Get to know this beach town with a big personality. In an impressive new building, shared with the public library, a small institution introduces visitors to a multifaceted Santa Monica. It has been the playground of movie stars and the seaside escape of L.A. city dwellers. Famed for its palisades and amusement piers—it is the place where; Route 66 ends, Muscle Beach was born and Douglas Aircraft boomed. Museum visitors discover more: the Native Americans, Spanish settlers and Mexican ranch-owners who called it home, the news-making political scuffles over rent control and, the changes wrought by the coming of the freeway. All new exhibits and a significant photographic collection tell these stories and more while introducing Santa Monican’s—at work and play, in the headlines and throughout their community. Sq. Ft. 2500 Opening 2007 |