™How to Watch the Santa Monica Pier Sign Come Down
The main neon sign comes off Thursday; crews work 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., and the city set up two viewing areas.
The main body of the blue neon Santa Monica Pier sign, which has stood over the pier entrance since 1941, is scheduled to come down Thursday.
Crews were scheduled to start Tuesday by staging equipment and stripping the neon tubing, LAist reported. The crown on top is due off Wednesday. After that the sign goes to YESCO, a Las Vegas neon company, while Santa Monica replaces the bridge between Ocean Avenue and the pier. The city expects the sign back when the new bridge is finished in 2028, City News Service reported.
If you want to see it go, here's how.
- Pick your day. Wednesday is the crown. Thursday is the big one, the main sign.
- Get there between 5 a.m. and 3 p.m. Those are the work hours every day through Saturday, according to the city's schedule. If you show up at 3:30, you've missed that day's work.
- Stand in a viewing area. The city set up two. One is in Palisades Park, at its south end, opposite The Lobster restaurant. The second is where Ocean and Colorado avenues meet, just northeast of the pier entrance. The city's map shows both.
- Bring a jacket. Rain is in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday, and city officials said crews plan to keep working through it. Lightning or visibility too poor to work safely would stop them, and officials said the weather could change the schedule.
- If you're driving, expect a lane closure. While crews are working, through Saturday, the city is closing a lane of Ocean Avenue by the pier entrance.
Once it's down, the sign gets wrapped and loaded for the trip. City officials said it's expected to leave for Las Vegas starting Oct. 26.
YESCO, which city officials said also restores the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, is taking on a piece that's on the California Register of Historical Resources. In Nevada, crews will fix the neon tubing, strip the rust, repaint it and do structural repairs, then keep it in storage until the bridge is done. When it comes back, it'll go up a little higher than before, so it's easier to see and vehicles have more room underneath.
Missed all of it? The photo spot didn't leave. Mayor Caroline Torosis said in a statement, reported by City News Service, that the temporary sign lets visitors "capture that quintessential Santa Monica Pier moment." It's a half-scale replica. Look for it on the pier's left side, a little before you reach Pier Burger, with a view of the Pacific Park roller coaster.
Source: LAist, retrieved October 20, 2026. Other sources: mynewsla.com.
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