Santa Monica History Museum

About Santa Monica History Museum

The Santa Monica History Museum preserves and interprets the Bay Area's cultural heritage through rotating exhibitions and permanent galleries. Visitors explore current exhibits including "Roots & Branches: A Tree's View of Santa Monica," examining connections between trees and urban development, and "Her story," honoring groundbreaking women in the city. The "Food and Family" exhibition traces African American and intercultural food traditions through shared meals and recipes. The museum maintains one of the most comprehensive historical photo collections in existence, comprising over 600,000 prints, negatives, glass-plate negatives, and slides documenting Santa Monica's past. The museum offers tours for schools and small groups, a research library, virtual tours, and hands-on workshops. A permanent gallery titled "A Town at Play" features artifacts including a six-foot center hub sign from the original Pacific Wheel Ferris wheel. The museum, located in Santa Monica, California, admits children under 17, seniors 65 and older, students, active duty military, veterans, and SNAP/EBT cardholders free of charge according to santamonicahistory.org.