Santa Monica Business District Spotlights

July 18, 2018 8:36 AM
by Constance Farrell

Santa Monica’s businesses have organized to establish special assessment districts to raise funds for marketing, supplemental cleansing services, parking and promotions—all help to create more vibrant and viable business districts. The City has three Business Improvement Districts (BIDs):

And two large Property-Based Assessment Districts (PBAD): Downtown Santa Monica and Lincoln Boulevard (north of freeway).

Main Street

In addition to the much-anticipated Summer SOULstice on June 24, MSBIA has recently launched Last Sundays Sidewalk Sale and hosts the popular family-friendly Sunday Santa Monica Farmers Market. Other fun events are in the works.

New businesses include:

Little Prince, Blue Bottle Coffee, Sweet Rose Creamery, and House of Intuition.

If you haven’t checked out Main Street’s parklettes, you’re encouraged to visit all three and enjoy some local food/drink al fresco (or just people watching).

• Finn McCool’s at 2702 Main Street
• Ashland Hill at 2807 Main Street
• Holy Guacamole at 2906 Main Street

Keep your eyes open for some fun shopfront art projects coming soon. For more information visit mainstreetsm.com.

Montana Avenue

To kick off the summer, the Montana Avenue Merchants Association (MAMA) looks forward to their Art Walk coming up on Saturday, July 28. Other events include the beloved Montana Avenue Halloween Hop, the Small Business Saturday event (November) and the Holiday Walk (December).

New businesses include:

Le Macron French Pastries, Gelato-Go, Curated LA, California Closets, Rangoni Firenze Shoes, Face Haus and Stretchlab.

MAMA has invested in a series of streetscape improvements including the decorative tree lights that make Montana Avenue a beautiful street in the evenings. Enjoy an ice cream on your stroll or take in the sights and people watch while al fresco dining. Other improvements include the utility art box project in partnership with local schoolchildren and Buy Local. For more information visit montanaave.com.

Pico Boulevard

The Pico Improvement Organization (PIO) has two agship events each year—the Pico Fitness Crawl (January) and the Pico Holiday Hop (December). Stay tuned for an upcoming “Most Loved on Pico Blvd” Neighborhood Mixer event, and a Movie Night @ Virginia Avenue Park (June 26).

New businesses include:

Lunetta and Lunetta All Day, Asian Box, 365 By Whole Foods Market, Sweat60, The Haus, SamoPizza and Groundworks Coffee.

Check out the Pico Mural Walk featuring more than 20 murals created by local artists in partnership with Beautify Earth, the City and the PIO.
Other streetscape improvements include the Pico Blvd Median Improvements, which entails landscaping the medians along the full stretch of Pico Blvd with colorful, drought-tolerant plants. For more information visit picopassport.com/murals.

Downtown Santa Monica

Downtown Santa Monica Inc. has a busy summer of activities planned to showcase the Third Street Promenade to locals, starting with the Picnic on the Promenade.

New businesses include:

BIBIBOP Asian Fusian, Book Monster, Candytopia (pop-up thru 7/4), Dave Beran’s Dialogue, Earth Bar, Go Greek Yogurt, HiHo Cheeseburger, TLC’s Cake Boss, Native, Rapha, Tumbi Craft Indian Kitchen + Uovo.

Be sure to check out the public art project along the Colorado Esplanade in partnership with City of Santa Monica’s Cultural Affairs.

For all our foodies, you won’t want to miss our two weekly Farmers Markets (Wednesday and Saturday) with celebrity chef spottings! For more information visit downtownsm.com.

For more information visit smgov.net/business.

Authored By

Constance Farrell
Communications & Public Information Manager