Palisades Park at Sunset: The Free Show That Beats Any Bar

There is a strip of parkland along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica that runs 26 acres from Colorado to Adelaide Drive, sits on top of a bluff above the Pacific Coast Highway, and has a direct unobstructed view of Santa Monica Bay. It is free, open 24 hours, and most evenings between 5 and 7pm it has the best sunset in Los Angeles.

This is Palisades Park. It is not a secret. Tourists find it easily. But Westside residents who actually use it regularly — as a walk, a run, a place to clear your head after work — have a relationship with it that's different from the selfie crowd. They know where to sit, when to go, and how to make the most of it.

"The best seats for the Santa Monica sunset cost nothing. They've been there since 1875 and most evenings they're half empty."

The Park Itself

Palisades Park runs along the top of the bluffs on the west side of Ocean Avenue between Colorado Ave and Adelaide Drive. It's long and narrow — never more than 200 feet wide — with winding paths, palm allées, Italian stone pines, and eucalyptus that have been here since the early 1900s. The Craftsman-style pergola at the north end dates to around 1912. The stone gates at the south end are Craftsman-era as well.

The park faces due west, which means on a clear evening the sun drops directly into the ocean from any point along the bluff edge. Santa Monica gets roughly 284 sunny days per year. The show is reliable.

The Camera Obscura

At the corner of Ocean and Santa Monica Boulevard sits the Camera Obscura Art Lab — a 1898 structure that is one of the last functioning camera obscuras in the United States. A rotating periscope on the roof projects a live, moving image of the street outside onto a viewing table inside. It's strange, beautiful, and completely free to visit during Art Lab operating hours (Tuesday–Sunday, 9am–5pm). Most people walk past it without knowing what it is.

The Rose Garden & Monuments

The circular rose garden at the south end of the park dates to the 1950s. It's maintained year-round and peaks in spring. Throughout the park you'll find four Veterans of Foreign Wars monuments — one for each military branch — and several historic plaques marking the park's 150-year history as Santa Monica's original civic green space.

Getting There

Palisades Park runs along Ocean Avenue, which is easy to reach from the 10 freeway (exit Lincoln, head west to Ocean). Metered street parking on Ocean Ave is often available in the early morning and on weekday afternoons. The Santa Monica Pier parking structure on Lot 1 (off Colorado) is a reliable option at $3/hour. The park is also two blocks from the 3rd Street Promenade and within walking distance of the Downtown Santa Monica Metro E Line station.