MC/Ringmaster Philip Solomon and Stilt Circus performers Star Child and Eros Blox entertain people at the Santa Monica Pier on Monday while promoting this Saturday's "Sideshow at the Pier." "Sideshow at the Pier" is part of an ongoing centennial celebration which is an eclectic event that celebrates the roots (and midway spirit) of the Pier with show stopping performances from the largest gathering of variety acts, circus artists, vaudevillians and buskers seen on the Santa Monica Pier in a hundred years. "Sideshow at the Pier" is this Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 2pm-8pm

 Hundreds of people visit the Santa Monica Pier on Sunday, May 10, 2009, during Mothers day.

(top) Santa Monica Mayor Ken Genser talks with Jan Tucek, who hails from the Czech Republic and just completed his two-week drive along Route 66 on Sunday, May 10, 2009, at the Santa Monica Visitors Center Kiosk. Mayor Genser was welcoming guests in celebration of National Travel and Tourism Week which emphasizes social and cultural benefits created by travel and tourism. (above) Mayor Ken Genser welcomes Steve Bennecke and his wife Barbara, who just drove in from San Bernardino along Route 66 on Sunday.

(1) Wendy Pan walks down the re:Fashion Catwalk during the 18th Annual Santa Monica Festival at Clover Park on Saturday, May 9, 2008. Children turned newspapers into wearable fashions during the recycled art workshops, then modeled them on the re:Fashion Catwalk. (4) Nestor Santiago (right) and his cousin Esteban Gonzales spell their name on a handmade belt during the festival. (5) GLANK performs during the festival. GLANK is a "green" percussion performance art group that utilizes multiple anonymous performers in Clean Room Suits, audience interaction, multi-media elements, unique percussion inventions, and recycled materials. (6) Zimbabwean artist Julia Chigamba from Masanga Marimba dances during the 18th annual Santa Monica Festival at Clover Park on Saturday, May 9, 2009.

Contestant Slim Diamond answers questions from Host Theresa Strasser while tapping a Game Show Network's (GSN) pilot game show at the Third Street Promenade on Thursday, April 16, 2009. GSN is an industry-leading, game content provider distributing competition programming through its 66-million subscriber cable television network and its casual and skill-based online games portal, GSN.com. As the premier television network for games, GSN produces some of the most popular original casino and game show series on TV today.

Arlene Nieves, owner of Westside Hand Therapy, tests Dimitry Polyakov with the Dynamometer during the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's Health and Wellness Festival at the Third Street  Promenade on Saturday, May 2, 2009.

(top) President of the Santa Monica Anthropology Club, LeeAnne Bowman-Carpio, (left) and member David Lopez (right) dance with a skeleton during Club Row on Thursday, April 30,2009.  (above) SMC Cosmology student Fiona Bates, 34, (left) and Alita griffin, 19, (right) style Faranak Ershadi's, 38, hair during Club Row. The annual event is designed for many clubs at SMC to recruit members and raise funds. Club participants set up colorful booths across the Library Walkway, where they discussed their activities to prospective members and attract a multitude of students with promises of food and prizes. The event turnes out new club devotees and at least a spark of interest in many others.

Macerich, one of the nation’s largest owners, operators and developers of regional shopping centers, Tuesday, May 5, 2009, marked a key milestone for Santa Monica Place and announced its plans to open the new retail and dining destination on Aug. 6, 2010, alongside the new Bloomingdale’s.

“We launched construction just over a year ago to begin transforming Santa Monica Place from an enclosed, old-style mall into a modern, open-air center with fresh retail offerings and a spectacular rooftop Dining Deck with views of the ocean,” said Randy Brant, Executive Vice President, Real Estate, for Macerich. “The center is making terrific progress, and we plan to open the new Santa Monica Place on Aug. 6, 2010, along with Bloomingdale’s and a wide array of high-quality specialty retailers and chef-driven restaurants.

“With Nordstrom opening just a few weeks after Bloomingdale’s and Santa Monica Place are introduced, our guests can look forward to an exciting month full of exceptional debut experiences. August in Santa Monica is prime time for tourists, who, along with affluent local residents and the vibrant local business community, are an important target shopper base for the new Santa Monica Place,” added Brant.

In addition to Bloomingdale’s, which selected Santa Monica Place as the site of its first SoHo concept store outside Manhattan, and Nordstrom, retailers signed on for the project include Arthur, BCBGMAXAZRIA, Coach, Ed Hardy, Ilori, Joe’s Jeans, Love Culture, Kitson, Michael Brandon, R.O.C. Republic of Couture, Shuz and True Religion, as well as Artevo, a technology-driven art gallery.

The urban beach environment at Santa Monica Place is a major focus of the experience, which is keyed to the property’s signature indoor/outdoor rooftop Dining Deck featuring ocean views and a carefully selected set of chef-driven restaurants and quick-casual dining options. Already announced restaurants include two concepts from nationally recognized restaurateur Richard Sandoval, Zengo and La Sandia, plus Pizza Antica, Ozumo Sushi, and XINO Restaurant + Lounge.

Santa Monica Place, which officially launched construction in April 2008, with a high-profile “Demo Day” celebration, is a three-level, open-air, approximately 550,000-square-foot retail and dining destination located just two blocks from the beach and adjacent to the popular Third Street Promenade.

Macerich is a fully integrated self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which focuses on the acquisition, leasing, management, development and redevelopment of regional malls throughout the United States. The company is the sole general partner and owns an 87% ownership interest in The Macerich Partnership, L.P. Macerich now owns approximately 76 million square feet of gross leaseable area consisting primarily of interests in 72 regional malls. Additional information about Macerich can be obtained from the Company’s Web site at www.macerich.com.