Santa Monica travel guide: Get more fun for your dollar in this Los Angeles playground

Pacific Park, LA County's only admission-free amusement park.Credit: iStock

If the carousel horses on Santa Monica Pier could talk, they'd tell you about the time they shared the big screen with Dennis Hopper, Paul Newman or Sandra Bullock. Or how Robert Redford saved their lives. And why Marilyn Monroe was their secret admirer. Here in LA, star power is everything - and these 44 wooden prancers have been stealing scenes from Hollywood's finest for longer than any movie veteran.

This year they turned 100 years old, but thanks to some subtle work (this is Tinseltown after all) they look as fresh as the days Santa Monica native Redford rode them as a child.

The actor loves the Pier so much that while filming The Sting here with Newman in 1973, he joined a crusade with local Angelenos to save the storied structure from demolition. They won, and a thank-you note from the horses remains on display in their historic Hippodrome building – a Hollywood happy ending.

The 100-year-old carousel.Credit: Santa Monica Travel & Tourism

It's just $US2 ($3) to ride the carousel, a bargain more impressive still when you consider just how many famous rears have graced these saddles. In the 1950s and 60s, there were apartments above the carousel. A starry boho community thrived in the Hippodrome and the horses hobnobbed with Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Herb Alpert and more as life and art blurred to the tune of the Wurlitzer.

My favourite story, shared by the pier's executive director Jim Harris, tells of a mystery woman who'd frequent the Hippodrome back then, always watching the carousel alone. Eventually, the operator discovered who was beneath the wig and sunglasses: Marilyn Monroe. "We think this place was her escape from a turbulent life," says Harris.

For anyone, famous or not, he adds: "There's a very special, unique feeling upon setting foot on the Santa Monica Pier. It's a step into another world - a world of rich history, electric energy, and endless opportunity for fun."

We see what he means, on an afternoon on the 113-year-old Pier. Further along from the carousel, there's Pacific Park, LA County's only admission-free amusement park. Its 12 rides include the West Coaster roller coaster, stomach-somersaulting Whip, and the world's only solar-powered Ferris wheel. With an unlimited ride pass for $US32.95, it's a budget-friendly day of fun, even before you explore the Pier's aquarium, trapeze school, arcades, shops and cafes, or cast a fishing line.

As we gaze down at the Southern California coastline - Venice to the south, Malibu to the north – from the Ferris wheel's nine-storey highest point, Santa Monica's 22 kilometres unfold beneath.

The beach is vast and lovely of blue and golden Pacific vistas. We ride along a path built right on the sands, on bikes hired from another Santa Monica veteran: Perry's Cafe and Beach Rentals, purveyor of wheels, good vibes and tasty food since 1977. You can hire skates, rollerblades, boogie boards, surfboards, bikes and more from its various outlets along the shore. At $US10 an hour or $US35 a day (kids: $US8 an hour or $US25 a day), Perry's bikes are an affordable way to roll.

They're also the only transport you'll need. Santa Monica is a Los Angeles rarity – a no-car-required neighbourhood. We stroll between hotel and beach, browse pretty Montana Avenue's boutiques and cafes on foot, wander the Third Avenue shopping hub, then take to our bikes to go farther and faster.

Riding along the beach with the breeze in your hair feels so liberating you might just keep following the coastline along the 45 kilometre Strand Bike Path, taking in Marina del Rey, Playa del Rey, Venice, Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo beaches.

But it's just as tempting to stay local – especially if food's your passion. Every Wednesday morning the Santa Monica Farmers Market (also known as 'the chefs' market') lures stars of both the Hollywood and Michelin variety; here a Naomi Watts or Tobey Maguire, there an Alain Giraud or our own Curtis Stone. The market's cornucopia of local produce stretches over about four large blocks and as we wander through, mesmerised in equal measure by the beautiful crowds and the edible extravaganza, we graze our fill of delicious samples.

If it's a dish on any decent LA menu, chances are the ingredients came from here. And if that menu belongs to one of Santa Monica's own 400-plus restaurants, 15 of which are Michelin-recognised, you're talking food metres rather than miles. Within hours of admiring the market's rainbow of cauliflower, we savour it just a few blocks away at Citrin restaurant, transformed by chef Josiah Citrin into an exquisite mousseline served with egg caviar.

There's further indulgence at sleek spots such as Calabra, Santa Monica Proper Hotel's lush rooftop restaurant bar and restaurant; Sugar Palm, the new and rockstar-fabulous poolside enclave at the Viceroy Santa Monica with its decadent cabanas, and Citrin's two-Michelin-star degustation restaurant, Melisse. Although Santa Monica sings to the child in everyone, grown-up glamour is never far away.

Multi-gen appeal, accessibility, ease – it all adds to a beguiling mix that makes this LA playground a thoroughly convincing alternative to nearby Disneyland for a family stay.

You'll spend less for your fun, thrills and escapism, gain the extra bonus of a big, beautiful California beach and take a deeper dive into the local community.

Santa Monica Pier shows that Mickey doesn't have the monopoly on LA magic. Ride that carousel back in time, walk among those famous ghosts and watch the Ferris wheel lights turn the ocean into a rainbow at night, and you'll understand why this enchanting place captured so many Hollywood hearts.

THE DETAILS

FLY

United Airlines flies daily from Sydney to Los Angeles (united.com). Santa Monica is 13km from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

STAY

Santa Monica has more than 40 hotels to suit all budgets. Rooms at the sumptuous Santa Monica Proper Hotel (properhotel.com), cost from $US800 ($1250) a night; the charming ocean front Sea Blue Hotel (seabluehotel.com) from $US280; and the family-friendly and family-owned Sea Shore Motel (seashoremotel.com) two blocks from the beach from $US120.

MORE

https://www.traveller.com.au/los-angeles

santamonica.com

Amy Cooper travelled with assistance from Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.