history museum
women in fashion + film
Marilyn Monroe was born.
Ferragamo was making shoes for film actress Marion Davies.
Ten years later, Elsa Shaparelli would create a perfume bottle based on Mae West’s bust, who had a house down the street from Marion and legend has it picked up her paycheck at the bar in downtown Santa Monica.
1926
Marion Davies, film actress, famed party hostess, and the original Beach House resident, moves into 415 PCH.
The Beach House
Route 66 +
Casa del Mar Opens
1940’s
The area of Will Rogers State Beach informally known as "Ginger Rogers Beach" becomes popular gathering spot for the LGBTQ+ community. It was during this time that the area was first informally dubbed "Ginger Rogers Beach" by the community, in homage to the glamorous Hollywood actress.
100 years
of women in
fashion + film
in
santa monica
featuring
gender bending queens
Mae West
Marion Davies
Ginger Rogers
Amelia Earhart
+
Madame Sylvia Wu
Anna May Wong
Marilyn Monroe
Shirley Temple
Gussy Moran
Cher
Jane Fonda
Pamela Anderson
Paris Hilton
+ Margot Robbie
You won't want to miss it
betty is that girl
During the 1960s, Will Rogers State Beach grew in popularity and became an important place for recreation for people living in Los Angeles.
Will Rogers State Beach exists thanks to Will Rogers' widow, Betty, who donated his oceanfront property to California after he passed away. This gift created the heart of the beach as a public memorial by 1944. Later, more development and county management in the 1960s and after helped make the beach what it is today, connecting Will Rogers' legacy to this well-loved part of Santa Monica Bay.
In the 1960s, new facilities like lifeguard stations were added and used more often, making the beach experience better and continuing the Rogers family's original vision from years before.
For many seasons, Baywatch filmed mainly at Will Rogers State Beach in Santa Monica. The beach’s lifeguard towers, dramatic rescues, and Southern California scenery became a big part of the show’s look, along with scenes shot in Malibu and Long Beach. Its clean sand, palm trees, and surf made it an ideal and easy-to-reach location for the series before it later moved to Hawaii.
Will Rogers State Beach was at the center of Baywatch’s original California setting, showing off the sun, sand, and rescues that made the show so well known.