One of my favorite places to go, the busy city life of Los Angeles and the traffic was wearing on my nerves, was to the beach.  Any one of the beaches along the Southern California coast suited me must fine.  From the wide open and very quiet spots in Malibu, to the funky and urban Venice Beach, to the one right in the middle, Santa Monica Beach.  And one of my favorite spots in Santa Monica, was a corner of the Santa Monica Pier, just north of the roller coaster.  Here, I could look out at the ocean, and almost completely forget about the noise and the populated city streets of LA. 

Many people looking for some of the best Los Angeles hotel accommodations will often times look for those which are located in close proximity to the beaches.  The Pier was opened to the public in 1909, and at that time there was no Ferris wheel or fancy restaurant, however thousands of people would flock to the Pier for outdoor concerts and music festivals.  The Pier quickly became popular with fisherman, and while they no longer fish off the Santa Monica Pier, you will often times see many people fishing just a bit down the boardwalk, off the Venice Beach Pier.  The Santa Monica Pier drew such crowds, that many local entrepreneurs began to formulate ideas for businesses to built right on the Pier itself. 

Soon the Blue Streak Roller Coaster was built, as well as the Carousel which is housed in the first named National Historic Landmark of Santa Monica, the Hippodrome.  The Pier has undergone several changes in the one hundred years since it was first opened, but one thing about it has never changed, and that is that today, it still continues to be a huge draw for tourists as well as locals, wanting a bit of respite from the busy city life that is happening just a few blocks inland.  During my two years living in Los Angeles, I went to the Pier almost every week.  It is a great place to go in the summer when the crowds are in town, and a beautiful place to go in the winter when the sky is gray and the waves are a bit choppy.  The Santa Monica Pier is one of the gems of the city, and a great place to go escape and relax.

The Favorite Pier of Los Angeles is a post from: Mountain Monkeys