Santa Monica, California: Palisades Park + Camera Obscura; things to do

Palisades Park  

Runs from Colorado Ave. to San Vicente Blvd., north of the pier. 

This long, narrow, cliff-top park features expanses of grass, sheltering shade trees, and ocean views.  It is a popular jogging-biking-skating-walking path.   

The Camera Obscura is accessed through the Senior Center (1450 Ocean Ave., (310) 458-2239.  M-F 9-3, Sat 11-4.  Free.).  Camera obscuras are thought to date back to at least ancient Greece and maybe before.  It is believed that Renaissance painters--perhaps even Leonardo Da Vinci--might have used one to project live images onto their canvases.  In Victorian times, the cameras were a popular seaside attraction in both the U.S. and Europe.  To see the one here, situated within an 1889

building that is adjacent to the Santa Monica senior center in Palisades Park, you need only deposit your driver's license at the office in trade for a key to the very dark room the camera resides in at the top of some stairs.  There you will turn a wheel in the center of the small room to steer the lens and mirror located in the turret above, which will then project an image from outside onto a large white disk.  We saw the traffic on Ocean Avenue, some strollers in Palisades Park, and got a glimpse of the ocean.  Built in 1898 and given to the city in 1907, this camera was installed here in 1955.  I was able to find only three other camera obscuras in the U.S. that are open to the public--all in San Francisco:  one by the Cliff House and two at the Exploratorium.

More things to do in Santa Monica.

More ideas for exploring the U.S.

images c2013 Carole Terwilliger Meyers