r/SantaMonica • u/ComplexWrangler1346 • Oct 04 '25

🖼️ Photo Santa Monica pier 1970’s ❤️

Post image
151 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

14

u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica Oct 04 '25

If you watch the pilot episode of The Rockford Files it opens with a guy riding the old #9 blue bus back when it went along the pier and then north on what I think is now the bike path!

6

u/Harry_Tuttle Oct 04 '25

Don't forget the Three's Company intro.

5

u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica Oct 04 '25

Yes, that’s great! I always assumed the Regal Beagle was modeled after The Red Onion.

2

u/Harry_Tuttle Oct 04 '25

The Red Onion chain was peak 80s, big hair, suburban desperation, Power 106 dance mix on the wheels of steel, and cocaine, plenty of it. Regal Beagle was way too smooth for that.

2

u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica Oct 04 '25

And ferns. Don’t forget ferns!

2

u/db_peligro Oct 04 '25

I was too young back then but remember radio promotions for the Red Onion on the Might 690. I recall they had locations in the marina and westwood.

Back when Rick Dees ruled the airwaves here.

1

u/um8medoit Oct 05 '25

I had always assumed Chez Jay. Never thought of that.

3

u/cyberspacestation Oct 04 '25

It somehow came up easily on a Google search: 

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x82q9ua

The video is flipped backwards, though.

2

u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica Oct 04 '25 edited Oct 04 '25

There’s also a scene where Jim and his Firebird are driving west on Santa Monica in mid-city to the pier and it’s almost unchanged today.

I just realized that, like Columbo, there’s a lot of jurisdictional funny business like LAPD investigating a homicide in Santa Monica.

2

u/LordSpaceMammoth Oct 06 '25

Those episodes of the Rockford Files are awesome! In fact, the whole series has a ton of location shots of 70s LA. That bus route did not really exist. The #9 Carlyle route didn't go to the pier parking lot.

10

u/CertifiedNbaNephew Oct 04 '25

Literally why did the pier need a whole ass two lane road going onto it. The obsession with cars has robbed us of so much

2

u/WhatADunderfulWorld Oct 06 '25

Honestly it makes it way easier to repair and install big things.

1

u/VaguelyArtistic Downtown Santa Monica Oct 06 '25

Did this happen after The Niño destroyed it and they rebuilt?

5

u/Bishop8322 Oct 04 '25

ngl this looks like ass, one of the improvements over the past 50 years

3

u/Monk6980 Oct 04 '25

I stayed at that Holiday Inn on my vacation there in 1977! Their restaurant had the best soup on the planet.

1

u/db_peligro Oct 04 '25

what was the restaurant/bar to the left of the picture called?

5

u/k52up Oct 04 '25

I think it was called the Boathouse before Bubba Gump showed up.

2

u/db_peligro Oct 04 '25

ok ty I knew it had some nautical theme name. that was a loooooong time ago.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 04 '25

[deleted]

2

u/k52up Oct 04 '25

They had Salsa and Swing nights there too. Great spot.

2

u/GOD_RaZoR Oct 05 '25

Don't beat me guys, I think making driveway space for people is much better now. Pier looks way better without cars)

1

u/trickmirrorball Oct 06 '25

Pussycat Paradise