Seven Days, Beach, Santa Monica, Art, Pier

Santa Monica, Get Ready To Glow Tonight

Posted Sep. 28, 2013, 9:02 am

Brenton Garen / Editor-in-Chief

Santa Monica will host the third iteration of Glow tonight, the city’s signature cultural event and the nation’s only nighttime arts celebration focused exclusively on original artwork.

From 7 pm to 3 am, the public can enjoy 15 free site-specific interactive art projects that will illuminate the Santa Monica Pier and beach.

For a single night, the heart of Santa Monica will be transformed into a massive outdoor museum, where art exists not just to be seen, but to be experienced.

Organizers expect more than 150,000 people to attend, making Glow one of the largest public art events in the world.

Getting To Glow

Walking and biking are the best ways to get to and around the Glow zone.

Three bike valets will be operating free of charge:

• Palisades Park just south of Broadway

• immediately south of the Pier, in Hot Dog on a Stick’s parking lot

• in the parking lot west of Crescent Bay Park between Bay Street and Bicknell Avenue.

The Bike Center at Colorado Avenue and 2nd Street will be open late for bike rentals, bike repair, and bike valet.

Streets in the Glow zone will be closed to vehicular traffic in the late afternoon, but open all night to bikes and pedestrians. Bicycle rental is widely available in Santa Monica, and several vendors are offering specials for Glow, including Bike Attack, Pedego Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Bike Center.

If driving, carpool and park in the easy-to-get-to, low-cost beach lots south of Pico Boulevard. Flat-rate parking from $5 to $20 will be in effect in all city lots west of Lincoln Boulevard starting at 4 pm.

Real-time parking availability, as well as parking reservations can be accessed www.glowsantamonica.org. For more information on transportation to Glow, including Big Blue Bus special routing for the event, visit glowsantamonica.org/gettingtoglow or bigbluebus.com and click on the Glow icon.

Performance Schedule

• 7 pm: Opening Ceremony, intersection of Ocean and Colorado, Downtown Santa Monica

• 7:30 pm: CAP Summer Arts Program in Dance at GLOWbal, by Karen Atkinson

• 8 pm: A Puppet Show, Crescent Bay Park

• 8:30 pm: Java: Land of Dreams concert and dance performance, north of the Pier on beach

• 9 pm: A Puppet Show, Crescent Bay Park

• 10 pm: Colorfields experience in front of Sea Castle Apartments; A Puppet Show, Crescent Bay Park

• Midnight: Java: Land of Dreams concert and dance performance north of the pier on beach

Street Closures

• Ocean Avenue between Wilshire Blvd and Moomat Ahiko Way (PCH Ramp)

• Santa Monica Boulevard between Ocean Avenue and 2nd Street

• Broadway between Ocean Avenue and 2nd Street

• Colorado Avenue between Ocean Avenue and 2nd Street

• Colorado Avenue between 4th Street and 5th Street

• Northbound Main Street between Olympic Drive and Colorado Avenue

• Soutbound PCH Ocean Avenue exit

• Ocean Avenue ramp to northbound PCH

Explore Glow With Your Cell Phone

Enhance your Glow experience by downloading in advance the mobile options available. KCRW has created a Glow Soundscape, a downloadable audio guide to the event hosted by KCRW DJs. It includes artists talking about their creations and music for the journey. It also acts as a navigation tool with details on where to find each installation the night of the event. It’s available for download at kcrw.com/glow.

To download directly to a mobile device go to kcrw.com/glowmobile. Artist Steve Boyer’s installation uses a custom app that will prompt color changes on iPhones/Androids as visitors move within the Colorfields zone, a 10,000 square foot area on the beach. A special gathering/experience will happen at 10 pm. The app can be downloaded at either glowsantamonica.org or kcrw.com/glow. Download the official Glow Parking App, ParkMe, for real-time parking information and reservations.

Accessibility At Glow

Glow has increased its accessibility efforts in a variety of ways including easier access to more of the art works, enhanced resources such as an Access Station and an Access Guide. For more information, visit glowsantamonica.org/accessibility.