10 Fun Facts about Santa Monica Pier

In 2023, the population of Santa Monica, California, was almost 90,000.  My relatives are among the residents and I recently visited them.  While there, I went to Santa Monica Pier for the first time.
 
Santa Monica got its English name in 1769 when Juan Crespi, a monk in a Spanish expeditionary force, named the area for that saint.  But the Indigenous inhabitants of the area, the Tongva, have lived there for thousands of years.
 
A pedestrian walkway high above the beach offers good views of the pier – at least, it does when it’s not shrouded in fog.  Staircases that cross the multi-lane highway make it easy to access the waterfront.

View of Santa Monica, with the pier in the distance

 

Below are some interesting facts about the Santa Monica Pier.

Sign welcoming people to the pier

 

1) The pier is 1,600 feet long and it opened on September 9, 1909.  It was originally built to hide a pipeline disposing of sewage into the ocean and was called the Looff Pleasure Pier.

View of Santa Monica Pier from the beach

2) Santa Monica Pier is a popular site for fishing.  According to one website I used to research these facts, a fishing license isn’t required.  At the very end of the pier, there's a platform where people can try and catch sea bass or other fish.

In the distance, fishing off the end of the pier

 

3) The cartoon character Popeye was based on a real sailor named Captain Olaf C. Olsen, who owned a fleet of fishing boats.  His efforts to prevent commercial fishing with nets in the 1920s and his charitable contributions of fish to poor families in the Depression years inspired the creation of Popeye.
 
4) An amusement park opened on June 12, 1916.  Located on the section of the pier at the water’s edge, it included a merry-go-round built in 1939, a roller coaster, and a few other attractions.  Now named Pacific Park, the Ferris wheel is visible from many places on the pier.

Entrance to the amusement park

 

5) Desi Arnaz performed at La Monica Ballroom, a huge building on the pier.  Dance marathons – Depression-era contests that gave cash prizes to couples who could dance the longest, with short breaks to rest – were held there.  Academy Award-winning movie They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, which I saw many years ago, fictionalized those competitions and filmed some scenes at Santa Monica Pier.
 
6) Another iconic sign announcing the pier was built in 1940.  Located closer to the actual pier when completed, it was moved to its present spot about 75 years ago.  Yachts no longer dock at the pier but the sign was designated a historic landmark in 2012.

City-owned Santa Monica sign off of Colorado Avenie

 

7) The physical condition of the pier deteriorated over the decades and in the 1970s, the Santa Monica City Council voted to demolish it.  However, local residents passed a proposition in 1975 to preserve the pier in perpetuity.
 
8) After a 1983 hurricane and other storms, the pier was renovated over a period about several years.  A new amusement park was also constructed.

View of Santa Monica Pier and Pacific Park from the ocean end of the pier

 

9) A sign announcing the westernmost end of iconic Route 66 is a popular spot for photos.  But that isn’t the original sign marking the actual end of the road.  The real endpoint is located where Santa Monica Boulevard and Ocean Avenue intersect, a few blocks inland.  It’s near the Ghiradelli Chocolate & Ice Cream Shop that opened a few months ago, where I bought some candy.

The writer standing in front of the newer Route 66 sign

 

10) In the multi-Academy Award-winning movie The Sting, when Robert Redford’s character finds Paul Newman’s character working at a carousel, that scene was filmed at the Looff Hippodrome, which was built at the same time as the pier and is now a National Historic Landmark.  Many other movies and TV shows also shot scenes at Santa Monica Pier, including The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., The Mod Squad, The Rockford Files, Star Trek: Voyager, 24, and 90210.

Sign when leaving Santa Monica Pier

 

Santa Monica Pier is the last pier on the West Coast that is home to an amusement park.  With vendors and artists selling souvenirs; performers entertaining tourists; restaurants to satisfy hunger cravings; an arcade, trapeze school and amusement park offering escape from the daily grind; the opportunity to go fishing; and beautiful views of the ocean and the pier from many great vantage points; when you’re in Santa Monica, a visit to the pier is not to be missed.

Joshua Tree National Park: A Short But Satisfying Visit

Desolate.  Dry. Dangerous. That was my first impression of Joshua Tree National Park, when I visited a few days ago.
 
Brown.  Beautiful.  Busy.  That was my second impression, formed after driving through the park from south to north.
 
