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Photograph of Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome
Photograph by Richard Wang took this photo and has released it under the GDFL, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. 20 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1894.

From the record

“The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome is located on the Newcomb Pier adjacent to the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. It was designed and built in 1916 by Charles I.”

Wikipedia article Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 616 National Register listings published here for Los Angeles County · listed in 1987 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Address. 276 Santa Monica Pier, Santa Monica
  • When was it listed? February 1987
  • Category. building
  • Census division. Santa Monica
  • Architectural style. Byzantine Revival architecture, Moorish Revival architecture
  • National Register reference number. 87000766 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1894 to 1979

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 85 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome, surveyed 1979
Topographic sheet covering Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome, surveyed 1894

Fires near this property

30 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 30 fires within 5 miles of Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome between 2005 and 2020, burning about 153 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined16
Misuse of fire by a minor4
Smoking4
Debris and open burning2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Natural1
Recreation and ceremony1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
30 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation AreaCALVARY
18 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
16 September 2019Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreLos Angeles County Fire Departmentnot named
15 September 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.0 acresSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation AreaRUSTIC
11 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
8 July 2009Misuse of fire by a minor80 acresCalifornia Department of Forestry & Fire Protectionnot named
29 July 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation AreaENTRADA
28 July 2010Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreSanta Monica Mountains National Recreation AreaDEPAUW

Every fire recorded in Los Angeles County

Mines and quarries near this property

6 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome: 6 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Clay, Gold. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Pacific Beach Mining & Dredging CoGoldPast Producer
Acme Brick Co. PitClayPast Producer
Gladding-Mcbean-Santa Monica PitClayPast Producer
Santa Monica Brick Co.ClayPast Producer
Simons Brick Co.-Santa Monica PitClayPast Producer
Western Brick Co.ClayPast Producer

Every working recorded in Los Angeles County

Storms near this property

3 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Santa Monica, the town this property stands in, in 3 storm reports between 1998 and 2026: 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
February 2026FloodSanta Monica-Heavy rain produced significant flooding on Interstate 10 at the intersection with 4th Street.
February 2026Flash FloodSanta Monica-Heavy rainfall produced flash flooding from the McClure Tunnel to eastbound Interstate 10. Several vehicles were stuck in the flood waters.
March 1998Funnel CloudSanta Monica-A spotter in the Santa Monica area reported two funnel clouds.

Every storm recorded in Los Angeles County

Maps showing this location

20 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Club Casa Del Mar0.4 miles2000
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium0.4 miles2024
Bay Street Beach Historic District0.4 miles2019
Horatio West Court0.7 miles1977
Charmont Apartments0.7 miles1996
Sovereign Hotel0.8 miles1997

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 87000766 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Los Angeles CountyAll 616 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.