub, and restaurants. The end of the pier is a popular location for anglers.
Santa Monica has had several piers over the years, however the current Santa Monica Pier is actually 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.
The Carousel was built in 1922 on the Pleasure Pier and features 44 hand-carved horses. It was rebuilt in 1990 inside the Looff Hippodrome. A calliope provides musical accompaniment.
The La Monica Ballroom opened in 1924 and closed in 1962. The La Monica Ballroom was the home of Spade Cooley television broadcasts in the early fifties. In 1955, the ballroom became the Hollywood Autocade housing over 100 unusual cars. From 1958 until 1962 it served as a roller skating rink, first as Skater’s Ballroom and then Santa Monica Roller Rink. The speed skating club won many state and regional championships. The bridge to the pier and entry gate was built in 1938 by the federal Works Project Administration, and replaced the former grade connection.
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