I was on my way to Los Angeles and since the highway went right past the southern entrance, I decided to stop since I’d never been to Joshua Tree National Park before.  But first I stayed overnight in Blythe, California, to break up the journey; the next day it took about 1 ¼ hours to get to the turn off for the park.  On the way, at the exit for Chiriaco Summit, there was a sign for General George S. Patton Memorial Museum, which looked intriguing but would have to wait for some other time.
 
A couple miles off the highway was the welcome sign for Joshua Tree National Park.  The landscape was flat with low-lying bare hills in the distance and scrub brush with some cacti and bushes on both sides of the asphalt road.  It was like that as far as the eye could see.

Sign at the southern entrance to the park

But there were cars on the road and the parking lot at Cottonwood Visitor Center was almost full.  Inside the small building, it was packed with people.  A park ranger at a table near the entrance gave out maps and answered questions.  There were plenty of souvenirs: books, clothing, hats, toys for kids, magnets, postcards, patches, etc. and the line at the cash register didn’t let up while I was there.
 
Because I only had a few hours to spend in the park, I decided to just drive along Pinto Basin Road at the western edge of the park, from south to north, ending up at the Joshua Tree National Park Visitor Center near Twentynine Palms.  Part of Park Boulevard was closed but on a future visit, I’d like to see that northwestern section because that’s where you can see lots of Joshua trees.
 
From one entrance to the other was about 40 miles.  The park ranger said it’d take about an hour but I planned to stop along the way and knew it would take me longer than that.  Exiting out of the visitor center, I followed all the other cars deeper into the park.  Even on a weekday, it was busy -- although the sere landscape looked empty, the road most definitely was not.

The route I drove; map is from the National Park Service

Located where the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert meet, the area now known as Joshua Tree National Park has been inhabited for millenia.  A placard at a turn-out explained that archaeologists Elizabeth and William Campbell excavated the area in the 1930s.  They found artifacts created by the Pinto People which turned out to be more than 9,000 years old.  More recently, Indigenous Serrano, Cahuilla, Chemehuevi, and Mohave people lived in this region and their descendants are recognized by the National Park Service as the traditional stewards of the land.
 
Designated Joshua Tree National Monument in 1936, it acquired the Oasis of Mara region in 1950; however, the overall area of the national monument was reduced in size.  In 1994, it became a national park and its size was enlarged, regaining almost the same amount of land lost in 1950 but in a different area.  Joshua Tree National Park consists of 792,623 acres today.
 
As I continued my drive, I next stopped at Turkey Flats, where a placard explained how the desolate-looking landscape formed: A mix of rock, gravel, and sand washed down from Pinto Mountain in the background.  It was very dry and barren.  I was glad I had plenty of water with me.

View of Turkey Flats, with Pinto Mountain in the background

Another placard described some of the animals that live in the park.  Besides the sidewinder rattlesnake, 25 other snake species inhabit the park.  Fortunately, I didn’t encounter any snakes, dangerous or otherwise.  Unfortunately, I didn’t see a desert tortoise or any bighorn sheep, either.
 
I briefly stopped at the Cholla Cactus Garden, roughly halfway from the I-10 entrance.  But since I can see jumping cholla just beyond my backyard at home, I didn’t spend much time there.  Besides, I still hadn’t seen any Joshua trees and that was, after all, the point of my visit.
 
So I drove on until I reached an outcrop of boulders that looked interesting.  After finding a space in the small, almost-full, parking lot, I learned from the well-worn placard that the boulders had formed when magma-created monzogranite found its way through cracks in the 1.7 billion-year-old Pinto gneiss.

If you use your imagination, this outcrop almost looks like a desert tortoise

I climbed to the top of one boulder and saw a landscape speckled with odd-shaped rocks.  This was a crowded spot and it was difficult to find views without other people in them.  I spent about 20 minutes exploring this section of the park.

View from the top of a boulder

Then I realized I wasn’t at the location of Arch Rock – it was actually further along Pinto Basin Road.  Luckily, I quickly found a parking spot but when I realized reaching Arch Rock required a mile-long walk each way, I decided to skip it because I was running out of time.
 
Driving on, I passed the road going to Skull Rock and the Discovery Trail, where the park ranger had said there were lots of Joshua trees.  But they will have to wait until I can come back another time.  Finally, after about  2 ½  hours, I started to see small stands of Joshua trees (scientific name: Yucca brevifolia) along the side of the road.
 
About 10 minutes after leaving the boulder area, I parked on the side of the road where I saw a grove of Joshua trees.  I saw one Joshua tree in front of a hill and knew it’d make a beautiful picture.  I spent about 15 minutes there, photographing that tree and the surrounding area.

