Santa Monica, CA Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

Immediately north of Venice, Santa Monica is the oldest and biggest of LA's resort areas, perched on palm-tree-shaded bluffs, or "the palisades," above the blue Pacific. Once a wild beachfront playground, it's now a self-consciously healthy and liberal community, with a large expatriate British contingent of writers and rock stars, ranging from Rod Stewart to John Lydon. The Santa Monica beachfront grew into a giant funfair city when it was linked to downtown LA by the suburban streetcar system. It was the location for many of the underworld stories of Raymond Chandler, most memorably as … more »