How SweisKloss Contributed to the Santa Monica Pier

by SweisKloss
August 19, 2021

Where has the summer gone? The start of school is a yearly indicator that the summer is nearing its end. Being in sunny Southern California is somewhat of an endless summer to begin with, but nevertheless, there’s a shift that happens. The beaches and oceanfront areas get quieter, even the famous Santa Monica Pier is a little less bustling. But when we say less bustling, it’s still filled with a good amount of people at seemingly any given time.

The Pier is one of the most popular destinations in Santa Monica. Considering that it was built in 1909, the Santa Monica Pier has had many, many visitors. Originally built as the Municipal Pier, it functioned as a pipeline for sewage to the ocean. Thankfully, the conduit was discontinued in the 1920s. At that point, the Pier became a place of attraction in large part to Charles Looff taking interest in the location.

Looff, a famous carousel carver (his first carousel was in Coney Island in 1875) turned amusement park builder, purchased the land south of the pier to construct a “refined” pleasure pier. His carousel was housed in the Looff Hippodrome, which is still standing to this day. In addition to the carousel, there was a bandstand, a ballroom, and a bowling and billiards hall.

As with many iconic, historic places, the Santa Monica Pier went through changes in ownership and numerous redevelopment efforts. Due to delayed renovations and neglect, the Pier was almost torn down until ultimately, at the urging of the community and a storm that nearly destroyed over a third of the Pier, the city of Santa Monica took over and fast tracked the construction.

The Santa Monica Pier has for most of its existence been a place of gathering and entertainment which is why when the Trapeze School of New York asked us over a decade ago to build the trapeze structure for their LA location at the Pier, we accepted without hesitation. And what a fun project it was, unlike anything we’d ever done. Drafting unique drawings and working with the Santa Monica Landmarks Commission were just some of the highlights.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Landmarks Commission, their mission is “To protect improvements and areas which represent the City's cultural, social, economic, political and architectural history; safeguard the City's historic, aesthetic and cultural heritage; and promote the use of landmarks and historic districts for the education, pleasure and welfare of the people.” The Santa Monica Pier is one of the city’s earliest historic landmark designations.

At the completion of the trapeze project, there was an opening night event that was truly spectacular. We got to celebrate with everyone, watching professional trapeze artists flying against a sunset and ocean background. The Trapeze School is still in operation at the Santa Monica Pier, and we couldn’t be happier that we were able to contribute in such a fun way.

For more info about the Trapeze School of New York, click here.