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The Santa Monica Pier was built to run sewage into the ocean in 1909. The amusement park concept developed in 1916 during the heyday of pleasure piers, which populated coastal towns nationwide. Today, it's one of the last remaining pleasure piers.The pier has survived politics, activism, and a series of storms that destroyed a third of its structure. Since then it's emerged as an amusement park, a concert, and retail hub. Estimates show between 11 and 14 million people visit annually.
It was built in 1909 to run sewage into the ocean and then developed into an amusement park concept in 1916 during the heyday of pleasure piers, which populated coastal towns nationwide. Today, it's one of the few that remain.By the 1960s, the pier was no longer viable for Santa Monica and City Manager Perry Scott was tasked with turning it around. Voters rejected a plan to extend the pier to a man-made island with a resort hotel, a convention center and other amenities.
Soon after, a series of El Niño storms severely battered the pier in 1983, bringing 10-foot waves that swallowed the lower fishing deck. The city had concrete structures added for stability. The new structures supported the incoming restaurants, retail stores and the beginnings of an amusement park, which opened in 1996.
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