Santa Monica Pier

The Municipal Pier opened September 9, 1909, primarily to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers. In 1919, while the pier was crowded with spectators waiting to watch a review of Navy vessels, some of the concrete pylons collapsed causing the structure to sink as much as two feet. Charles Looff, who became famous for creating the first carousel at Coney Island in 1876, built his Pleasure Pier in 1916 adjacent to the existing Santa Monica Pier. Looff died in 1918, two years after opening his Byzantine Moorish Hippodrome. In 1972, the city proposed a plan to tear down the Pier and Hippodrome to make space for a bridge to a man-made resort island. Grassroots efforts proved successful and even helped pass an initiative to preserve the Pier forever.