A beautiful Joshua tree

The Cahuilla people called the Joshua tree humwichawa and hunuvat chiy’a and the Serrano people also called it hunuvat chiy’a.  One theory says the trees got their English name from 19th century Mormons traveling west through the area because they thought the trees’ branches resembled outstretched arms, like Joshua in the Bible, but there isn’t any real evidence to support that.

Closeup of the Joshua tree

Joshua trees are native to the Mojave Desert, grow to about 40 feet in height, and typically live to around 150 years but can live as long as 300 years.  Indigenous people used edible parts of the trees as food sources; made baskets, footwear, and tools from the fibers of leaves; and used some parts for medicinal purposes.

A different view of the Joshua tree

Finally, it was time to leave.  Although I had already shown my park pass at the Cottonwood Visitor Center, all cars had to stop at the North Entrance Station to either confirm they’d already paid the entrance fee or pay it if they hadn’t.  Holding up my pass, I didn’t have to wait in line and instead was waved through.
 
I reached Los Angeles a few hours later but am looking forward to a return visit so I can explore more of Joshua Tree National Park.  There is still plenty to see and do!

A Day in Saguaro National Park - Rincon Mountain District

Saguaro National Park, in Tucson, Arizona, consists of two sections: The Rincon Mountain District and the Tucson Mountain District.  The city of Tucson splits the park in half so the Rincon Mountain District is also known as the East sector and the Tucson Mountain District is known as the West sector.

View in Saguaro National Park

In 1933, President Herbert Hoover proclaimed land east of Tucson to be a National Monument.  The proclamation stated the area was “…of outstanding scientific interest because of the exceptional growth thereon of various species of cacti, including the so-called giant cactus…”*  In 1961, President John F. Kennedy enlarged the Saguaro National Monument by adding a region west of the city to it.  Then, in 1994, an act of Congress transformed it into Saguaro National Park.
 
I visited the Rincon Mountain District on Martin Luther King Day, one of the days where entrance fees to all the U.S. national parks are waived.  (The other days in 2025 are April 19, June 19, August 4, September 27, and November 11).  It was my first time visiting the East sector and I spent several hours there.

Cactus waving "hello"

I headed first to the Cactus Forest Loop, a one-way drive of about eight miles that takes you through the park and lets you see saguaros and other plant and animal life along the way.  Many turnouts allow you to park and go on short walks or take in the view.
 
One such turnout is for the Desert Ecology Trail.  If you have mobility-challenged people or young children in your group, this trail is paved and only a quarter-mile long.  It’s a short loop, with several informational plaques that give a great overview of what can be seen in the Rincon Mountain District.

Along the Desert Ecology Trail

Continuing my drive, I eventually arrived at the Loma Verde trailhead, my destination.  After parking, I crossed a dry wash and then for the next 4 hours, hiked on the Squeeze Pen Trail, detoured onto the Carillo Trail before turning around, and took the Pink Hill Trail back to the Loma Verde Trail.

Trail markers

Along the way, I saw numerous stands of saguaros of all sizes and shapes, including a rare cristate, or crested, saguaro.  Saguaros can live up to 200 years.  They’re a protected species in Arizona and it is a felony to dig them up or cut them down without a permit.  A 2020 census of saguaros in the park revealed that the population is increasing; however, the cacti are experiencing negative effects due to the on-going drought in the Southwest and higher temperatures caused by climate change.

Crested saguaro along the Loma Verde Trail

The Tohono O’odham people have lived in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years and in their language, ha:sañ is the word for saguaro.  The fruit of the cactus was an integral part of their diet and harvesting the fruit occurred before the monsoon rains.  Special programs at the park teach visitors about traditional saguaro harvest customs.

Info about harvesting saguaro fruit

The Visitor Center has driving and hiking maps available, as well as books, souvenirs, and other items whose purchase supports the National Parks.  In addition, there’s an exhibition about the park with general information that may be helpful before you enter the park itself.
 
Outside, to the left of the Visitor Center, there’s a small garden with many cactus varieties; it’s worth a look because saguaros are not the only cacti in the park.  On the other side of the visitor center, a pollinator garden presents information about animals that pollinate plants in the park.

Sign about the Pollinator Garden

I greatly enjoyed my first visit to Saguaro National Park East.  Although it took over an hour to get there, it won’t be the last time I go there.  You can see more photos from my day in the park on my Instagram.
 
* All facts about saguaros and the park are from the Saguaro National Park website.