A Slow Afternoon at Santa Monica Beach
Sometimes, the best memories of Los Angeles are the simplest ones.
Los Angeles is filled with places you feel you are supposed to see. But some of the moments that stay with you longest are the ones that were never really planned.
For me, one of those memories is simply swimming at Santa Monica Beach.
There was nothing complicated about the afternoon. Just the wide Pacific Ocean, the California sun, and that unmistakable feeling of being far away from everyday life.
Santa Monica can be busy around the pier, but step onto the sand and the city somehow begins to feel farther away. The sound of the waves takes over. Shoes come off. Time slows down.
And then there is the ocean.
Swimming in the Pacific here feels different from simply looking at it from the shore. The water can be cool, even on a warm California day, but once you are in, there is something wonderfully refreshing about it. You look back toward the beach and see the long stretch of sand, palm trees in the distance and the Santa Monica Pier rising above the water.
It is one of those scenes that feels unmistakably Californian.
You could spend the day filling an itinerary — walking the pier, cycling along the coast, visiting nearby Venice Beach or searching for the perfect restaurant.
But you do not have to.
Sometimes the best way to experience Santa Monica is to leave a few hours completely empty. Swim. Sit on the sand. Watch the waves. Stay until the afternoon light begins to soften.
Years later, I find that this is the part I remember.
Not what I bought, or how many places I managed to visit, but the simple feeling of being in the ocean on a sunny Los Angeles afternoon.
Maybe that is what a good trip leaves behind — not a list of places you saw, but a few quiet moments you still wish you could return to.
Santa Monica State Beach
1550 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA 90404
