Meeting: May 13, 2025
1 16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS DAN HALL, JESSE ZWICK, AND MAYOR LANA 2 NEGRETE
3 Request of Councilmembers Hall, Zwick, and Mayor Negrete that the City Council 4 direct the Interim City Manager to work with the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, 5 Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, and the Santa Monica Pier Lessees Association 6 to bring back large music events and multi-day festivals to the Santa Monica Pier 7 as part of our strategy to pursue economic opportunity and growth. 8 International travelers have long been a mainstay of Santa Monica’s tourism 9 industry. They tend to spend more money in our hotels and restaurants, stay for multiple 10 days to visit our beaches, and typically walk or use public transit to get around. However, 11 with the Trump Administration’s new tariff regimes and visa restrictions, everyday 12 international tourism - outside of projections for mega-events like the FIFA World Cup 13 and the LA28 Olympics - has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Pivoting towards 14 regional and domestic tourism can help plug the gap in the meantime, and as several 15 cities from Long Beach to West Hollywood have shown, music and the arts – specifically 16 music festivals – are a key attraction for high-spending domestic tourists. 17 Outdoor music festivals in particular are powerful economic drivers for a city. Santa 18 Monica’s Pier and the adjacent Lot 1 North (a.k.a. “1550 lot”) present an ideal venue for 19 a multi-day festival, and evidence from similar waterside events in Los Angeles County 20 and San Francisco suggests significant potential benefits. Festivals draw visitors who 21 spend money locally, support jobs, and enhance a city’s profile. At the same time, Santa 22 Monica’s experience with the former Twilight Concert Series highlights the importance of 23 managing crowds and safety prudently and proactively. 24 Festivals attract thousands of attendees, many from outside of the host city, who 25 spend on hotels, dining, shopping, and transportation. Festival crowds can greatly benefit 26 nearby businesses such as restaurants, retail shops, transportation services, and hotels, 27 which, in turn, generate employment for event staff, security, vendors, and hospitality 28 service workers. Beyond immediate spend, festivals can raise a city’s profile as a vibrant 29 cultural destination and enhance visibility which translates into sustained tourism growth. 30 Insomniac’s Dreamstate festival is a major trance music event that draws tens of 31 thousands of attendees to Long Beach’s Queen Mary waterfront every year; Dreamstate 32 2023 hosted 25,000 attendees. While precise revenue figures are not publicly released, 33 high attendance at ticket prices of $300-400 suggest multi-million dollars in gross 34 revenues. During Dreamstate weekends (typically held in November), many downtown 35 and waterfront hotels report sell-outs or near-full capacity, including the Queen Mary hotel 36 itself (which is adjacent to the festival site). The Transient Occupancy Tax collected by 16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS HALL, ZWICK, AND MAYOR NEGRETE Bringing Music Festivals to the Santa Monica Pier
Long Beach hit $38.2 million in 2023, a record-high figure driven by overnight visitors.1 37 38 City officials have noted that Long Beach is becoming a year-round music and 39 entertainment destination, which keeps hotel occupancy strong even in the fall months 40 when beach weather is cooler. Festival attendees often extend their stay for additional 41 nights, contributing to travel spend on hotels and restaurants. An analysis of economic 42 activity around the Queen Mary found that in 2019, events at the site generated $93.7 43 million of spending in Long Beach, with $3.3 million in tax revenue (not inclusive of permit fees and security reimbursements). 44 2 Notably, 97% of all expenditures associated with the area vicinity the Queen Mary came from event attendees and hotel guests,3 45 underscoring 46 how festivals fuel spending on food, beverages, souvenirs, merchandise, ride-shares, and 47 other services.
