Santa Monica Planning Division Santa Monica Landmarks Tour, 2003.
33. Santa Monica Pier
Foot of Colorado Avenue
Architect: Charles Looff
Designation: 17 August 1976
"The Pier is California's oldest pleasure pier and has the only amusement park on a pier on the west coast . . . Looff sold the Pleasure Pier in 1924 to a corporation which lengthened it that year and built the famed La Monica Ballroom, which soon became home of some of the earliest national radio and television broadcasts. Although the ballroom was demolished in 1963, in its heyday the massive structure could accomodate as many as 10,000 people.
"In 1953, the City took over the Pleasure Pier and leased it to a private operator. Since the 1970s, the Piers have been known collectively as the Santa Monica Pier. The entire Pier was named a [Los Angeles] County Historical Landmark in 1975. After the 1983 storms that destroyed the west end of the Santa Monica Pier, the structure of the Pier was strengthened."