Santa Monica State Beach

This beach is two miles long, has a picnic area, shops and pier. Visitor activities include volleyball, basketball and a running strip along the beach

Santa Monica State Beach is a California State Park operated by the City of Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Beach

The beach is located along Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica. The beach has manned lifeguard stations, casual eateries, equipment rental spots, public fitness and activity facilities, a bike trail, wooden pathways for beachgoers with disabilities and warm days.

At the foot of Colorado Avenue, through the world-famous arch and sign, lies the historic Santa Monica Pier, which dates to 1909. The Pier has a National Historic Landmark -– the 1922 Looff Hippodrome Carousel.

Muscle Beach lies immediately south of the volleyball courts and contains athletic apparatus. Recently restored and refurbished, the area features chinning bars at various heights, parallel bars, rings, small jungle gyms for children and a padded-safe gymnastics area.

A few steps south of the Pier volleyball courts is the International Chess Park. The public chess tables — and a human-scale chessboard set into the sidewalk — draw a wide assortment of players.

Palisades Park is located atop Santa Monica’s famed sandstone cliffs and provides an excellent vantage point to see the sweep of Santa Monica Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

Arlington West

Arlington West is a temporary memorial is created on Santa Monica Beach just north of the Santa Monica Pier at Santa Monica, every Sunday from sunrise to sunset. Crosses are placed on the beach for each U.S. military person who has died in the Iraq War. The number of crosses erected every Sunday now exceeds 4,000. For military personnel killed within the week past, flag draped coffins with blue crosses are positioned in front. The Arlington West Memorial, a project of Veterans For Peace, is intended to offer visitors a graceful, visually and emotionally powerful, place for reflection.

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