Annenberg Community Beach House — Attraction in Santa Monica

First time here today. Made it here just before 2:30 pm. There were enough beach chairs and we felt safe and that are belongings were secure. Easy in, easy out. Bathroom and changing stations are in the pool section. But honestly the kids have more fun than the parents. The costs add up quickly. $12 to park for more than 2 hours. $10 for adults, $4 for children. And then you need to add up the costs for the food (kids love their burgers/fries and sweets) because if you’re going to stay there all day you might as well order at the cafe on the premises as well. I spent almost $60 for one child for 4 hours and most of our time was spent at the beach because my daughter wanted to go there in between the pool and restaurant. I think $12 is a bit high and the parking lot gets full quickly because many of these groups have nothing else to do but take up space. I think there should be a capacity level for groups of kids of many, many people because they become loud and obnoxious in the pool screaming in the pool, blocking the pool ladder, and idiot parents don’t discipline the brats, among other things. Also, you can lose track of time coming in and out of the pool area like we did. We went to the beach and weren’t aware this place closed at 6. When my child and I headed back, the doors were locked and our belongings were cleared from the beach chair.🪑 I had to wave down the custodian to grab our belongings. The food we wanted to take home we paid for was thrown out too. A little warning on a loud speaker would be great, 30 min prior to closing. Don’t assume everyone knows the times especially when kids are involved. If you close at 6, maybe you should give a grace period for people to come forth and grab their things, ya know? Not cool!

Not sure the hype of this place but it wasn’t that great.

It’s too far, it’s congested, it’s expensive, and unorganized. Kudos to the staff members, parking, the front desk, and the cafe only, but we won’t be returning after today! Guest experience is critical and I don’t feel that this place gives a positive...

Our experience here was that the beach area is clean and beautiful, that the Annenberg house is spacious, that the playground nearby is lovely, and that the restaurant is, too. The last has vegan options, which we like, and there were plenty of bikers, walkers, and skateboarders along the boardwalk. It is not a place you can get to via public transit, but is just a short Uber away from downtown Santa Monica train station. We will go again and recommend others to go. I'm giving this a 3 star review only because I felt that the guide for our family beach walk was condescending toward my young child, treating her more like a nuisance than a person. She did show her some ways to use our tour binoculars, but my daughter and I ended up leaving the nature walk early and will not be attending one again. I do not recommend the beach/nature walks to other people. There was also a photographer there taking photos of my child every time she raised her binoculars, assumedly for publicity, but no one informed me of this, nor were I or my daughter asked if we wanted them taken, even as a courtesy. This place needs to work on its...

This was my 1st time at this beach.. The community center set up was very clean, laid out nicely nicely, surprisingly not too crowded (early August 2022).

I really liked that there was a paved boardwalk that boardwalk that went rather far out to the beach which was a great way to avoid frying your feet. Renting umbrellas for the beach was easy.

The kids liked the food, And while there was decent food options like if your vegan or vegetarian, it's not necessarily diet restriction friendly for those of us with more allergies.

The pool was nice, But it's for kids who can swim or for kids who are with their parents. There is no real shallow end where weak swimmers can walk around, I think the shallowest area was almost 4', Which was fine for me and my kids who are good swimmers it swimmers but if your child does not a strong swimmer You really need to go in the pool with them, you can't watch from the side.

It looked like the toughest thing was the parking lot, if you don't come early it will fill up, We got there around 9:30 and There were still a number of spaces but it was definitely close to...