Santa Monica Conservancy

05/29/2026

Looking for an excuse to spend the day outside in Santa Monica?

Coastal Crossroads is designed to be explored at your own pace, making it the perfect weekend plan for locals, visitors, architecture lovers, history buffs, beach walkers, and anyone who loves discovering hidden stories about the city around them.

Start at the Belmar History + Art installation. Grab coffee on Main Street. Walk the coastline. Stop at Bay Street Beach. Listen to the Singing Beach Chairs. Wander through Tongva Park. Ride the carousel on the Pier. Catch the sunset near the Civic Auditorium.

Along the way, discover the people, places, architecture, and cultural moments that helped shape Santa Monica into what it is today.

No tour guide. No schedule. Just you, the coastline, and a completely different way of experiencing the city.
Sometimes the best way to connect with a place is to simply slow down — and explore.

Learn more at smconservancy.org.

05/26/2026

You’ve probably walked past these places dozens of times…but do you know their histories?

Did you know Santa Monica was home to a beach that became a refuge for Black families during segregation? Or that the modern game of beach volleyball evolved right here along the coast? Or that one of California’s earliest surf pioneers paddled from Santa Monica to Malibu, just to catch waves?

Coastal Crossroads uncovers the stories hidden in plain sight across the city, connecting public art, architecture, beach culture, music history, civic landmarks, and the communities that shaped Santa Monica over generations.

Take the tour at your own pace! Stop for coffee, explore the coastline, wander through Tongva Park, sit in the Singing Beach Chairs, and spend the afternoon discovering the history of Santa Monica hiding in plain sight.

Happy walking!
🚶‍♀️🚶🎡🎊🌊
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Celebrate our new self-guided walking tour on the Coastal Crossroads launch. The debut event features docents stationed at four stops (out of 20 total) reflecting on Santa Monica’s Black history.

🗓️SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 1 - 4 PM
🎟️RSVP for FREE at smc.givecloud.co/coastalcrossroads

Photo Credit:

(Site 1) A Resurrection in Four Stanzas by April Banks, Photo by Leroy Hamilton
(Site 3) Bay Street Beach, Photo Courtesy of Sea of Clouds Project, 2019

05/22/2026

Ready…Set…Walk!

The Santa Monica Conservancy is excited to introduce Coastal Crossroads, a new self-guided walking experience exploring the stories, architecture, public art, beach culture, and layered history woven throughout Santa Monica’s coastline.

Walk from the historic Belmar neighborhood to Bay Street Beach, wander through Tongva Park, discover hidden public artworks, stop along Main Street, ride the carousel on the Pier, and uncover the stories behind some of Santa Monica’s most iconic places.

We like to think of it as part history walk, part architecture crawl, and of course, part beach day.

Some of the city’s most interesting stories are hiding in plain sight. Start exploring: https://smc.givecloud.co/coastalcrossroads

05/21/2026

Completed in 1913, the Purser is an example of early multi-unit housing in the Seaside Terrace Tract, an area that helped define Santa Monica's beachfront as a destination for tourists arriving by auto for long or short stays. Developed by William E. Porter in 1912, the four-story structure began as a beachfront apartment hotel. It officially opened in May 1913 with a grand musical concert, drawing notable guests from across Los Angeles and Pasadena.

The Purser is characterized by a refined Mission Revival style, a movement popular in California during the early 1900s, evoking the state’s Spanish colonial heritage through smooth stucco facades and simple geometric forms. For many years, the building’s original charm was obscured by modern alterations. However, a recent rehabilitation restored its original clean lines, off-white hue, and historic authenticity. The preservation project, implemented by Chattel, Inc., received a Santa Monica Conservancy Rehabilitation Award in 2022.

The Purser’s proximity to the Santa Monica Pier made it a prime spot for entertainers who valued the city's lively boardwalk and amusement centers. Designated as a Santa Monica City Landmark in 2017, the Purser's modern studio suites retain sweeping beach views and historic spirit.

