Santa Monica - South Beach(Ocean Park Beach)

Located to the south of the iconic Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica Beach - South Beach (which is also called Santa Monica South Beach and Ocean Park Beach) is a popular and world-famous beach with light brown sand that is part of a larger three-and-a-half mile long beach named Santa Monica State Beach.  Santa Monica Beach - South Beach has a more festive ambiance compared to other portions of Santa Monica State Beach. 

Santa Monica Beach - South Beach has many amenities including lifeguards, restrooms, a nearby grassy recreational area, showers, volleyball courts, a biking path, bike rental facilities, tennis courts, walking paths, and a kids’ play area.  Dogs are not allowed on Santa Monica Beach - South Beach. 

Santa Monica Beach - South Beach offers many fun activities including sunbathing, beachcombing, fishing, biking, basketball, tennis, scuba diving, volleyball, wildlife watching, picnicking, swimming, surfing, bodysurfing, skateboarding, bodyboarding, kneeboarding, skimboarding, kayaking, paddleboarding, canoeing, surf-skiing, water-skiing, boating, parasailing, kitesurfing, windsurfing, wakeboarding, and birdwatching.  Santa Monica Beach - South Beach is popular with all kinds of surfers because the water here offers fun, manageable, and consistent surfing waves.  The area around the Santa Monica Pier near Santa Monica Beach - South Beach’s northern end is also frequently visited by scuba divers and snorkelers. 

If you are planning to swim, surf, kayak, canoe, bodysurf, bodyboard, scuba dive, or paddleboard near Santa Monica Beach - South Beach, we recommend being careful because the water here has dangerous and unpredictable rip currents.  Surfers should also note that surfing may be seasonally restricted in certain portions of Santa Monica Beach - South Beach during the summers - you can ask the lifeguards posted at the beach for more information regarding the portions of this beach where surfing is allowed.  In addition, please also note that the water around the pier at Santa Monica Beach - South Beach is considered polluted – in 2022, a non-profit organization named Heal the Bay rated the water around Santa Monica Pier as having one of the highest levels of pollution and bacterial contamination in California.

If you like biking, skating, or skateboarding, the Ocean Front Walk (also called the Santa Monica Boardwalk) is a long and wide concrete path that passes through Santa Monica Beach - Pier Beach and offers an amazing oceanfront jogging, biking, and skateboarding experiences - this walkway also passes near some great restaurants and shopping stores.  In addition, the northern portion of another famous biking trail named the Marvin Braude Bike Trail is located near Santa Monica Beach – Pier Beach - this popular 22-mile oceanfront biking and roller skating trail runs parallel to the coastline of the Santa Monica Bay. 

Santa Monica Beach - South Beach offers accessibility to visitors with disabilities - there are multiple wheelchair-friendly pathways that lead to the beach, and these pathways are located near the south-western ends of Bay Street, Ocean Park Boulevard, and Ashland Avenue.  There is also an accessible playground near Santa Monica Beach – South Beach for kids with disabilities - this playground is located in a nearby recreational park named South Beach Park and is located near the western end of Ocean Park Boulevard. 

In addition, you can also book complimentary manual and electric beach wheelchairs near Santa Monica Beach - South Beach – you can book complimentary electric and manual beach wheelchairs from Perry’s Café and Beach Rentals (that is located near 1200 Ocean Front Walk).  In addition, you can also book complimentary manual beach wheelchairs at Annenberg Community Beach House.

Getting to Santa Monica Beach – South Beach is easy – there are multiple paid very large parking lots near this beach located near the intersection between Pacific Terrace and Appian Way, Ocean Avenue and Hollister Avenue, and along a road named Barnard Way.  As another access option, you can park at the paid parking lot near the Santa Monica Pier at 200 Santa Monica Pier and then walk south along the shoreline to Santa Monica Beach – South Beach.  We recommend visiting Santa Monica Beach – South Beach early during the summer because it can get crowded during this time.  In addition to these paid parking lots, metered street parking spaces are also located near Santa Monica Beach – South Beach – once you park your car in these street parking spaces, you can easily walk to Santa Monica Beach – South Beach. 

