Bringing Back Our Great Park for Future Generations

History

Santa Monica built its original Great Park on the site of what is now Santa Monica Airport (SMO) after passage of a public bond to purchase the land in 1926.

Photograph of the Clover Field Golf Course July, 1928. A metal rail stands across the foreground with a wooden bench just behind it at left. Two men in lightly-colored outfits play golf at center, with one setting his shot and the other observing from behind. A sign stands at right while trees spot the expansive grass on either side. Buildings stand in the left background.
Photo courtesy of the USC Digital Library, California Historical Society Collection

The original Great Park included an 18-hole public golf course, tennis courts, open field space, archery, skeet shooting, lawn bowling and many other recreational and sports amenities common to the time. At the time, amateur aviation was treated as a park use, with a landing strip. But with World War II looming, and the expansion of defense industries, the federal government took over the land for the use of Douglas Aircraft. The park was closed.

Aerial view of clover field and the golf course from 1934, showing large, expansive green space with the golf course immediately alongside the dirt runway.
Photo Courtesy Detroit News Collection, Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Beginning in the 1960s, after Santa Monica denied Douglas’ request to expand the airport, which resulted in Douglas closing its plant and leaving the site, Santa Monica continuously tried to close SMO, against opposition from the FAA.

Measure LC was a local ballot measure passed in 2014 by over 60% of Santa Monica voters, which amended the City’s charter to declare, in large part, that no new development would be allowed on Airport land upon its closure apart from “the development of parks, public open spaces, and public recreational facilities; and the maintenance and replacement of existing cultural, arts and education uses.”

At the same time, the voters overwhelmingly defeated a measure aviation interests had put on the ballot to maintain the airport in perpetuity. These votes led to the 2017 litigation settlement agreement between the City and the FAA allowing the City to close the airport after 2028.

Soon after that, the City Council voted unanimously to close the airport and directed staff to take all necessary actions to ensure its closure effective midnight, December 31, 2028. In 2023 the City began a planning process for the future of the SMO land and the return of a Great Park.