The Story Of… The Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica California

 

Exclusive Interview by Karen Beishuizen
All photos are courtesy of Santa Monica Pier

The Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened to the public on September 9, 1909, to great fanfare including a parade, musical performances, a theatrical performance, swim and beach competitions, and a salute from a US Navy flotilla just off the west end of the Pier. The famous Wheel is the first, and still only, solar powered Ferris Wheel in the entire world. The carousel inside the Hippodrome today is a 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel. It has been here since 1947 and still boasts its original 44 antique hand-carved wooden horses, now over 100 years old! The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford was filmed here and other movies like Forrest Gump and it is seen in many series on tv. A book about the history of the pier was published in 2009: Santa Monica Pier: A Century on the Last Great Pleasure Pier. The second edition of the book will hit the shelves in Spring 2024. If you are in Santa Monice, have a stroll and check out everything! It is worth it!

KB: How was Santa Monica Pier founded? Tell me the history.

In 1908 the City of Santa Monica, young and increasingly popular as a beach town, was facing the dilemma of how best to dispose of their sewage. After considering a number of proposals, city officials decided that the best method at the time would be to build a 1,600-foot-long pier with a pipeline underneath to dispose of sewage after undergoing treatment through an adjacent sewage facility. Not exactly the most glorious beginning, right? Still, the same city officials recognized the emerging importance of piers within its vicinity (Venice and Ocean Park already had very popular amusement piers), and they were determined to build this new municipal pier with some sort of special distinction. The distinction that they settled upon was to build the new pier entirely of concrete, making it the first-ever concrete pier on the west coast of the United States, and the second such pier in the entire world. Upon completion of an 18-month construction process, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier opened to the public on September 9, 1909, to great fanfare including a parade, musical performances, a theatrical performance, swim and beach competitions, and a salute from a US Navy flotilla just off the west end of the Pier. Not bad for a concrete pier upon which all you could do was walk and fish! Not long after the opening, the citizens of Santa Monica desired something more from their pier. In 1916 the first amusement park was added, and in 1934 a breakwater was built in order to create Santa Monica Yacht Harbor (which Santa Monica Pier was known as for several decades).

KB: Tell me about the amusement park and the Ferris Wheel.

Pacific Park – the amusement park currently on today’s Santa Monica Pier – opened in 1996, making it the first permanent amusement park on the Pier in 66 years (the original amusement park closed in 1930 due to the Great Depression, and the Pier occasionally hosted travelling carnivals throughout the 1980s and early 1990s). Pacific Park is a privately owned business. Technically, the Santa Monica Pier is equivalent to a 3-block city street with a number of privately owned & operated businesses upon it, including that big amusement park. The Pacific Wheel (Ferris Wheel) is the first, and still only, solar powered one in the entire world. Solar panels are on top of most of the buildings within Pacific Park.

KB: Tell me about the carousel hippodrome.

The Looff Hippodrome (aka Carousel Building or Merry Go-Round Building) was the first structure built upon the wide section of the Santa Monica Pier (then known as the Looff Pleasure Pier). It opened its doors in June 1916 to invite people in to enjoy the Pier’s first thrill ride – a carousel carved and built by Charles ID Looff, who was one of the most well-known and respected carousel carvers and amusement park entrepreneurs of the time. In 1939 economic conditions impacted the Pier such that a bank took over the property, and in turn the bank sold the Looff carousel to Belmont Park in San Diego, where it remained until 1976 when each individual horse was sold to collectors. The carousel inside the Hippodrome today is a 1922 Philadelphia Toboggan Company carousel. It has been here since 1947 and still boasts its original 44 antique hand-carved wooden horses, now over 100 years old! In 1987 the Looff Hippodrome was inducted into the National Registry of Historic Landmarks, the highest distinction that a building can have.

KB: Tell me about Paul Newman and Robert Redford filming The Sting at the pier.

In February 1972 the Looff Hippodrome was used by film producers to help recall and emulate 1930s Chicago for the movie The Sting. Cast in the movie were Paul Newman and Robert Redford, both of whom are admired as iconic film legends today. Both levels of the Hippodrome were extensively used in the film shoot – the carousel and its horses (of course) as well as the upstairs apartments, within which Paul Newman’s character lived. While shooting the film, the actors and the production crew all became involved in the Santa Monica community’s efforts to save the Pier from its scheduled demolition – an ill-advised move by City officials to tear down the Pier in favor of building a resort island. Cast & crew – including Newman and Redford – signed the petition to save the Pier, and Robert Redford stated in an interview in the Los Angeles Times as saying, “The Pier is a landmark. Everybody likes to visit the Pier. I think it should be made into a museum. Not just out of nostalgia, but for a sense of history.” Their efforts, alongside the Santa Monica community’s, resulted in City Hall changing their minds about the island and saving the Pier.

