Santa Monica Pier History

The city of Santa Monica, initially founded as a small Spanish settlement, became Mexican from 1828 to 1848, only to become American. The place, which had fewer than 3,000 inhabitants around 1900, was expanded by businessmen John Percival Jones and Robert Baker in 1875. The rectangular settlement was then bordered by Ocean Avenue on the coast, Montana Avenue in the northwest, Colorado Avenue in the southeast and inland by 26th Street. Summer residence lots on the first line of the beach were sold for $ 300. Behind it, on Second Street, were the first stone buildings. The oldest house still preserved today is the Rapp Saloon, in which the German-born William Rapp ran the “Los Angeles Beer Garden”. Robert Baker had a 27-kilometer-long railway line built between Los Angeles and Santa Monica in just ten months, which enabled the town to expand rapidly. In 1887, the Arcadia Hotel opened, which at the time was the finest beach establishment in Southern California. In the years to come, Santa Monica developed into a bathing and entertainment destination for the Los Angeles area. The main attraction was the Santa Monica Pier.

The Santa Monica Pier Ferris Wheel was captured in 2020
recorded by Dominick Kruger.

 

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