April 26, 2025 The Best Source of News, Culture, Lifestyle for Culver City, Mar Vista, Del Rey, Palms and West Los Angeles

New Santa Monica Pier Concert Series Looks to Manage Crowds

Series to take place in fall rather than summer to keep crowds manageable.

By Brianna Kwasnik

Santa Monica has a population of a little under 90,000 which is why last summer when the first Twilight Concert of 2017 brought an estimated 50,000 people to Santa Monica, the City was overwhelmed by the influx of people. Therefore, this year the City and the Santa Monica Pier Corporation have re-imagined the event.

Contemporary R&B singer, Khalid, kicked off last year’s summer series bringing in a record-breaking crowd. The pier deck quickly reached capacity, with concertgoers flooding the beach for a chance to hear the singer live.

The sheer number of concertgoers grew to be a public safety concern, resulting in the Santa Monica Police Department bringing in resources from L.A. County and surrounding communities to meet demand, Constance Farrell, Public Information Officer for The Santa Monica Government said.

Given the difficulty of estimating how many attendees will show up to each concert, the City aired on the side of caution and kept the resources they had for the first concert for the remainder of the summer.

“There was direction from City Council for this series to have a serious focus on ensuring more manageable crowd size,” Farrell said.

The Santa Monica City Council and the Pier Corporation decided to move the concert series to after Labor Day, after peak tourist season, and when most residents and students will have returned to work and school.

Another major difference this year is trying to get concertgoers to stay on the pier.

Executive Director of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Negin Singh said, “Truly, if folks are on the beach during the series, you will not be having a twilight experience.”

Rather than having one main stage for the music, there will be three stages: one in the main pier deck area, a second in Pacific Park, and a third on the west end.

“The Pier Corporation is trying to bring the focus to the pier celebration, not a pier and beach celebration,” Singh said.

The Pier Corporation conducted extensive research before booking musical acts to ensure they had a wide variety of acts. The corporation looked into ticket sales, concert venues booked and sold out in our area, who the artists was touring with, social media, major releases, to avoid repeating the situation of last year where Khalid had several major releases on pop radio, before playing at the pier.

“These are really interesting and cool people doing awesome stuff within their genre,” Singh said, “I don’t think we settled with any of these names.”

Though Snapchat is still the sponsor for the event, there will not be Snapchat activations as attendees may have been used to in the past.

This year the City Council and Pier Corporation decided to focus on local art installations and activations, a decision they said Snapchat was entirely supportive of.

While there are a diverse number of cultures being represented in the music series, there is also an emphasis on things local to the Santa Monica/LA area. IndieCade will have a few of their games set up in place of the activations and Smorgasburg festival will be bringing six to eight food vendors each week specific to the culture that the pier is representing. The Pier Corporation has found local muralists to display their pieces at the event.

“We want to take it away from being a beach party, and more of an art walk happening on the pier,” Singh said.

There will be a bag check at all three entrances before getting into the event to ensure that the pier will be a total safe zone.

The Pier Corporation hopes to get as many people to the City as possible for the event safely and productively. They encourage concertgoers to look into mobility options of getting to the show: Uber or Lyft, Big Blue Bus, Metro or taking a bike and using the bike valet.

Twilight on the Pier kicks off on September 5 with ‘Latin Waves’ at 6:30 P.M.

For more information on the Twilight on the Pier and for the full line up, you can visit: santamonicapier.org/twilight.

Related Posts

West Hollywood Braces for Controversial Rally, Reaffirms Commitment to Equality

April 25, 2025

April 25, 2025

City of West Hollywood Condemns Harmful Rhetoric Ahead of Planned Assembly City officials and public safety leaders in West Hollywood are preparing...

(Video) The Willows: 30 Years Going Strong

April 25, 2025

April 25, 2025

Founded in 1994, The Willows Community School, located in Culver City, California, is a Developmental Kindergarten through 8th grade non-profit, co-educational...

ASTEME Camps Explore Science, Technology, Math and Engineering

April 25, 2025

April 25, 2025

Many teachers and parents hear this question daily when it comes to schooling: “When am I ever going to use...

Skirball Center’s Puppet Festival Promises an Afternoon of Imagination and Play

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

SoCal’s Top Puppeteers Will Perform Alongside Live Music, DIY Puppet-Making The Skirball Cultural Center is set to transform into a...

Q&A: No Age Limit on Home Care Management & Home Safety, Tips from a Care Manager

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

In-home safety issues that go unnoticed — cracked sidewalks, broken railings or uneven flooring for example — are often the root...

Culver City Police Hosts DEA Drug Take Back Day on April 26

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

Dispose of Expired Prescriptions Safely and Anonymously The Culver City Police Department will participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back...

Former Cedars-Sinai OB-GYN Accused of Sexually Abusing Patients for Four Decades

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

Ten Women Say Their Reports Were Ignored as Brock Continued to Practice for Decades. A group of 10 women has...

LAX/Metro Station is One Step Closer to Transforming the Airport Commute

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

New Multi-Modal Metro Station Connects Angelenos to the Airport Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced...

FBI Unravels Alleged Plot to Sell Stolen Andy Warhol Print in Beverly Hills

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

Mid-City Pawn Shop Owner Charged in High-Stakes Art Scheme The owner of a pawn shop in Los Angeles’ Mid-City neighborhood...

The Brian Jonestown Massacre Drops New Double A-Side Ahead of U.S. Tour

April 24, 2025

April 24, 2025

Legendary Psych-Rockers Set April 25 Release and Fall North American Tour The Brian Jonestown Massacre is set to release a...

(Video) Matú Kai Brentwood: The full experience

April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025

Sister restaurant to Matú in Beverly Hills, located at 11777 San Vicente Blvd. Sister restaurant to Matú in Beverly Hills,...

Uncle Stevey’s Bagels Wins Westside Hearts with Next-Level Bagels, Premium Sandwiches, and Local Coffee

April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025

Family-Run Shop Serves Delicious and Thoughtfully Curated Bagels With Love By Dolores Quintana A little more than a year since...

Santa Monica’s Socalo Toasts Pali Wine Co. with a Five-Course Culinary Celebration

April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025

Enjoy Celebrated Central Coast Wines, Including a 100-Point Red Blend Socalo, the acclaimed Mexican restaurant from celebrity chefs Mary Sue...

Go Go Bird Teams Up with Chef Chris Oh for Korean-Inspired Fried Chicken Sandwich

April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025

Crispy, Saucy, Spicy: Chris Oh’s Fried Chicken Sandwich Lands in Culver City Go Go Bird, located in Culver City’s Citizen...

Fogo de Chão Hosts Wine Lover’s Dream Night with Chilean Winery VIK

April 23, 2025

April 23, 2025

Diners Will Enjoy a Chef-Curated South American Menu, Highly Rated Wines Wine lovers and culinary connoisseurs are invited to gather...