Dan Rice, Owner and CEO of 66 to Cali, pulls out his Route 66 booth at the Santa Monica Pier on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009. Rice sells made in the USA  Route 66 T-shirts, travel guides and a variety of Route 66 souvenirs. Rice is a Route 66 enthusiast who has traveled the route more than a dozen times. He has driving it in as few as 3 days and as long as 2 weeks. Rice opened 66 to Cali at the Santa Monica Pier to provide an official ending to the route and to welcome the drivers. "The Santa Monica Pier is the spiritual end to Route 66." Rice said, "its the end of the road, and the beginning of the dream."

U.S. Route 66 (also known as the Will Rogers Highway after the humorist, and colloquially known as the "Main Street of America" or the "Mother Road") was a highway in the U.S. Highway System. One of the original U.S. highways, Route 66, US Highway 66, was established on November 11, 1926. However, road signs did not go up until the following year. The famous highway originally ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, before ending at Los Angeles, encompassing a total of 2,448 miles]. It was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song (written by Bobby Troup and performed by the Nat King Cole Trio and The Rolling Stones, among others) and a television show in the 1950s and 1960s. More recently, U.S. Route 66 was referenced in the 2006 Disney/Pixar film Cars. Route 66 underwent many improvements and realignments over its lifetime, changing its path and overall length. Many of the realignments gave travelers faster or safer routes, or detoured around city congestion. One realignment moved the western endpoint further west from downtown Barstow to Santa Monica.

Kids ride the Scrambler at Pacific Park during  Santa Monica Police Activities League's (PAL) 5th Annual PALpalooza on Wednesday, August 26, 2009. All proceeds from the event will  benefit PAL for their development and maintenance of cultural, educational and recreational programs. PAL provides free programs to more that 1,600 youths in the Santa Monica area. PAL is a unique community organization that fosters trust between youth and the men and women of the Santa Monica Police Department in a safe and nurturing environment. Through outstanding educational, cultural, recreational, and outreach programs, PAL helps develop skills and self-esteem, encouraging youth to reach their full potential. PAL provides free educational, cultural, and recreational programs for youth ages 6 - 17 years. Activities offered include homework assistance, computer classes, cooking, creative dramatics, arts & crafts, dance, karate, basketball, excursions, and special events. A slate of activities, including trips, sports leagues, specialized classes, and computer instruction is available to teens ages 14 - 17 years. Coaches and instructors for the PAL program come from the Santa Monica Police and Community and Cultural Services Departments and from community members who volunteer their time. The PAL Youth Center is open Monday through Saturday.

The Lowrider Band, featuring original founding members Howard E. Scott on guitar and vocals, Lee Oskar, Harmonica, Harold Brown, drums and vocals, and bass player B.B. Dickerson, perform at the Santa Monica Pier during the 25th Anniversary Twilight Dance Series on Thursday, August 27, 2009. The Lowrider Band sprung from its roots in Long Beach, with a hybrid sound born in the racially-mixed ghettos of Los Angeles. Their music crosses over and combines many styles and genres; funk, Latin music, R&B, rock and jazz. The band has always transcended racial and cultural boundaries with their musical melting pot and multi-ethnic line-up.They played all their million selling smash hits: Spill the Wine, Slippin into Darkness, The Cisco Kid, The World is a Ghetto, All Day Music, Me and Baby Brother, Why Cant We Be Friends and of course Lowrider, the universal anthem from which they take their name. These songs have provided an essential foundation for spreading their message of brotherhood and harmony, with the hip-hop generation building on samples of these songs to perpetuate the values of these brown-eyed soul pioneers.

Very Be Careful performs at the Santa Monica Pier during the 25th Anniversary Twilight Dance Series on Thursday, August 27, 2009. Very Be Careful is a homegrown L.A. band that plays Colombian vallenato music, a traditional cumbian sound that centers around the accordion, backed with percussion and bass. Members include: Ricardo "Ricky G" Guzman on accordion and vocals, Arturo "Brickems" Guzman on bass, Craig "Peabody" Martin on guacharaca, Dante "The Rip" Ruiz on campana, and Richard "Mil Caras" Panta on caja vallenata.

Santa Monica College President Dr. Chui L. Tsang and SMC Music Professor Dr. Yulia Kozlova perform "Ein Ton" on the piano during SMC's Opening Day ceremony at The Broad Stage on Thursday, Aug 27, 2009. According to the 1976 publication The Guinness Book Of Music Facts And Feats, "Ein Ton" has the dubious honor of being the world's most monotonous song. Written in 1859 by the German composer Peter Cornelius (1824-74), the note B is repeated 80 times in 30 bars. In this rendition, Dr. Tsang played the B note.

(top) Santa Monica Council Member Richard Bloom signs a pledge to drink tap water and avoid bottled water whenever possible during the “I Love Santa Monica Water” kickoff campaign at Santa Monica Farmers Marketon Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009.(center) Daniel Macias, 12, fills his plastic bottle with free filtered water at Santa Monica Farmers Market's filling station on Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009.

Santa Monica Farmers’ Markets and Food & Water Watch Partner to Launch “I Love Santa Monica Water” Campaign

Santa Monica, Calif. – On the forefront of a nationwide trend to kick the bottled water habit, the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Farmers’ Markets today partnered with the consumer advocacy group Food & Water Watch to launch the “I Love Santa Monica Water” campaign by providing free filtered Santa Monica tap water at special self-serve station to all market customers and vendors. Former Mayor and current Council Member Richard Bloom demonstrated his support for the program by signing a pledge on behalf of the community to support tap water and avoid bottled water. The event marked the start of the markets’ ongoing effort to offer free filtered tap water at all four of its markets.

The campaign dovetails with Food & Water Watch’s “Take Back the Tap” campaign, which works to educate consumers and decision makers about the economic, social and environmental benefits of choosing tap water over bottled water. In addition to costing consumers thousands of times more than tap water, bottled water contributes to excess waste in landfills, and in most cases, is no safer or healthier than tap water.

“Farmers’ markets provide consumers with access to local food, but often water is left out of the equation,” said Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter. “Drinking local water is less taxing on the environment, making it an essential component of the local food movement. Food & Water Watch is proud to partner with the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Farmers’ Markets to support local, public water systems and to go bottled water-free.”

After today, the campaign will be extended to the Saturday Pico and Sunday Main Street markets. “Santa Monica’s tap water is healthy and very economical compared to bottled water. I’ve been drinking our tap water for years,” said Kim O’Cain, Water Resources Specialist for the City of Santa Monica. “We hope the “We Love Santa Monica Water” campaign will help farmers’ market customers make the transition from disposable to reusable water bottles.”


Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer organization, works to ensure clean water and safe food in the United States and around the world. We challenge the corporate control and abuse of our food and water resources by empowering people to take action and transforming the public consciousness about what we eat and drink. For more information, visit www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Visitors use the new new restroom facility at the Santa Monica Pier on its opening day Monday, Aug. 24, 2009. The Pier's new restroom facility provides 32 toilets, 9 urinals, 18 hand wash sinks, a storage area and a 190 sq. ft retail space. A special whimsical feature is the undulating roof. The new restrooms was expected to cost $2,891,060.

Dr. Yogi Zen demonstrates his aerial yoga routine on the Air Gyro Gym during the Health and Wellness Exhibit at the Third Street Promenade on Saturday, August 22, 2009.