Travelling to Santa Monica with our 6-year-old Kidsetter was loads of fun. In the middle of the beach, extending from Colorado Boulevard and the centre of Santa Monica is the Santa Monica Pier. What’s more iconic than the Ferris wheel and roller-coaster sitting atop Santa Monica Pier? With a carousel, an arcade, an amusement park, a trapeze school, restaurants and a summer outdoor concert series, the Santa Monica Pier offers a wide range of activities for the whole family. The Santa Monica Pier celebrated its Centennial in 2009, making it one of California’s oldest pleasure piers.
Strolling along the beach to the pier was full of colourful, vibrant sites. It is one of our favourite places to people watch and absorb the ambience. Our Kidsetter was especially taken by the trapeze artists practising along the beach their tight roping skills.
Naturally, once we reached the pier we had to take the iconic photo underneath the Route 66 sign where Route 66 ends at the sea and eat an ice-cream !
We meandered through Santa Monica Place browsing the stores. I’m a massive fan of innovation and we discovered a fantastic store called ‘b8ta’ displaying the latest innovations and products from Silicon Valley. We could touch, try and demo products. This store had us occupied for hours.
Brian is a big foodie and had heard about a wonderful ‘hip’ bakery located in Venice Beach called Gjusta Bakery & Deli. Admittedly this was quite a walk in the heat. Worth the effort though ! First you must find the place, located at the end of a row of industrial-type buildings in a residential neighbourhood just south of Rose Avenue. There is no signage. It’s a bustling bakery & deli and you immediately know anything you choose is going to be beyond scrumptious !
Considering we were relatively near Venice Beach, I really wanted to show our Kidsetter the infamous beach. I remembered it as being vibrant and colourful just as Santa Monica however it has regrettably gone downhill and is not child friendly at all and I regrated my decision. We felt unsafe and spent only a few minutes there before heading back to Santa Monica.
We walked into to the town centre and discovered the Santa Monica Downtown LA Artwalk Night Markets were happening. Our Kidsetter entered the atmosphere whole heartedly. A street performer was tap dancing and our Kidsetter decided to join in and dance with him. He also interacted beautifully with a lady selling butterfly wings. They were both surprising and special moments.
Santa Monica is a wonderful place to share with your Kidsetter at any age and time of the year.