05/17/2026

Can’t believe it’s been 10 years since we opened the doors to our Landmark home and called it the “Preservation Resource Center”! Stop by the historic Shotgun House, at 2520 Second Street, TODAY from 2 to 4 pm.

We’re celebrating 10 years of historic preservation with live music, family-friendly activities, popcorn from , bites from , and birthday cake!

See you soon! P.S. It’d been 12 years since the photographed move! ❤️

Learn more at smconservancy.org/10thbirthday

05/15/2026

05/15/2026

THREE MONTHS OF REHAB (just in this video)! Have you RSVPed for our free tenth-anniversary block party on Sunday? 🥳

Can’t believe it’s been ten years since we opened the doors to the Preservation Resource Center at the Shotgun House.

Have you RSVPed for our free tenth-anniversary block party on Sunday? 🥳 Santa Monicans saved the Shotgun House from demolition. And we continue to tell the stories of our beloved historic sites from our cherished bungalow.

Join us for live music, light bites from Holy Guacamole, popcorn from Laemmle Monica Film Center, family-friendly activities, and birthday cake! Our celebration is this Sunday, May 17, from 2 to 4 pm. 🎂 The event is completely free! Walk-ins welcome!

Please consider supporting the ongoing stewardship of the Shotgun House by signing our “10th Birthday” card as a $100 Birthday Benefactor.

Learn more at smc.givecloud.co/10thbirthday

05/15/2026

Built in 1916, the Looff Hippodrome, stands as the oldest building on the Santa Monica Pier. Charles I.D. Looff, master carver and creator of the first carousel at Coney Island, came to Santa Monica with a vision of creating a world-class “Pleasure Pier”. He constructed a massive wooden structure adjacent to the utilitarian municipal pier built in 1909, to house his ornate carousel and provide a hub for the burgeoning amusement zone, which featured a roller coaster, a funhouse, and various carnival games.

The establishment of the Looff amusement pier marked a turning point for the Santa Monica’s north beach, which had been drained of visitors since Abbot Kinney’s Venice of America debuted in 1905. The original portion of the Santa Monica Pier was built to carry sewage pipes beyond the breakers, but Looff’s neighboring “Looff Pier” transformed the area into a premier tourist destination, setting the stage for the opulent beach clubs to be built along the coast during the 1920s.

The Hippodrome’s architecture is a unique blend of Byzantine, Moorish, and Spanish styles, characterized by its distinctive clerestory windows and shingled towers. This grand design was intended to elevate the amusement experience, moving it from the grit of typical boardwalks into a more majestic, permanent setting.

Though the original carousel was replaced in 1947, Looff’s legacy of seaside wonder lives on.

05/14/2026

A recent article in The Guardian characterizes the historic designation of Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home as a “forced” monument—framing it as an arbitrary action taken among the owners’ ongoing legal battle to overturn this decision. In reality, it highlights how fragile our shared heritage is and how rarely we use the tools we already have to protect it. Monroe lived there only briefly, but the house marks a turning point: her first home purchased on her own terms, a symbol of autonomy and self-definition. She spoke about it, was photographed there, and took pride in making it her own. Dismissing that because of a short tenure misunderstands how cultural significance works.

Stewardship isn’t about freezing every celebrity address in amber; it’s about recognizing where personal stories intersect with broader social meaning and managing change responsibly. The real question is not whether Monroe’s house constrains property value, but whether we recognize women’s lives as historically important. For generations, places tied to women—their labor, creativity, and private struggles—have been overlooked while “great men’s” sites were protected. Efforts like the Los Angeles Women’s Landmarks Project, a partnership between the Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Where Women Made History initiative, aim to correct that imbalance.

Seen this way, Monroe’s house is not a random historic designation but part of a broader effort to take women’s experiences seriously in our city’s heritage. The issue isn’t that the city is “forcing” a monument—it’s that, for once, we’re choosing not to look away.

*Welcome to , an ongoing series that explores Los Angeles through the people and places that matter—written by Adrian Scott Fine, President & CEO of the Los Angeles Conservancy.

You can find The Guardian article here: https://bit.ly/4nzRzLm