Is there anything better than waking up far from home in place you don’t know with ten rolls of unexposed film in your bag? I have only been once or twice in the Los Angeles area but I’ve not really seen anything at all. I knew that I wanted to see the coast, so why not Santa Monica? There was only one — slight — problem. It was raining, and who goes to the beach when it is raining? Well, I am Irish, and we know how to handle beaches in the rain. So I headed to the car.
I was hoping to get a nice breakfast on the boardwalk, but alas, couldn’t even find a good coffee. Thanks to my jet-lag, it was still very early. It looked like this:
Santa Monica boardwalk, in the rain.
I was expecting more cheesy attractions. There were a few, but I guess I need to go the UK and Ireland if I want that. There was a desolate, Portrush kind of vibe about the place:
For the rest of the morning, I walked through the the town and back to the beach. The town itself is not very interesting, it is fully of expensive shops and scrubbed to within an inch of its life. Of course, because it was 9AM on a rainy Sunday morning, there was no-one there.
But the beach was very nice:
The beach
The beachfront indeed is impressive. There was a very strong wind, I had to be careful not to be hit by falling bits of palm trees.
The beachfront
Back at the boardwalk, towards noon, there were many more people. I noticed a phenomena which some friends have already mentioned to me (and you can see in the first photograph): almost everyone who is alone is poking at their cellphone. No more smoking cigarettes and staring thoughtfully off into the distance.
Santa Monica boardwalk, with a bit of sunshine
Next: Pasadena and Caltech.
Here are my previous posts on 52rolls.
Technical. Photographs were taken with a Leica M6 and a Summicron f2.0/50mm. Film: Kodak Tri-X 400 developed in HC110 B for 6mins.
52 rolls 
Cell phones mean never having to feel alone, even if you are.
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I agree, Santa Monica itself is not much to like. The pier seems pretty cheesy to me but I guess I need to check out UK cheesiness. What did you think of the homes along the beachfront? I find them amazing, so many different styles but all obviously ridiculously expensive. The beach there is quite lovely. I like your photo of the pier in the rain – again, unusual for us typically.
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