After living in Los Angeles for over fifteen years, one of the great respites in this city remains the pleasure of traveling into Santa Monica and wandering around the pier and park, overlooking the ocean, and then walking along the shops and theaters of the Third Street Promenade. While there are other streets in the Los Angeles area dedicated to great shops and restaurants, the Promenade has always felt a step above other neighborhoods dedicated to shopping and entertainment. Perhaps it has something to do with its proximity to the ocean, less than a couple of blocks away, or something to do with the variety of food you can get — everything from McDonald’s to French crepes and fine coffee. There’s abundant parking here, free for two hours in the day, and a small fee after six for the night, as well as bookstores and night clubs, and so on.
The Promenade is a few north/south blocks of Third Street closed to traffic, interrupted by west/east bound streets, with a variety of shops that have been in the community for years. Start out on Broadway and work your way north through the many shops. Along the way, you’ll find street performers and vendors among the dinosaur-shaped hedges and water fountains. Be careful on the rare sighting of a mime who might follow you down the street. At the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd and Third, you’ll find just around the corner a number of shops dedicated to the Anglophile in all of us: tea shops, souvenir shops, pubs and restaurants, some with a number of imports and foods from Great Britain. The Promenade stretches all the way to Wilshire Boulevard, three blocks long, where you’ll find a three story Barnes and Noble bookstore.
There are also plenty of hostels and hotels in Santa Monica , so it’s easy to arrange a trip there and stay close to the beach, which, after all, is one of the city’s main attractions. If you’ve never been to the Third Street Promenade, there’s a bit of a chance you’ve already seen it in movies. It’s been featured more than once, although the only time I really remember clearly is in a sequel to The Brady Bunch movies, A Very Brady Sequel .