SANTA MONICA HOMES FOR SALE | NEW LISTINGS | UNLISTED
There are literally a million and one different reasons that you would want to call Santa Monica your home. Maybe the biggest reason that so many people are looking at different Santa Monica homes for their next big move is strictly because of the caliber of weather. You would be hard pressed to find even a single person that was unhappy with the day to day weather of southern California, and would have just as difficult a time finding people in Santa Monica homes that didn’t count it as a major reason for their move.
You’ll be able to jump into the Ocean inside of just a few minutes no matter where your new Santa Monica home is, the kind of access that people dream of almost every single day.
LAX is just miles away to make hitting any spot on the planet a possibility. You can be out of your door and on a flight around the world inside of an hour, which is the perfect thing to do from time to time to really help you better appreciate just how incredible the Santa Monica homes really are!
The last thing you need to know about why people make the move to Santa Monica is that it has as much to do with an inner change than an outer one. Sure, we’ve all dreamed of how our lives would be different if we could live on a beach house in a world class town like Santa Monica, but the residents there actually get to see what happens when they make the shift. People become more alive, more awake, more caring – it’s a whole mindset shift that can take you to another planet without ever having to leave the country you love so much.
Modern Santa Monica
Santa Monica has a dramatic setting over 200 feet above the beach with rugged cliffs that drop-off along the shoreline. The city enjoys fresh sea breezes coming in from the Pacific Ocean with an average year round temperature near 70 degrees Fahrenheit. For surfers and skateboarders, Santa Monica also borders funky, world famous Venice Beach.
Santa Monica features world class hotels, restaurants and shopping. It is really a place to be, if you want to have fun in the sun playing beach volleyball, biking, rollerblading or “people watching” to your heart’s content. For the more adventurous, a hike in the near by Santa Monica Mountains will be a rewarding experience.
For the Earth-loving, you will be delighted to know that Santa Monica is a “green” city with bicycle-friendly streets. The people in Santa Monica believe in creating a healthier, cleaner, safer and more beautiful city.
Shopping, Parks, and More
Santa Monica has three main shopping districts, Montana Avenue on the north side of the city, the Downtown District in the city’s core, and Main Street on the south end of the city. Each of these districts has its own unique feel and personality.
Montana Avenue is a stretch of luxury boutique stores, restaurants, and small offices that generally features more upscale shopping. The Main Street district offers an eclectic mix of clothing, restaurants, and other specialty retail.
The Downtown District is the home of the Third Street Promenade, a major outdoor pedestrian-only shopping district that stretches for three blocks. Third Street is closed to vehicles for those three blocks to allow people to stroll, congregate, shop and enjoy street performers.
Santa Monica Place, featuring Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom in a three-level outdoor environment, is located at the south end of the Promenade. After a period of redevelopment, the mall reopened in the fall of 2010 as a modern shopping, entertainment and dining complex with more outdoor space.
The oldest movie theater in the city is the Majestic. Also known as the Mayfair Theatre, the theater which opened in 1912 has been closed since the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The Aero Theater (now operated by the American Cinematheque) and Criterion Theater were built in the 1930s and still show movies. The Santa Monica Promenade alone supports more than a dozen movie screens.
Palisades Park stretches out along the crumbling bluffs overlooking the Pacific and is a favorite walking area to view the ocean. It includes a totem pole, camera obscura, artwork, benches, picnic areas, pétanque courts, and restrooms.
Tongva Park occupies 6 acres between Ocean Avenue and Main Street, just south of Colorado Avenue. The park includes an overlook, amphitheater, playground, garden, fountains, picnic areas, and restrooms.
The Santa Monica Stairs, a long, steep staircase that leads from north of San Vicente down into Santa Monica Canyon, is a popular spot for all-natural outdoor workouts.
SANTA MONICA HOMES FOR SALE | NEW LISTINGS | UNLISTED
Santa Monica Beach Culture
It’s a small city with forward-thinking social and environmental ideals and fascist parking codes. Here, you’ll navigate a landscape of surf rats, skate punks, string bikinis, yoga freaks, psychics, street performers and a prodigious homeless population. Here’s a place where real-life Lebowskis sip white Russians next to martini-swilling Hollywood producers, celebrity chefs dine at family-owned taquerias, and soccer moms and career bachelors shop shoulder to shoulder at abundant farmers markets.
Most, if not all, of which can be found along a stretch of sublime coastline that cradles the city to the west, and laps at the heels of an undulating mountain range that defines the entire LA area to the north. This is Santa Monica – LA’s cute, alluring, hippie-chic little sister, its karmic counterbalance and, to many, its salvation.
The Santa Monica Pier
Once the very end of the mythical Route 66, the Santa Monica Pier dates back to 1908, and is the city’s most compelling landmark. There are arcades, carnival games, a vintage carousel, a Ferris wheel, a roller coaster, and an aquarium, and the pier comes alive with free concerts (Twilight Dance Series) and outdoor movies in the summertime.
The thing here is the view: extending almost a quarter mile over the Pacific, you can stroll to the edge, hang out among the motley anglers, and lose yourself in the rolling, blue-green sea.
Kids get their kicks at Pacific Park , a small amusement park with a solar-powered Ferris wheel, kiddy rides, midway games and food stands.
Peer under the pier the Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium. Sea stars, crabs, sea urchins and other critters and crustaceans scooped from the bay stand by to be petted – ever so gently, please – in their adopted touch-tank homes.
South of the pier is the Original Muscle Beach, where the Southern California exercise craze began in the mid-20th century, and new equipment now draws a new generation of fitness fanatics. Close by, the search for the next Bobby Fischer is on at the International Chess Park .
SANTA MONICA HOMES FOR SALE | NEW LISTINGS | UNLISTED
Corey Chambers, Realty Source Inc, BRE#01889449
