Food History of Santa Monica

Key eras

1902-1946, boardwalk beginnings

Santa Monica's food story starts on the sand: Loring's Lunchroom opened on the boardwalk in 1902 and survives today as Big Dean's, while in 1946 Dave Barham dipped his first cornbread-battered hot dog at a beach stand that became Hot Dog on a Stick. Bay Cities, the Italian grocer that would define the city's sandwich, had already opened in 1925.

1934-1974, landmark rooms

The Galley opened on Main Street in 1934 and never closed, making it the city's oldest restaurant and bar. Chez Jay followed on Ocean Avenue in 1959 and became a celebrity dive protected as a city landmark, and Ye Olde King's Head arrived in the mid-1970s to give the growing British colony its fish and chips.

1979-1998, California cuisine grows up

Michael McCarty opened Michael's on 3rd Street in 1979 at age 25 and ran a kitchen whose alumni include Jonathan Waxman and Nancy Silverton, helping define California cuisine. Wolfgang Puck's Chinois on Main followed in 1983 and Bruce Marder's wood-fired Capo in 1998, giving the beach town serious dining credentials.

1981-present, the market era

The Wednesday Farmers Market opened on Arizona Avenue in 1981 and grew into one of the largest certified markets in the country, with more than 60 farms feeding restaurant kitchens across Los Angeles. Rooms like Rustic Canyon, FIG and Milo & Olive built their menus around the weekly haul, and the market remains the city's culinary engine.

2019-2026, the new wave

Pasjoli revived tableside pressed duck on Main Street in 2019, Crudo e Nudo turned a pandemic pop-up into a sustainable raw bar in 2021, and Dave Beran's Seline opened in late 2024 with a 295 dollar tasting menu. Petitgrain's French-Mexican bakery queues and Holy Basil's 2025 arrival show the city still pulls ambitious openings despite hard years for the Westside.

Immigrant influences

• Italian: Bay Cities has baked Italian rolls since 1925 and its Godmother is the city's defining sub; Capo and Piccolo keep the through-line alive.
• Mexican (Michoacan and beyond): Lares since 1968, Gilbert's El Indio since 1974 and La Purepecha's handmade tortillas anchor the Pico and Broadway corridors.
• Japanese: From Shunji's omakase to Sunny Blue's omusubi counter and the hand roll bars downtown, Japanese cooking shapes how the city eats fish and rice.
• British: Ye Olde King's Head has served fish and chips and afternoon tea near the pier since 1974, the hub of the Westside's British expat community.
• Caribbean: Cha Cha Chicken's family kitchen has plated jerk chicken beside the beach since 1996, a BYOB patio institution.
• Thai: Satdha has cooked plant-based Thai food on Lincoln since 2013, joined in 2025 by Holy Basil's Bangkok street-food kitchen.

Signature innovations

• The corn dog: hand-dipped on the Santa Monica sand by Dave Barham in 1946
• The Godmother: Bay Cities' five-meat Italian sub on house-baked bread
• The no-substitutions Office Burger, which helped launch LA's gastropub era
• The farmers-market-to-menu pipeline built around the 1981 Wednesday market