Santa Monica Pier

Considered the focal point of Santa Monica Beach, the iconic and picturesque Santa Monica Pier boasts Pacific Park, a traditional pierside amusement park stocked with a Ferris wheel—the first and only solar-powered one of its kind—a roller coaster and the recently updated Sea Dragon, as well as fairground games, cotton candy stands, an arcade and a classic carousel housed in the historic Looff Hippodrome. Downstairs, you’ll find the Heal the Bay Aquarium, Santa Monica’s more modest answer to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. On warm weekends, the pier is predictably busy with families, beach bums and gym bunnies, who work out in public at the original Muscle Beach just south of the pier. Sure, the whole area is a bit touristy, but you can never tire of that view, and Pacific Park offers the closest thing to the fun and kitschy charm of Coney Island that we can point to in L.A.

A few years back, the Santa Monica Pier was regularly hosting a number of outdoor film and music events, bringing a hipper clientele to the boardwalk. That fell off a bit after the pandemic, but it looks like a comeback is in the works, with a new beachfront music festival on the calendar for this fall.