Annenberg Community Beach House: Santa Monica’s Best-Kept Summer Pool Secret
The Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica has a pool. You’ve probably driven past the gates on Pacific Coast Highway a hundred times without stopping. That’s a mistake worth correcting right now, because the pool costs $10, opens to the public on June 14 for the summer season, and sits on the original site of a 1929 Hollywood mansion built by William Randolph Hearst for actress Marion Davies—a place where Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, and Charlie Chaplin lounged between takes. The pool is still there. The history is still there. And almost nobody knows about it.
The Pool That Belonged to Hollywood
In 1929, Hearst hired the legendary architect Julia Morgan—the same woman who built Hearst Castle up the coast—to design a 110-room oceanfront estate for Davies at 415 Pacific Coast Highway. The “Ocean House,” as they called it, became the social center of Golden Age Hollywood: an elaborate playground where the biggest names in film and media came to swim, eat, and be seen by the right people. The parties were the kind that only happened when someone with unlimited money and zero constraints was in charge of the guest list.
The mansion was eventually torn down—as magnificent things in Los Angeles so often are—but the pool and one original guest cottage survived every decade of neglect, sale, and redevelopment that followed. In 2009, the Annenberg Foundation partnered with the City of Santa Monica and California State Parks to complete a $30 million restoration. The result is a five-acre public beach house that feels, despite yourself, like stumbling onto someone else’s very nice estate. Which, historically speaking, is exactly what it is.
The Pool, Practically Speaking
The pool opens June 14 and runs through Labor Day, September 7. Hours are Monday through Thursday, noon to 6pm, and Friday through Sunday, 10am to 6pm. Admission is $10 for adults, $4 for children, $5 for seniors. No advance reservations—pool passes are sold first-come, first-served at the Guest Services window, which opens one hour before the pool does. On summer weekends, the line starts early. On weekdays, you can often walk right in at noon and have the pool mostly to yourself.
The pool is heated, which—given Santa Monica’s reliable June gloom that sometimes stretches well into July—matters more than you might expect. Even on a cool coastal morning, the water is warm. The surrounding deck has lounge chairs and a view of the Pacific. It is, without exaggeration, one of the best deals in all of Santa Monica.
“You’re swimming in the same pool where 1920s screen legends lounged during cinema’s golden age. For $10. On a Tuesday afternoon. West LA is deeply unfair to the rest of the country.”
Beyond the Pool
The beach house is more than the pool—it’s a proper amenity complex that most locals have never fully explored. There’s an art gallery inside the restored guest cottage that rotates exhibitions throughout the summer, a splash pad and playground for kids, beach volleyball courts, and direct beach access to one of the quieter, less-congested stretches of Santa Monica shoreline. This isn’t the Pier area chaos—it’s further north on PCH, with a calmer crowd and better parking structure nearby. There’s also a café with outdoor seating and ocean views, Wi-Fi, and enough shade to spend an entire afternoon without moving.
The art gallery alone is worth visiting even on a non-pool day. The rotating exhibitions lean toward contemporary California artists, and admission to the gallery is always free. It’s the kind of cultural bonus that makes a $10 swim feel like you’re getting away with something.
Summer 2026 Programming
The Annenberg Beach House doesn’t just open the pool and call it a season. This summer’s programming includes some genuinely fun events. The 14th Annual Cardboard Yacht Regatta kicks off on June 13 (tomorrow—yes, tomorrow) from 9am to 1pm: competitors race handmade boats constructed entirely of cardboard and duct tape across the historic pool. It is exactly as chaotic and spectacular as it sounds, and it’s free to watch.
Throughout the summer there are stand-up paddleboard lessons, floating fitness and yoga sessions on the pool’s surface, swimming lessons, and beach volleyball camps. It’s the kind of programming you’d expect from a private beach club—except this one is public and costs less than a matinee movie ticket to access. If you’ve been wondering how to make this summer feel like an actual summer, this is a solid answer.
The beach house is at 415 Pacific Coast Highway—just north of where PCH meets the Santa Monica Pier area. It’s walkable from the Palisades Park bluffs if you don’t mind a short stroll, and there’s a paid parking structure on site that’s far less of a production than anything near the Pier.
