Santa Monica Pier now stands as the last remnant of the bay's once many pleasure piers. For over 100 years it has captured the imagination of its many visitors. This collection of vintage images, artwork, history and treasured lore offers readers the opportunity to travel through time.

Swim out into the Pacific and look back to the shore. To the couple kissing in the hot afternoon, and the young girl rollerskating along the front, and the family setting up camp on the soft, warm sand. To the blues and yellows and pinks of fierce, determined revelry. Santa Monica, where the wooden pier juts out into the Pacific Ocean, marks the end of Route 66. The great American journey west culminates here, and it is on this short stretch of coast that Sarah Lee began shooting her photographic series in 2015. In West of West Sarah Lee and Laura Barton explore the idea of the West in shaping American identity, with its idealism and notions of the frontier, and what the American West means in an age of political turbulence, when the East is the rising global force and the frontier is shifting once more.

Historic SM book

This revised edition takes the history of the Santa Monica Pier even deeper, with new information and photographs that fans of the world’s famed pleasure piers and the historic venues of Southern California will find entertaining and informative. Celebrate a century of good times on the Santa Monica Pier, with the revised edition of Santa Monica Pier: America’s Last Great Pleasure Pier! Vintage images and magnificent color photos capture this beloved international icon at its very best, now updated with more images and information than ever before. Its dramatic story of survival —fighting Mother Nature, politics and changing times—makes Santa Monica Pier more than a landmark, more than a pleasure pier or a must see on the West Coast. Santa Monica Pier is a slice of American history to be enjoyed again and again and again.

Pacific Ocean Park - or P.O.P. - was extraordinary in both its glamorous rise and spectacular fall. Located between Santa Monica and Venice, it was a family-oriented attraction in the '50s with modernist-style rides. P.O.P.'s attendance surpassed that of Disneyland and was often widely seen in movies and television shows throughout the '60s. Its Cheetah auditorium hosted important early rock shows, including those by The Doors and Pink Floyd. Merritt and Priore's spectacular history features hundreds of images, most of them unseen, including original ride designs.

Welcome to the Parker Palm Springs, where you’ll experience a delightful time away, filled with everything you’d expect from a sunny, California vacation. There’s tennis courts and a lemonade stand, a gorgeous pool, and a lawn for croquet. But, the other guests and staff are more than a little unexpected . . . From the New York Times bestselling photographer of Beaches, Gray Malin, comes Be Our Guest!, Malin’s first children’s picture book, compiled from his acclaimed series of photographs Gray Malin at the Parker Palm Springs. If Eloise had lived in an animal-only hotel, it would have had the style and whimsy of the Parker. Just reading Be Our Guest! will whisk children away on a temporary holiday, which is nothing less than extraordinary.

An icon of Southern California and one of Americas most imaginative and vibrant citiesthe fitting destination at the end of Route 66Santa Monica lies on the brink of the West and is known throughout the nation for its beaches and its Hollywood A-list locals With a foundation built by the Gabrielino Indians and molded by Spanish and Mexican land grants, railroad battles, and a constant influx of settlers, Santa Monica became an oceanside haven for actors and airplane companies, road races and ranchers.