Originally Posted by SWCPHX

You can't get too much closer to the beach than that hotel. You're right at the top of the Santa Monica Pier, easy walk to a light rail station, easy walk to 3rd St. Promenade, Palisades Park is a nice bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and beach with stairs and walkways over Pacific Coast Highway to get to the actual beach itself. A lot of new restaurants in the area also. Downsides, you'll have a ton of street folk/transients in that area. They're usually not violent but a lot of them are mentally ill and can be disturbing.