Over the past weekend I drove down to Santa Monica to spend the afternoon getting lunch with my family. Santa Monica along with Venice beach are some of the staple costal landmarks in California. There isn’t a time of year where you don’t see tourists roaming up and down the pier or boardwalk. This location has just about everything possible entertainment. Most tourists enjoy the performances along the pier as well as the amusement rides while locals will go to fish off the end of the pier. This area is a place where visitors can get an easy sense of some of the coastal California culture. Seeing the performers on the pier can give possible insight on what it is like to work hard making a successful career out of their passion in Los Angeles. To Californians, the Santa Monica beach is not the place you want to go if you want an “actual” beach trip. Typically the quieter and less populated beaches are where you can find locals. Living so close to this popular area one starts to take it for granted the accessibility we have to these locations. This is a beach where people go for entertainment rather spending the day out in the waves. Venice beach has a really wide sandy area which takes a good trek to make it to the shore. I’ve never actually walked all the way down to the shore while at Venice simply because whenever I visit the area it is for entertainment purposes rather a beach trip. Typically unless the visiting party knows a local, visitors will come to this beach due to the popularity. Due to the huge growth of infrastructure along the beach, coastal accessibility is quite frustrating. When getting to the coast is hard for a local, it’s going to be near impossible for someone unfamiliar with the territory. This issue with all the new coastal properties is a potential reason a visitor would choose the Santa Monica/Venice beach over a more relaxing beach more northern from the area. The piers effect on bringing in tourism is timeless and I believe this beach is one of the beaches people envision when they thing of California and our culture.
The last time I was at Santa Monica I was bombarded by people on people on people. Just a sea of people. On the sand and on the pier. It was so overwhelming I felt like I didn’t have access. I remember wishing that maybe if just half of these people could just go away. But I guess access can take more than one form. This post helped me realize that I have access in the sense that Santa Monica is relatively arm reach to me. I have a lot of pride in the beaches I grew around but the beach is a common place to all not just be and my fellow Californians. So if anyone wants to come and take in the beauty they should. This was a fun read.
Thanks for reading. Yes the only time I’ve ever seen the pier empty was early in the morning when the locals go for jogs. I am not one for crowds so when I hear we are venturing to Santa Monica I know instantly we are going to be walking into a crowd. Its cool how we have all of these different beaches with their different personalities.
I love this place! There is so much to do and a veriety of kinds of people to enjoy.
I’ve only been here once and it was very crowded like you’ve mentioned. I also only went to walk around and check things out, walk on the pier, and see the entertainment aspects of the area. This is another thing you mentioned (not as appealing to go and have a beach day here because of the crowding). Thanks for the post – very accurate!