Santa Monica's Postcard Pier Has Ghost Stories Too
A guide with a lantern leads a walk around the pier, Ocean Avenue and Palisades Park, mixing ghost lore with city history.
The walk starts at 8:00 PM under the Santa Monica Pier sign, where Colorado Avenue meets Ocean Avenue. The guide wears a US Ghost Adventures shirt and carries a lantern.
The listing's pitch runs from haunted carousels and Ferris wheels to the end of Route 66, which it places in Santa Monica. Bookings close at 5:00 PM on the day of the walk.
Santa Monica Sinister Sins & Sorrow Ghost Tour8:00 PM nightly, meeting under the Santa Monica Pier sign at Ocean Avenue and Colorado Avenue.www.viator.comEight Listed Stops, Chosen on the Night
The listing names eight stops: the pier arch, the cannon in Palisades Park, the Arizona Avenue pedestrian bridge above the coast highway, the statue of Saint Monica, The Georgian Hotel and the restaurant attached to it, the pier's carousel, and a 1950s dive bar. The operator's own booking page says its highlights may include the arch, the statue, the PCH Bridge and The Veranda, and its website counts six or more locations.
Read the eight as a menu the guide draws from on the night. An April 2026 reviewer wrote that their group never reached the pier, the beach or the statue of Saint Monica, and walked a short way along the edge of the park.
The listing ties The Georgian, which it calls a former speakeasy, to stories involving Rose Kennedy and Al Capone, and dates the carousel sightings to the 1960s, when apartments were added above it.
Built on History More Than Frights
The operator's own pages describe the walk as eerie, with the weight on history, atmosphere and real accounts. Reviews from the past year track that closely. A June 2026 reviewer wrote that the stories came alive in the guide's telling, and a May 2026 reviewer praised how much the guide knew about how Santa Monica came to be.
An October 2025 reviewer called it more history lesson than ghost tour, and a November 2025 reviewer found it light on fright but informative. The same November reviewer sometimes could not hear the guide over the noise around them.
It suits people who want the city's backstory with a chill in it.
An Hour or Ninety Minutes, About a Mile
The listing gives the walk 90 minutes. The operator's own booking system schedules the 8:00 PM departure as an hour, and its FAQ says the tour typically lasts one hour and covers about a mile at a relaxed pace, with frequent stops. Plan the evening around the longer figure.
The listing asks for at least a moderate level of physical fitness and does not recommend the walk for travelers with poor cardiovascular health. One booking takes up to 30 travelers, and the operator's calendar opens 35 places for each night's departure. Expect to share the guide with other groups.
Be at the Pier Sign by 7:45 PM
Meet under the Santa Monica Pier sign, at the foot of Colorado Avenue where it meets Ocean Avenue, 15 minutes before the start. A June 2026 reviewer called the pier a busy place and the parking atrocious. Leave extra time. The guide takes the ticket on a phone or on paper at the sign.
The tour runs rain or shine, every night of the week. The operator bills it as all-ages, and the listing sells a single ticket type for every traveler from age 0 to 99. A child needs a ticket too. As of October 23, 2026, the October 31 departure was still open on both the listing and the operator's own calendar.
📍 Santa Monica Pier sign, Ocean Avenue at Colorado Avenue, 8:00 PM.
Through this listing, a cancellation at least 24 hours before the start gets a full refund, and later cancellations get nothing back. Tipping is optional. The operator says guides take tips in cash or through Cash App, Venmo and Apple Pay, and asks that nobody smokes or talks while a story is being told.
Then the lantern comes on under the pier sign, and the stories Santa Monica keeps behind its sunshine begin.