Executive Director at the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Jim Harris — arguably the most informed, most appropriate and most impassioned individual to take on such a task — has written his second book detailing the rich history of the popular Pacific protrusion.
Entitled Santa Monica Pier: America's Last Great Pleasure Pier, it features a foreword by Robert Redford and an afterword by Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“My first attempt to document the life of the Pier was released over 14 years ago and we [Harris and his publisher] really thought we had a complete, comprehensive history, but it seems that no sooner was the book out and in people’s hands, that folk came out of the woodwork, or out of the deck boards, with new stories and new information that we’d never heard of before and all I could think of, was ‘where were you six months ago?’” Harris laughs.
Harris himself has worked for the Santa Monica Pier Corporation for over 21 years and throughout his whole life, he’s never been very far away from the celebrated seaside structure. His first job was as a general manager at the long-gone Boathouse Restaurant (where Bubba Gump is now) and his love affair with the pier began.
He was even the producer and host of a television series called Santa Monica Pier Stories that aired on Santa Monica City TV in 2014 in which “host Jim Harris interviews people about their recollections of the colorful history of the Santa Monica Pier.”
While not as tall as, say, the Statue of Liberty, and not as long as, say, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Santa Monica Pier remains equally as illustrious. The iconic sign that marks the entrance to the pier-bridge is among the most photographed locations in the world and consistently remains on top Instagrammed locations lists as it attracts millions of visitors every year.
His first attempt to collect every anecdote, study every story and learn all that is learnable about the pier was called Santa Monica Pier: A Century on the Last Great Pleasure Pier was published in 2009, on its 100th anniversary.
“Don't get me wrong, I love that first book with all my heart. But in a sense, for 14 years now, it’s felt incomplete and I've always wanted the opportunity to put into those pages what I've learned since and you don't often get the opportunity to do that,” Harris says.
“I was finally given that opportunity [to create] a new and completely different looking book. The book in 2009 was designed specifically to celebrate the first 100 years of the pier and really be a fun book that was at a price point that was accessible to a broad audience … This new book is about 50 pages longer with new images and new information,’ he says.
“We’ve added so much more color and wonderful rich stories that are vital to really show the pier as being vital to not only the community, but to the world in ways that the first book doesn't cover.
“It is hard bound. It is a very elegant presentation. It belongs on every coffee table and … presents the pier as the worldwide icon that it is. And really, the title is America's Last Great Pleasure Pier and I think that's a very fitting title. It's the last representation of those piers that used to decorate the West Coast of the United States.”
Over the decades, the Santa Monica Pier has endured people, politics, poverty and even poop. It has featured in an almost countless number of movies, television shows and novels. Rumor has it that the creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, was heavily influenced by characters that used to frequent the pier in the 1920s and 30s. It also guest starred in the first Iron Man movie and the historic aesthetic of the carousel was used to recreate 1930s Chicago in the epic Paul Newman and Robert Redford flick The Sting. Moreover, the magnificent movie Fletch, based on the best-selling Gregory Mcdonald novel and starring Chevy Chase, featured many scenes under and around the pier.
Santa Monica Pier: America's Last Great Pleasure Pier is available to pre-order from Angel City Press and is a snip at just $29.95. Its official release date is May 21, but the last chance to get an advance copy is on Local’s Night on May 16, 2024.
