When I first visited Santa Monica Pier, I felt like I was on a movie set. The pier, the sky, and the clouds reflected in the ocean and it created a Alice in Wonderland moment; had a fallen in the rabbit hole and entered another world? I wondered when I was going to run into the Mad Hatter, which was actually possible on the pier.
Unique characters surrounded me and created their own reality.
The cotton candy from the pier filled the sky at sunset, illuminating the path back to the pier.
Unlike Alice, I didn’t need to find my way back home; I was already there. This unbelievable world is at my doorstep.
Bucket List Publications 
Beautiful pictures.
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Sounds like you’re glad to have moved back. No wonder!! You look great on the photos.
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I feel so lucky as this is a mere 30 minute bus ride away whenever I feel the need… one of my favorite places in the universe!
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Love the pictures. What a beautiful place.
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Great shootin’ Lesley!
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Wonderful last photo and clearly you are settled in. Congrats on the move!
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Great pics, you are very lucky to have Santa Monica on your doorstep! I visited for the first time the other weekend and will definitely head back soon for another (hopefully longer) visit. You may find my pics/post interesting http://onewaytickettosanfrancisco.com/2014/04/15/la/
We have recently relocated to San Francisco from London.
Joanna
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Awesome pictures! I used to live in Santa Monica, and only blocks from the pier. I miss it.
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I visited Santa Monica Pier and Venice Beach when was in LA in the early 2000. Wish I can visit the place again.
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I used to go there with my tiny daughter and go on the carousel and build sand castles that she’d smush – so many sand castles and we’re now thousands of miles away…
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I can not get enough of these pictures honestly. They are so beautiful and so perfect, it makes you want to be there! Also you just have the greatest posts on your blog, I definitely need to make a bucket list myself.
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Well, thank you for the lovely compliments. 🙂
I can’t wait to read your list.
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Gorgeous shots! I love sunsets at the pier! Maybe we will run into each other out there!
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Weirdly to me(because I don’t know you) – it sounds like you’ve come back to your freedom. Maybe when I eventually arrive in California – and I will – You can show me around! 🙂
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Love the pictures. To think I’m here in SD and have never been.
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Man, I just looove that last photo of yours! that should be on a postcard 🙂 . I miss CA, I have not been there since xmas 2012. They have the most gorgeous sunsets to me, I loved taking photos there:
omg haha, sorry for my photo spam >_<. Your photos made me think of the awesome time I had there. Can't wait to see more of your posts ❤ .
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Santa Monica pier was the end point of my very first road trip, so many miles from Chicago via Route 66, seems so easy to do now but what an adventure at the time and what a spectacular end point. Thanks for sharing 😎
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Looks fabulous.
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Absolutely lush! Love the pics and what a scene! Just gorgeous… enjoy your beautiful doorstep!
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Beautiful photos!!! I especially love the colors in the last one 🙂 ~Sophia
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Great photos!
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Beautiful.
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I’ll be there for my first visit in June. You’ve whetted my appetitie.
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Love the photo tour!
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Wow, that looks amazing.
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That last picture is my favourite. Pink skies…
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The photos are great—the first two really set the tone for your article. You seem much more relaxed since moving to CA.
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Leslie, when I lived in L.A., I was at the Santa Monica Pier and Beach every weekend!
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Looks like a pretty neat place to me. I might have to visit someday.
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The rides look zippy, too!
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It does look unreal, like a fairy land and a movie set. You look happy and relaxed and that makes me long to give Santa Monica pier a try. I could use a visit to the land of make believe. I love the shot of you with the pier behind you and the reflection in front of you, very cinematic.
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Good weather, fun and sunsets. What else can you ask for? To have it all in your backyard, of course. Lucky lady.
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So much color and great movement in these pics! Amazing.
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Beautiful!! I love Santa Monica!!
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beautiful photos!
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Lovely place Leslie. You have it made now girl!!!
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I couldn’t agree with you more, that place feels like magic. Ate at the Lobster and took a walk down the pier, just awesome!
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What amazing photos! I does look like a fun day–I will have to visit soon. Happy Nesting.
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Do you have any plans to visit the Maldives Islands this year? I have heard the Islands and the hospitality are amazing.
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Lots of great memories from Santa Monica pier. Thanks for reminding me. Are you going to the Maldives?? Sounds wonderful. I’ve never been there.
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NICE!!!!!!!!!!!
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the few hours i was here was amazing… then the nice walk on the beach towards venice beach was incredible as well!!
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A friend of mine lives right on the beach, seconds from the pier. I visited there this fall, and had the best time snapping pictures. What a magical place! 🙂
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Awww the beach life….amazing! Beautiful pictures!
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Looks like a fantastic day. Thanks for sharing.
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That is an incredible photo
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The Santa Monica pier is very iconic and easily recognizable to people everywhere due to its presence in so many movies and tv shows! I have my own pier here where I live complete with an amusement park to the side (not on on the pier)–it’s actually the amusement park featured in Big with Tom Hanks and Sweet and Lowdown with Sean Penn so it’s been in at least two movies I can think of (including a Mariah Carey video). It’s nice to live by the coast. 🙂
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What a gorgeous picture looking back toward the beach. My grandparents lived in Santa Monica two blocks from the water. Imagine how much we loved visiting them. We spent our summers with our cousins at Pacific Ocean Park. I don’t know if they still use the name, but seeing the roller coaster brought back happy memories!
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In 1971-72 I stayed on the lifeguard stand south of the pier for a few nights. I was drinking cheap wine and eating Cheetos as I bummed around the U.S.
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These are all amazing shots, but the first 2 are really stunning.
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Great pictures….this place is amazing
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