Not Quite Like The Movies
Nothing is like in the movies. Least of all Santa Monica Pier and Santa Monica Beach. Sure, the beach looks huge on a television screen, and it is. Kind of. Until you step onto that beach. Then you realize it doesn’t take too many steps to get down to the water and dip your toes in the Pacific. The lifeguards and their towers are sort of like what you saw on Baywatch all those years ago. Seeing those was kind of a throwback in time. And a laugh. And surreal.
Santa Monica Pier is…boring for a lack of a better word. There really isn’t much there, unless you wish to enjoy a couple rides. Some stands that sell postcards and other tourist-trap kind of stuff. But it’s crowded! Everyone and their mother “has” to see it. It’s one of those things you tell people about when you get home, and in retrospect sounds a whole lot better than it really is, and your feel-good stories make even more people go to Santa Monica and have even more feel-good stories to tell. It’s a vicious circle…
There is one restaurant at the end of the pier that serves okay food. Nothing fancy, and very overpriced – you know you’re in California just from the bill you get. The view from the end of the pier is very blue. Endless water with that distinct smell of fish to top it off. But at least you get to eat to the sound of the ocean. That is, if you’re able to ignore the chatter of the hundred or so people eating around you.
What was fun, was dipping your toes in the Pacific and being able to say that you’ve been in both the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean. Apparently the water was cold – September isn’t prime swimming month to the average Californian – but to someone who’s used to the cold Nordic autumns, it was just the perfect temperature, like a Scandinavian summer.
When you’ve had enough of the sun, all the tourists, the cheap stuff the vendors want you to buy, and the smell of fish; it’s a relatively short walk to the Santa Monica Place Mall where you can shop while kept cool in the a/c. But if you want even more sun and also want to squeeze in the shopping, the shopping streets are just a few minutes of walk away. It’s about the only place in Los Angeles where you can walk without having people look at you like you’re crazy. In Los Angeles, everyone drives everywhere. There is very little walking done.
