Our tour begins at the Santa Monica Pier Arch. You can’t miss it! This historic structure has been standing tall for over 80 years, adding a little touch of drama to the pier’s entrance. The tour is over 0.38 miles long, with more than 14 audio stories, and takes about 1-2 hours to complete. New, Lifetime access, no expiry. Use it anytime, on any trip, as many times as you want.

Now let’s get to know Charles Looff, Danish immigrant, furniture carver, and the pier’s hero. By day, he carved away in a factory, but at night, he created life-size animal sculptures full of imagination, whimsy, and magic. Can you guess what he was building?

To our left stands Santa Monica’s iconic carousel. While this one only dates back to the 1940s, the original was built by none other than Charles Looff. He built it as part of a hugely ambitious project in 1916. His goal was nothing less than turning this sewage site into a tourist attraction!

For decades, the pier sat mostly empty and unused. By the 70s, Santa Monica’s City Council was looking for excuses to tear down the old eyesore. They put forth a plan to destroy the pier and build an artificial island instead. During a meeting, a resident asks the City Manager whether the public should have a say. His response?