A pier with a solar powered Ferris wheel, three blocks from a car free shopping street and a bluff top park above the beach.
What Downtown Santa Monica looks like
runs out over the water on wooden pilings, a narrower older section beside a wider deck that holds 's rides. The Pacific Wheel turns at the end of the wider deck, eighty five feet of solar powered Ferris wheel over the ocean. A sign near the pier's edge reads Santa Monica 66, End of the Trail, with a ramp down to the beach beside it.
The is a two story tan stucco building on the pier deck, arched windows trimmed in blue. Inside, a forty four horse carousel turns under strings of lights on a polished wood floor.
runs three blocks inland, palm trees and painted banners strung over the pedestrian street. Water spouting topiary dinosaurs line the block, and a round market pavilion with red umbrellas sits partway down. An Art Deco clock tower rises over the storefronts farther along, a metal fountain sculpture at its base.
Above the beach, Palisades Park runs along a paved path under a row of tall palm trees on the bluff. A stone and brick archway, the Idaho Gate, marks one entrance. A switchback staircase leads down the bluff face to Pacific Coast Highway and the beach below.
Shot in Downtown Santa Monica
Iron Man's aerial flyover of the illuminated pier and the carousel doubling for a Chicago elevated train in The Sting are two of several confirmed credits here. Pretty in Pink shot its record store scene across the promenade from the corner Heat later used for a different restaurant scene.
The Sting, 1973
The carousel doubles for a Chicago el
Played Chicago's elevated railway, Chicago, Illinois, 1930s
The production shot the carousel inside the Looff Hippodrome, at the end of Colorado Avenue. Trick photography turned its motion into the rocking of a 1930s Chicago elevated train car. Street View
Heat, 1995
The Broadway Deli corner
Played the restaurant where Eady propositions McCauley
The scene where Eady propositions McCauley was shot at the Broadway Deli, at Third Street and Broadway on the promenade; that building is a clothing store today. An earlier scene in the film used the Hennessey and Ingalls bookstore, a block south on Third Street, since closed. The building directly across the promenade played the record store Trax in Pretty in Pink nine years earlier and is the Broadway Bar and Grill today. Street View
Alias, 2001
Played where Sydney gets her counter mission
Sydney meets Vaughn on a run through Palisades Park, between Broadway and Colorado. She gets her counter mission for the episode Parity, and the scene plays out on the bluff top path above the beach. Street View
What Downtown Santa Monica can double for
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, California
Charles Looff built the Santa Monica pier's Hippodrome building in 1916 and the Santa Cruz boardwalk's 1911 carousel. A different company, Philadelphia Toboggan, built the carousel now inside the Hippodrome. The two piers still share a similar wooden deck and carved horse, dance hall era design. Santa Cruz's boardwalk sits directly on the beach rather than up on pilings. Its roller coaster looms over the carousel building, so a frame that excludes the coaster track holds the comparison better. Try searching wooden carousel building now.
Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois
Navy Pier extends out over Lake Michigan in a similar configuration, a long deck with rides and a large illuminated Ferris wheel near the end. Navy Pier's wheel stands twice as tall and its deck runs far wider, with Chicago's skyline behind it, so a tighter frame on the ride level rather than a wide shot keeps the skyline out. Try searching illuminated Ferris wheel now.
Ocean City Boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey
Ocean City's boardwalk runs on wood planks for two and a half miles, lined with shops, arcades and food stands in a similar beach town commercial mix. Its buildings run in a continuous straight line with no pier extending out over the water, so a frame that stays on the boardwalk itself rather than looking seaward holds the comparison better. Try searching wood plank boardwalk now.
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