As an interesting fact, the southern portion of Santa Monica State Beach has an oceanfront public open-air gym named Muscle Beach (also called the Original Muscle Beach) that was initially established in the early 1930s and became famous in the 1940s and 1950s for its bodybuilding and acrobatic performances.  Many famous bodybuilders including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jack LaLanne trained at this Muscle Beach, and it became a cultural icon of the fitness movement and played a crucial role in raising awareness about physical fitness in California and the West Coast of the United States.  Muscle Beach has an outdoor gymnastics training area, chinning bars, parallel bars, rings, a small jungle gym for children, and a padded gymnastics area – and also offers fitness classes.

It is important to note that Muscle Beach in Santa Monica should not be confused with the nearby, more well-known, and world-famous Muscle Beach in Venice, California, which was established in 1963

There are many attractions near Santa Monica Beach – South Beach.  The iconic and famous 1,650-feet long Santa Monica Pier, built in 1909 and designated as a Santa Monica Historic Landmark, is several hundred feet away.  The pier is popular with locals and tourists and offers a large variety of things to do, including a popular amusement park named Pacific Park that has the world’s only solar-powered Ferris wheel, fun rides for kids including a 1920s carousel, an arcade, an aquarium at the end of the pier named Heal The Bay Aquarium, and interesting concessions and shops. 

Crescent Bay Park is a recreational park that offers many amenities including a gazebo, grassy recreational areas, benches, restrooms, and walking and biking paths.  California Heritage Museum offers a variety of informative and interesting historic, cultural, and artistic exhibits – in addition, this museum also hosts an interesting weekly gathering of food trucks and it also periodically hosts a flea market.  If you are looking for another attraction near Santa Monica Beach – South Beach, The Venice West is a musical venue that frequently hosts fun and exciting live musical performances

The Lobster is an internationally recognized seafood establishment on the Pacific Ocean overlooking the Santa Monica Pier – it is a local favorite specializing in Maine and California Spiny Lobsters, in addition to entrées composed of fresh, seasonal, locally-sourced ingredients from Chef Govind Armstrong.  The Golden Bull is a popular Santa Monica landmark that opened in 1949 – it has excellent steak, ribs, seafood, pasta, and burgers, and is open for dinner and brunch on the weekends.  Margo’s – also called Margo’s Pizza Kitchen and Bar – is a casual plant-based 100% vegan restaurant serving delicious pizza and other great dishes for brunch, lunch, and dinner including French toast, salads, nachos, sandwiches, and wraps.  Tiato Kitchen + Garden Venue is an eco-friendly Californian-Asian cuisine with a beautiful greenery outdoor setting – it features delicious lunch, gourmet snacks and smoothies from their grab-n-go market,  and offers “garden nights” dinner on Thursdays and Fridays, and family brunch on Fridays.  Sushi Roku is a popular Japanese fusion restaurant that offers delicious Japanese dishes with European, Latin American, and local Californian culinary influences - it is known for its incredible sushi, Japanese-style steaks, gyoza dumplings, Japanese-style seafood, tempura, and Japanese fried chicken, and innovative Asian-inspired cocktails.

If you are looking for a hotel near Santa Monica Beach – South Beach, there are many great nearby options.  The 5-Star Shutters on the Beach offers many amenities including a restaurant, a café, bar, lobby lounge, pool, hot tub, spa, beach concierge services, and a seasonal beach activity center with bike rental facilities, and fitness classes on a nearby beach.  Another great upscale hotel is the 4-Star Viceroy Santa Monica which offers many amenities including a fitness center, a lounge, a restaurant, a patio, two pools, and six cabanas.  A more affordable hotel is the 3-Star Ocean Lodge Santa Monica Beach Hotel which offers many amenities including a restaurant, surfing lessons, and surfboard rental facilities.  If you are looking for another good and affordable hotel near Santa Monica Beach - South Beach, the 2-Star Sea Shore Motel offers many amenities including a sundeck, a restaurant, and beach equipment loaner facility.