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2 Northwest Santa Monica

Annenberg splash pad

BOUNDARIES: Pacific Ocean, Montana Ave., Seventh St., Entrada Dr.

DISTANCE: About 3 miles

DIFFICULTY: Strenuous (includes stairways)

PARKING: Free street parking is available on Fourth St., but please read posted signs for parking restrictions.

This walk offers a respectable workout in true Santa Monica style. Starting at the popular Santa Monica stairs on the northern border of the beach city, the route then drops down to the beach for a sun-drenched stroll to the popular Annenberg Community Beach House.

Note: While most of the walks in this book are designed to cover as much new ground as possible, this one returns to the starting point by more or less the same route. However, because most of that route overlooks the ocean or traverses the beach, we figured our readers wouldn’t mind retracing their steps.

Walk Description

Begin at the intersection of Fourth Street and Adelaide Drive, right at the northern­most border of the city of Santa Monica in the exclusive residential neighborhood known as North of Montana.

Directly across the intersection, on the north side of Adelaide, is one of the two sets of Santa Monica stairs, a popular exercise destination for locals. Descend the long, narrow staircase all the way to Entrada Drive.

Turn right at the bottom of the stairs and follow the sidewalk, passing Canyon Charter School, a public elementary school in one of LA’s most exclusive neighborhoods, on your left.

At the intersection with Amalfi Drive, look for the second set of stairs on your right, and ascend. The wooden staircase is wider than the first, making it easier to share with the remarkably fit locals trotting doggedly up and down.

Turn right at the top of the stairs, and follow Adelaide for a little under 0.5 mile down to Ocean Avenue, passing a succession of huge multimillion-dollar homes—the sprawling shingled Craftsman at 236 Adelaide is particularly envy-inducing.

When you reach Ocean Avenue, cross the street to Palisades Park, which is known informally as “The Bluffs” and stretches for more than 1.5 miles from Adelaide all the way down to Colorado Avenue. The long, narrow green space, shaded by eucalyptus, olive, pine, and palm trees, offers stunning views of Santa Monica Bay that encompass Palos Verdes Peninsula, Catalina Island, the Santa Monica Pier, and Point Dume in Malibu. Here, at the northernmost end of the park, you’ll notice a charming totem pole, picnic tables, and a small grove of fragrant eucalyptus trees.

Turn left to walk through the park. You have your choice of dirt paths: the one closer to the street is shaded by pine trees, while the one on the ocean side is sunnier but offers spectacular views. On the green space between the two paths, you’ll likely see trainers leading fitness classes. The practice is so popular, in fact, that the city of Santa Monica cracked down in recent years, requiring trainers to obtain a permit to conduct sessions in city parks to keep them from being overrun with fitness enthusiasts. You’ll pass through a pretty rose garden across from the intersection with Palisades Avenue and then come to an interesting spherical wooden sculpture just south of the garden.

Shortly thereafter, across from the intersection of Montana Avenue, you’ll reach the staircase that will take you down to the beach on your right. Descend the long stairway, cross the bridge over the Pacific Coast Highway, and then continue down the spiral staircase to a beach parking lot.

Cross the lot toward the beach. On your left, you’ll pass a private beach club and a public swing set.

Turn right when you reach the beach path. Around this point, the path goes from being exclusively for cyclists to being a shared pedestrian/bike path. It’s wise to keep right to make way for passing cyclists.

Continue on the beach path a little under 0.5 mile to Back on the Beach Cafe. Just past the café is a boardwalk, which you can follow to the left if you’d like to spend some meditative moments on one of the thoughtfully provided benches looking out over the ocean.

Follow the boardwalk to the right toward the Annenberg Community Beach House. This facility opened in 2009 as an alternative to the private beach clubs and homes that monopolize nearly all of the oceanfront real estate in these parts. The beach house features a lovely pool and facilities that are open to the public during the summer for a modest day-use fee, as well as areas open to the public at no charge. These include a small children’s play area next to Back on the Beach Cafe and, just north of the pool, a picnic area with tables, umbrellas, and a splash pad for kids to play around in. North of the beach house is the historic Marion Davies Guest House, now open for occasional public tours and used to host special events.

After checking out the facilities, retrace your steps back down the beach path, across the pedestrian bridge, and up the stairway to Palisades Park.

Northwest Santa Monica

Points of Interest

Palisades Park Ocean Avenue between Colorado Avenue and Adelaide Drive, Santa Monica, CA 90402

Back on the Beach Cafe 445 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90402; 310-393-8282, backonthebeachcafe.com

Annenberg Community Beach House 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90402; 310-458-4904, annenbergbeachhouse.com

Head back the way you came through the park.

Turn right onto Adelaide when you come to the end of the park, carefully crossing the street. Note that the road splits here as it turns to head east—make sure to take the upper road on your right to get onto Adelaide instead of following the lower Ocean Avenue Extension on the left.

Follow Adelaide back to your starting point at the intersection of Fourth Street.