Giant Pinhole - Camera Obscura - Santa Monica, California
N 34° 00.766 W 118° 29.811
11S E 361783 N 3764581
A large brown cubicle like building, marked up with the text "Camera Obscure & Camera on a Tripod" logo. The building stands alongside Ocean Avenue, just a few hundred feet from Santa Monica Pier, California.
Waymark Code: WMN6AQ
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/03/2015
Views: 6
To gain free access to the Camera Obscure, walk around to the beach entrance to the senior recreation center. Leave your driver's license at the office of the center and in return you will receive a key to the camera obscurer.
Inside a small room you will find a large white disk in the center and a wheel that allows you to steer the lens and mirror contained in the turret above, projecting an image onto the disk of whoever and whatever happens to be passing by outside.
"The building itself is right off the entrance to the Santa Monica piers, and it's a large building labeled 'Camera Obscura.' You really can't miss the building.
The trick is getting inside. We spent five minutes waking in circles trying to figure it out. In the end we decided to go into the main entrance of the senior center to ask someone. As it turns out, that was the way in. The nice lady at the desk didn't ask us to leave an ID or anything and directed us up the stairs into the camera obscura room.
This is a free, interesting, unique attraction. There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't check this out if you're in the area. It took all of ten minutes and my group of three (one from LA) were all very pleased we happened upon it." Text Source: (
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