By Lookout Staff

July 2, 2024 -- City Hall and other public facilities will close on Thursday and municipal services will be scaled back or suspended as Santa Monica celebrates Independence Day with an annual parade in Ocean Park.

Presented by the Ocean Park Association (OPA), the 17th annual parade down Main Street will celebrate the Arts, showcasing "the vibrant artistic spirit of our community," organizers said.

Pacific Park Ferris Wheel 4th of July (Photo Credit @alexc43)

Over the July 4th weekend, Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier will join other area landmarks celebrating the nation's independence by displaying a 90-foot tall, animated American flag on the world's only solar-powered Ferris Wheel.

In addition to City Hall, on Thursday the Colorado Yards, Transit Store, Swim Center and Public Library are closed.

Also closed are the Tennis Office at Reed Park, the Memorial Park Gymnasium, the Cove Skatepark, the offices at Virginia Avenue Park, the Police Activities League Youth Center and the Crest office.

Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus lines will operate on a weekend schedule on Thursday, and the Transit Store and Customer Service will be closed.

Parking meters will not be enforced on July 4th, except for meters that are enforced daily according to posted signage. Meters that are enforced daily must be paid.

However, preferential Parking (residential/visitor permits) will be enforced on Thursday.

All City of Santa Monica beach lots and pay-by-space lots are enforced 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, including Independence Day.

There will be no refuse, recycling, or yard/green waste collection or street sweeping on Thursday. Street cleaning regularly scheduled for Thursday will take place on Friday.

On Wednesday, July 3, two lanes of southbound Lincoln Blvd between Broadway and Olympic Boulevard will be closed from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and again on Friday, July 5.

For an alternate route to I-10 East use Santa Monica Boulevard to Cloverfield Boulevard.

For the 4th of July parade much of Main Street and some adjacent streets leading to it will be closed to vehicle traffic from 6 a.m. to noon. Public parking is available at several parking lots off Neilson Way and beach lots to the west.

Spectators should consider walking, biking or taking the metro to watch the parade, organizers said.

This year's parade kicks off at 9:30 a.m. at Pico Boulevard and Main Street, traveling South on Main Street before turning right onto Marine, ending at Barnard Way.

Spectators can watch the parade anywhere along the Main Street route as classic cars and community organizations make their way to Lot 5 South by the beach, organizers said.

The official parade grandstand will be located in front of the Ocean Park Library at the corner of Ocean Park and Main Street.

Independence Day commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.

The one-page document declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject to the British monarch King George III and "of Right ought to be Free and Independent States."

In 1870, Congress made Independence Day an unpaid holiday for federal employees.