48 Portola music festival in San Francisco debuted in 2022 with 30,000 attendees. 49 While a majority of attendees are local Bay Area residents (organizers noted ~90% were 50 from within 50 miles), influx of out-of-town visitors in 2022-2024 boosted hotel occupancy on festival nights.4 51 For example, during 2023, about 250 hotel rooms in San Francisco 52 were booked by festival-goers at peak nights, generating roughly $300,000 in hotel revenue and $3.3 million in local spend. 53 5 About half of the food and beverage vendors on-site were local Bay Area businesses, including popular local eateries.6 54 The festival 55 employed around 1,400 union stagehands (IATSE Local 16) during the site build-out and show days, with $1.4 million paid to union workers.7 56 57 Smaller, mid-sized festivals report similar economic benefits. The Treasure Island 58 Music Festival in San Francisco, a two-day festival which ran from 2007-2018, drew around 10,000-18,000 attendees per year. 59 8 Despite this modest size, the festival generated approximately $10-15 million in economic impact annually for the city. 60 9 West 61 Hollywood’s OUTLOUD Music Festival, generated multi-millions in gross revenues with 62 approximately 50,310 attendees in 2024 spread across three days (including 8,500 attendees for one free day ticketed by lottery on Friday). 63 10 Notably, the festival is 64 financially self-sustaining - covering all its production costs (talent, staging, etc.) without city subsidy. 65 11 Producer JJLA/OUTLOUD reimburses the City of West Hollywood $90,000 1 Visit Long Beach "Visitor Spending Generates Nearly $2 Billion in Economic Impact for Long Beach" 2 Long Beach Post News "Report: Queen Mary generated more than $93 million for local economy in 2019"
3 Ibid.
4 San Francisco Maritime Commerce Advisory Committee Goldenvoice Report "Portola Music Festival" 5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 San Francisco Business Times "How an old naval base turned into a $15 million music festival" 9 Ibid.
10 West Hollywood City Council JJLA Producers Report Pride 2024 11 WeHo Online "JJLA Contract for OUTLOUD Music Festival Extended Through 2030" 16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS HALL, ZWICK, AND MAYOR NEGRETE Bringing Music Festivals to the Santa Monica Pier
66 each year for public safety expenses related to the event, and posts a $25,000 security deposit for park protection.12 67 This arrangement means the city incurs minimal direct cost 68 from the festival while benefiting from the spillover economic activity. 69 Santa Monica stands to gain similar economic benefits by hosting its own outdoor 70 music festivals at the Pier, and did for over thirty years. The Twilight Concert series was 71 a free concert series on the Pier, which ran for over three decades and regularly drew 72 crowds of 10,000+ attendees. These concerts proved a boon for nearby businesses - 73 contemporary opinion pieces in the Santa Monica Daily Press shared restaurants along 74 Ocean Avenue and the Downtown area reported full houses on Twilight concert nights as attendees dined and shopped locally.13 75
76 However, the Twilight Concert Series also highlighted significant challenges for 77 free, non-ticketed events. By 2016-2017, the event’s popularity outgrew what an open, 78 free-admission format could safely handle. Crowds swelled to unprecedented sizes 79 (estimates of 25,000-50,000 people spilling onto the beach for a single show on one night), straining security and infrastructure.14 80 Former Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks 81 warned that such crowds had “gone way beyond the capabilities” of the police and emergency services. 82 15 She labeled the 2017 opening night show “irresponsible” for attracting a crowd beyond what local authorities could control. 83 16 Public safety concerns 84 ultimately led the City to discontinue Twilight after 2017. 85 The Twilight Concert Series offers two key lessons for Santa Monica. First, the 86 demand for outdoor music events at the Pier is clearly there - tens of thousands of people 87 are attracted to attend, indicating festivals and mid-scale events can thrive and bring 88 substantial economic activity. Second, proper event management and scaling are critical 89 - festivals cannot grow to that size without proper mitigation for security and for the Pier 90 lessees, which suffered when safety infrastructure blocked entrances and forced their 91 closures during the concerts. Any future events of this magnitude centered on the Pier 92 should consider crowd and noise control, ticketing and capacity limits, ample safety and 93 security protocols, and infrastructure and programming to handle large audiences, while 94 not limiting access to Pier businesses for ticketed attendees. A return of large-scale music 95 events to the Pier will be an economic boon if done correctly and safely. A balance must 96 be struck between ‘shoulder season’ (October - May) ticketed events, which would 12 Ibid.
