Preeti Verma Lal

Whoever said “Small is Beautiful” surely must have set foot in Santa Monica, a coastal city in California. Founded in 1886 and enclosed within 8.3 square miles, it is the favourite neighbourhood of the bold and the beautiful — Hollywood, Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles. Nature has been kind. The city has 343 days of annual sunshine and 26 km of broad glistening beaches.

It is arty. Outdoor art is everywhere in Santa Monica. From murals to eye-popping beachfront sculpture, sea walls and statuary, more than 30 pieces of art dot the city. It is musical. It was in The Cheetah, a rock’n’roll club that greats like The Doors, Alice Cooper, Pink Floyd, The Mothers of Invention first crooned. The beefy came here to pack abs — the much-touted Muscle Beach was originally in Santa Monica.

The rich and famous pitched their tents in Santa Monica — Gold Coast, a stretch of the Pacific Coast highway between Santa Monica Canyon and the Santa Monica Pier became fashionable in the 1930s and celebrities like Cary Grant, Great Garbo, Douglas Fairbanks, and Peter Lawford had homes here. And, then there are the firsts. The famous Santa Monica Pier is the oldest pleasure pier on the West Coast. In 1922, it puffed about a carousel that had 44 handcrafted horses (none alike!). The Pacific Park Amusement ride centre houses the world’s first solar-powered Ferris wheel.

There’s so much to do in this southern California heartthrob of a city but if you are strapped for time and caught between the glamour of Beverly Hills and the bustle of Los Angeles, the best way to see Santa Monica and its ritzy fringes is to flap like a bird at 1,000 above the sea level. Santa Monica looks better top-down. Can’t grow wings? Do not fret. Head to Van Nuys Airport, hop into a Group 3 Aviation helicopter and see glamour with the eye of an eagle. If you want the best view, grab the corner seat. If you want the best stories, say a prayer so that you get Rick Avery as the helicopter pilot. Avery, a Hollywood stunt director/coordinator, has more than 500 films to his credit. He has body doubled for Robert de Niro in The Italian Job, The Intern…. And even swung in the air for The Spiderman. As he manoeuvres the chopper over the Pacific Ocean and hills, he’d tell you the most fascinating Hollywood stories. He’d hover over Muscle Beach and tell you how Arnold Schwarzenegger pumped iron into his biceps on the silken sand. He’d glide the chopper lower on Venice Beach where Pamela Anderson strutted in a bikini for Baywatch. You squint harder to see Johnny Depp’s chateau; swank Playboy mansion (without the bunnies, though!); and Heidi Klum’s home… It’s all a miniature view from the top. During the 60-minute ride, Avery saves the best for the last — the iconic Hollywood sign on Mount Lee. From the sky, it is tad difficult to believe that each letter of the sign (originally Hollywoodland) erected in 1923 by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler was 30 ft wide and 43 ft tall.

If the chopper ride does not satiate your Hollywood craving, head to Universal Studios, one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios. Take the VIP tour, which is a tram ride through movies’ busiest sets, prop warehouse, the pond where Jaws was shot (hold on to your heart, a shark lurks deep beneath the waters!); the creepy Bates Motel where Alfred Hitchcock made Norman Bates Psycho; the Wisteria Lane where Desperate Housewives gossip; and the eerie plane crash from War of the Worlds. If you want to see King Kong or get caught in the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, wear the 3D goggles. King Kong will lunge at you from a screen equivalent to 16 movie theatre screens while Minions will pull you on to a rollercoaster that can kill the fainthearted with exhilaration.

When your knees get wobbly and your mind is cluttered with Hollywood, catch a breath and dig into enchiladas, tacos and lobsters in either an old standby or a new hotspot — the city that eats healthy and has several farmers’ markets is a haven for seafood lovers. Spare the evening for Santa Monica Pier, where entertainment is as unlimited as the food. If you are there on a Saturday or Sunday, lace your sneakers for a free historical walking tour (remember, the iconic Chicago-California Route 66 culminated in the Santa Monica Pier). Shed fear and get on to the Ferris wheel and see the world go topsy-turvy or step inside the aquarium for a peek into the under-the-pier marine life.

When the sun dips into the Pacific Ocean, stroll in the Third Street Promenade, often called the most stylish stroll of West Coast. Paved with hexagonal tiles, the streets bustle with performers, buskers and Hollywood stars who walk in for shopping. Your evening in Santa Monica can end in Annenberg Community Beach, the first seaside club in the United States.

When you order tequila and find Leonardo Di Caprio on the next bar stool, do not drop a jaw (or the tequila). In Santa Monica, anything is possible. Even a sundowner with a Hollywood heartthrob!