you reach Ocean Avenue, cross the street to 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
Follow the boardwalk to the right toward the
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
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.
3 Northeast Santa Monica and Brentwood
Playing on a Moreton Bay fig tree
BOUNDARIES: Montana Ave., 17th St., La Mesa Dr., 26th St.
DISTANCE: About 3 miles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
PARKING: Free street parking is available on 17th St., but please read posted signs for parking restrictions.
This route travels the northernmost reaches of the city of Santa Monica before briefly crossing into the LA neighborhood of Brentwood to check out the rustic-looking yet upscale Brentwood Country Mart shopping center. But the main draw of this area has nothing to do with retail, but rather what very well may be the most incredible trees you’ve ever seen. The quiet residential La Mesa Drive was planted with Moreton Bay fig trees back in the 1920s (rumor has it the saplings were mistaken for magnolias) that have since grown to mammoth yet regal proportions, offering a special horticultural treat that visitors to this wealthy enclave can marvel at from the sidewalk.
Walk Description
Begin on 17th Street just north of Montana Avenue.
Right after you cross Carlyle Avenue, a couple of houses on the right stand out: a large, boxy Spanish home with pretty tile work adorning the second story and a wood-paneled home with a stone chimney and sloped roof that brings to mind a ski lodge. Another interesting structure appears on the left as you approach the intersection with Georgina Avenue; this one is almost fortresslike, with its plain stucco walls and high windows, and it has a cool domed metal kids’ climbing structure in the front yard.
Turn right on San Vicente Boulevard. Twisted coral trees line the median of the wide boulevard, blooming bright reddish orange in the spring.
Look for the crosswalk at the intersection with 19th Street, and cross over to the north side of San Vicente. Here the street becomes La Mesa Drive, home to those magnificent Moreton Bay fig trees. Follow La Mesa as it curves to the right.
With their massive trunks, snaking roots,
