Annenberg Beach House To Open To The Public

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Apr 18th 2009 at 8:02AM

This summer you don't have to be rich or well-connected to enjoy a Santa Monica beach house. The Annenberg Foundation and City of Santa Monica are opening the Annenberg Community Beach House at Santa Monica State Beach.

The beach facility will open to the public beginning April 26th, 2009 and on April 25 there will be a public opening celebration that includes a "First Splash" performance from "O™" by Cirque du Soleil in the house's historic tiled pool.

The Annenberg Community Beach House revitalizes a five-acre beachfront property. The house was originally built by William Randolph Hearst in the late 1920's for actress Marion Davies. In the late 1940s, the property was sold and become Oceanhouse, a hotel owned by Joseph Drown who eventually demolished the large mansion but kept the original guest house and pool as well as cabanas and a locker building. It was later sold to the State of California and leased for thirty years to the Sand and Sea Club until the City of Santa Monica assumed responsibility for the site in 1989. A $27.5 million Annenberg Foundation grant led to the site's rehabilitation.

The space now includes volleyball and beach tennis courts, event and meeting space, the Back on the Beach Café, children's play areas, gardens and an accessible boardwalk extending westward toward the ocean. A pool pass will cost $10 for adults, $4 for children and no membership is required.

Tags: annenberg, beach house, BeachHouse, santa monica, SantaMonica