Santa Monica Pier’s Summer Events and Third Thursdays

If you've walked out to the western end of the pier any Saturday since late June and found it harder to get a clear look at the ocean, you weren't imagining a busier tourist season. You were seeing a busier pier calendar in action. As Brian Merrick's report on the pier's summer programming describes, the Michelob ULTRA Pitchside Club launched at the pier on June 11 and ran watch parties tied to the FIFA World Cup through July 19; on match days, it concentrated crowds at the western end of the deck in a way an ordinary summer weekday never did. These events added another layer to the pier's schedule, and looking at the calendar as a whole helps show what the pier's programming looks like in September.

Start with what actually happened this summer, because the sequence matters more than any one date. The pier's Jazz Festival opened May 1, and by the city's own account that wasn't a standalone booking but the first entry in a run of programming that extends out to 2028. Route 66's centennial added its own layer on June 6, when the pier partnered with Chicago's Navy Pier for a coast-to-coast "Pier to Pier" celebration, offering free 66-minute rides on the Pacific Wheel to mark the anniversary. Two weeks later, Make Music Santa Monica turned public spaces into free stages on June 21, with a Play Day at Miles Memorial Playhouse in Reed Park and a soccer-themed celebration near the Downtown Santa Monica Metro station. The Pier 360 Beach Festival took over the pier and beach June 27 and 28 with paddleboard races, a strongman classic, and lifeguard competitions. The State of the City address moved to Ocean Park Branch Library and Main Street on July 23. None of that reads as random. Each piece slots into a City Council-approved partnership with private producers tied to five major events: the World Cup, a Goldenvoice-produced festival this fall, an ESPN fan festival on the pier in February 2027, Club France at the Annenberg Community Beach House for the 2028 Olympics, and a companion Santa Monica event still taking shape. The city has called this a "realignment plan," and the pier is its most visible stage.

How the Pier's Summer and Fall Calendars Differ

None of this is a complaint about the events themselves. Paddleboard racing at the pier traces back to the 1930s, and the beach volleyball and lifeguard competitions built into Pier 360 are genuinely rooted in the city's own sporting history. For roughly four months, the pier's calendar included events for match and festival visitors and activities marking the Route 66 centennial. The summer schedule was one part of the pier's broader calendar.

The pier's free community program follows a separate, published seasonal schedule.

Third Thursdays: The Pier's September-to-May Program

Third Thursdays is the pier's free community night: local DJs, live music, art, kids' activities, and a classic car show, according to the pier's own event listing. It runs every third Thursday from September through May. That window is the detail worth sitting with. Its season includes the month of the Jazz Festival's May opening and excludes the July World Cup watch parties.

The summer events listed above follow their own schedule. Together, the programs show how the pier's calendar changes over the year.

What Actually Lands on the Calendar This Month

Two concrete things worth marking down as September opens:

• The season's first Third Thursday, the free community night with local DJs, live music, art, a classic car show, and kids' activities, resumes now that the run officially covers September through May.
• The S.S. Rex benefit gala returns September 19, recreating the 1930s gambling ship that once anchored just off the pier inside the historic Merry-Go-Round building, with proceeds supporting the pier's free community programming as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Together, these dates show that the fall calendar includes the pier's community programming and a fundraiser for those programs.

Comparing the Pier's Summer and Fall Calendars

Planning Around the Pier's Calendar Through 2028

The city's partnerships extend through 2028. An ESPN fan festival is listed for February 2027, and a new annual Goldenvoice-produced beachfront festival is set to debut this fall and return in 2027 and 2028. Checking the pier's calendar can help you plan around those events and the Third Thursdays schedule.

The pier's event page provides the schedule beyond any single festival weekend. Third Thursdays is scheduled from September through May, and it is set to return this September.

If you've been thinking about what else is shifting in your corner of Santa Monica, whether that's the pace of a specific street, a property you've had your eye on, or just a sense that the neighborhood's rhythm has changed enough to reconsider your own plans, Lisa Potier has spent years reading these kinds of local shifts block by block. Get a free home valuation and start the conversation with someone who actually pays attention to what's happening down at the pier, not just what's listed on the county assessor's site.