13 Santa Monica Daily Press Op-Ed "Success of Twilight Concert Series is a blessing and a curse" 14 Patch Online "Khalid Twilight Concert's Massive Crowd Raises Safety Concerns" 15 LAist "60,000 People Showed Up To A Free Concert At The Santa Monica Pier, Raising Safety Concerns For The Rest Of The Series"
16 Santa Monica Daily Press "Police Chief calls TCS opener 'irresponsible'" 16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS HALL, ZWICK, AND MAYOR NEGRETE Bringing Music Festivals to the Santa Monica Pier
97 infrequently close down public access to the Pier to generate revenue and culture, with 98 free and open access to an iconic Southern California destination. 99 In order to promote our city and the Pier as a world class entertainment venue, promote 100 the budget priority of “economic opportunity and growth,” and bring fun, large-scale music 101 events back to Santa Monica,
102 WE THEREFORE MOVE THAT THE COUNCIL:
103 1. Direct the Interim City Manager to return to Council no later than end of year with:
104 1.1. A zoning ordinance implementing an event-based Pier and Beach 105 Entertainment Zone pursuant to SB969 (Wiener, 2024), which:
106 1.1.1. Authorizes the City’s Community Development and/or Recreation 107 and Arts Departments to develop and lead the management of an 108 entertainment zone for major events at the Pier and also Lot 1 North 109 (a.k.a. “1550 lot”) and the immediate beach areas extending from 110 Lifeguard Tower #14 (to the north of the Pier) to the South Beach (to 111 include an area no smaller than to Lifeguard Tower #17 to the south 112 of the Pier).
113 1.1.2. Additionally authorizes the Santa Monica Pier Corporation to use this 114 entertainment zone for their beach and Pier activations. 115 1.1.3. Updates the City of Santa Monica Administrative Instruction specific 116 to Events and Event Site Guidelines to make the City’s public spaces 117 more attractive to large-scale events, including an increase to the 118 current attendance cap for outside-produced concert events on the 119 Pier Parking Deck from the current cap of 500 persons. 120 1.2. A development plan seeking public-private partnerships and sponsorship 121 opportunities, particularly with local businesses, to invest in capital 122 infrastructure projects such as sound, lighting, and performance amenities 123 on the Pier.
124 1.3. A cleanliness, security, and safety plan which:
125 1.3.1. Builds upon the Direct Action Response Team (DART) model of joint 126 staffing and operations.
127 1.3.2. Allows for a closed security perimeter accessible to ticket holders 128 which encompasses the entirety of the proposed Pier and Beaches 129 Entertainment Zone (with flexibility to shrink or grow in size within the 130 zone footprint to fit the event).
131 1.3.3. Authorizes use of private security staff and metal detectors for 132 entrance points to the security perimeter.
133 1.3.4. Prioritizes weapons enforcement to protect against violence and 134 terrorism for attendees.
16 ITEM BY COUNCILMEMBERS HALL, ZWICK, AND MAYOR NEGRETE Bringing Music Festivals to the Santa Monica Pier
135 1.3.5. Sets expectations for event producers for full cost reimbursement 136 from gross revenues.
137 1.4. A marketing plan which leverages Santa Monica Travel and Tourism, 138 Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., and Main Street Business Improvement 139 District expertise to facilitate hotel, restaurant, parking, and travel package 140 deals with event producers.
141 1.5. An operations and logistics plan which:
142 1.5.1. Is designed in partnership with the Santa Monica Pier lessees, the 143 Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., and 144 the Main Street Business Improvement District.
145 1.5.2. Explores buy-outs of Pacific Park for the duration of events that close 146 non-ticketed, public access to the Pier and potential for rent relief 147 options for certain Pier lessees as baked-in to rental costs. 148 1.5.3. Ensures restaurants and retail on the Pier remain open as vendors 149 for events with full access for ticketed participants. 150 1.5.4. Encourages other local area vendors to offer food and beverage 151 menus that are complementary to the existing lessees (e.g. snacks 152 as opposed to full meals) that are appropriately located in the South 153 Beach or 1550 Lot to provide spacing for the restaurant lessees. 154 1.5.5. Ensures continual access to the beach path during event build out, 155 execution, and tear down by using temporary bridges to connect the 156 1550 lot with the Pier north steps and path by Bubba Gump as well 157 as connecting the south beach areas across the bike path. 158 1.5.6. Explores parking package opportunities in downtown parking 159 garages and the South Beach lots, and subsequent logistics of foot 160 traffic and shuttles to Pier events, especially during the Pier Bridge 161 Replacement Project.
162 1.6. A programming framework to ensure event planners target the ‘shoulder 163 season’ of October-May (save Spring Break weeks), as well as book 164 appropriately sized acts across multiple stage areas with intentional 165 scheduling overlap to control for crowd flow and density using a crowd166 splitting strategy. 167 1.7. A reasonable (but not prohibitive) good-neighbor framework to mitigate 168 nuisance to residents and businesses along Pacific Coast Highway, Ocean 169 Front Walk, and Appian Way.
170 2. Direct the City Attorney to bring any appropriate and necessary amendments to 171 City ordinances to comply with the above direction. 172
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