By Lookout Staff
September 1, 2009 -- After hosting the first live musical TV show and serving as a backdrop for numerous Academy Award Winning Films, the Santa Monica Pier will be ready for its close-up Wednesday.
On September 9, the pier will celebrate its 100th birthday -- having weathered major storms, economic hardships, a century of turbulent changes, even a City Council decision four decades ago to tear it down.
"The Pier today remains an icon -- a single remnant of history on a coast that was once peppered with piers," said Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Company.
"It offers nostalgia for yesteryear, yet remains a commanding presence on the national landscape and a vibrant entertainment center that embraces the culture of today," Franz-Knight said. "It deserves the birthday celebration of a century."
The Santa Monica Pier Centennial Celebration has been offering a series of free events and festivals re-creating and paying homage to some of the most memorable moments from its past. But the big show will take place on September 9.
The Pier's Centennial Day will kick off with a grand re-opening ceremony featuring musical performances and celebrity participants, along with a few centenarians who will cut the Pier's 100-foot birthday cake.
At night, the first large-scaled fireworks spectacular in 18 years will illuminate Santa Monica Bay, visible from any point along the Santa Monica Beach. The festivities will start with pre-fireworks entertainment staged in several locations along the beach.
"Our goal, with these celebratory centennial events, is to once again underscore how the last Great Pleasure Pier can offer 'pleasure' in uncountable ways to all -- local and regional communities as well as national and international tourists," Franz-Knight said.
"In addition to diverse entertainment, the Pier offers visitors a rare and treasured treat -- quiet moments of peaceful reflection amid the ocean breezes or the stunning sunrises and sunsets."
During its 100 years, the Pier has seen landmarks come and go and set trends that have never died.
Built in 1916, the Hippodrome combined Byzantine, Moorish and California architecture to enclose a carousel that featured a circling menagerie of wooden animals. Among the last of its kind, the Hippodrome was adopted into the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
Eight years later, the La Monica Ballroom -- a vast, ornate dance palace floating above the sea -- became the largest ballroom in the world, serving as the site of the famous Dance Marathons in the 1930s and attracting celebrities and television shows.
The Pier has also served as a Hollywood backdrop seen by millions of moviegoers around the globe. The films include Funny Girl (1968), They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The Sting (1973), Forrest Gump (1994) and The Majestic (2001).
The centennial events have been made possible by a Preserve America Grant, the City of Santa Monica, Cirque du Soleil, Time Warner Cable, Clear Channel, The Sempra Energy Foundation and the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau.