KB: What other movies or series did Santa Monica Pier appeared in?

The earliest film on record that was staged at Santa Monica Pier was A Society Sensation, a silent film made in 1918 that featured Rudolph Valentino. Since then, numerous films, television shows, commercials, YouTube videos and all of other forms of contemporary media have been taken place at the Pier. Some of the more notable movie titles include Quicksand (1950) featuring Mickey Rooney, Elmer Gantry (1953) with Burt Lancaster, Inside Daisy Clover (1965) with Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969) with Jane Fonda, Ruthless People (1986), Forrest Gump (1994), The Net (1995) with Sandra Bullock, Cellular (2004) and The Hannah Montana Movie (2009).

KB: Tell me about the history book you wrote about the pier.

Hmm… Long story, short. Right? In 2007 my office began preparations to celebrate the Pier’s upcoming 100th birthday in September of 2009. As part of that, I was assigned the task (which I did truly long for) of researching and writing the official history of the Pier’s first 100 years. And so, I shed most of my other duties so that I could focus on getting the story right, spending endless hours in the local libraries. Also included in that was outreach to people from the Pier’s past, some of whom I knew from my early days on the Pier when I was a bartender and heard endless stories of what the Pier used to be like, and others whom I’d heard about over those same many years. With all of that information – both documented and lovingly told – I put together the story of the Pier as I know it, both from documented works and from hearts and minds of those who have lived it. In February 2009 the book – Santa Monica Pier: A Century on the Last Great Pleasure Pier, was officially released during a party inside the Looff Hippodrome during which legendary folk singer Joan Baez gave an impromptu musical performance. (Oh, and the second edition of the book will hit the shelves in Spring 2024!)

KB: What is your corporation involved in when it comes to the pier?

The Santa Monica Pier Corporation is a non-profit organization formed by the City of Santa Monica in order to handle the Pier’s marketing and events. The “events” portion includes managing the rental of events spaces such as the large-scale Pier Parking Deck (where concerts and other big events are held) and the Looff Hippodrome (great, unique indoor facility featuring, well, you know, a carousel!), as well as events that we dream up and produce such as the 35-year run of the Twilight Concert Series, the extraordinary summer kick-off Santa Monica Pier 360 Beach Festival, our monthly Locals’ Nights and the spectacular Dia de los Muertos celebration.

KB: I am on the pier. What do I see? Walk me through it.

The Pier is full of color and movement. If you’re entering the Pier from the top of Palisades Park, you’ll walk under the iconic arched blue neon-lit “Santa Monica Yacht Harbor” sign, and just beyond that, at the crest of the bridge that delivers you down onto the Pier deck, you’ll see the electricity of people touring and enjoying the Pier. Once on the deck, you’ll hear music emanating from the Merry Go-Round and a glance inside will reveal the whirlwind of light and color as the carousel horses run their circle. A few steps past the Merry Go-Round you’ll likely catch the aroma of one or more of the restaurants that line the next part of the Pier. Once past those, you cannot miss the “End of the Trail Route 66” sign, nor the people lined up to take their picture in front of it! The next sensation is the sound of the games inside Playland Arcade, and after that the spectacle of people flying on the trapeze or climbing and wrapping themselves inside aerial silks at the Trapeze School New York. And then, of course, is Pacific Park and all of its great amusement parks sights, rides and corresponding screams. Just beyond that are your first steps over the ocean, accompanied by a cool breeze and the sun glaring from the water into your eyes. Many times, you’ll encounter a musician or other busker adding their own sense of harmony to the atmosphere. And then, at the West End, if you’ve timed your visit right, you can sit on the bleachers and watch an exquisite sunset, after which you’ll join the crowd in applause.

KB: Why should people visit Santa Monica Pier?

The Santa Monica Pier is an escape. The Los Angeles area – including Santa Monica – is a population circus. There are so many people going every direction all at once, and it’s easy to get lost in all of the commotion. A visit to the Pier, after just a few simple steps, takes you away from that. Sure, the Pier can get very busy – especially on weekends and in the summer months – but it’s a different type of busy. People breathe different, they walk different, they smile. Some say a walk on the Pier is a walk back in time, but I don’t agree. The Pier is very much in the present. But throughout its history it has always been a place for respite, whether brief or sustained. It’s a place where you can forget about time altogether, and just be. I think that’s really the heart of the Pier. I once had a piece of paper tacked upon my wall with some words that I wrote as a reminder to myself, and a good friend recently had them applied to a painting and gifted it to me. My words: “The soul of the Pier is founded upon memories – the memories of those who enjoyed it before us, and the memories that are still being created today.”

Check out the pier’s website: HERE
Find it on Facebook: HERE
Find it on Instagram: HERE

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