What to Know
- Pacific Wheel at Pacific Park in Santa Monica
- The 9-story solar-powered Ferris wheel often honors holidays and special occasions with a nightly light show
- The attraction will be illuminated with Halloween and Día de los Muertos imagery from Oct. 20 through Nov. 2, 2023
Flickerful, incandescent, atmospheric, and warm: All sorts of lovely light sources are associated with various major occasions, from the candlelight that gives a Valentine's Day dinner table its romantic appearance to the nostalgic sparklers of the Fourth of July.
But when we reach the last part of October, as we have now done, illumination has a way of assuming an eerier appearance.
Haunted mazes break out the strobes and foggy lamps, front porches are lined with strings of orange lights, and jack o'lanterns' grins do glow thanks to the tealight placed at their seedy center.
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There is, however, one place where the Halloween lights go big and bright, and the Día de los Muertos symbols and sights, too: The Pacific Wheel.
The Santa Monica attraction, a solar-powered Ferris wheel that turns near the terminus of Santa Monica Pier, is known for its festive odes to various holidays and important local events.
But this may be one of the longest stretches that the Pacific Park destination has ever shimmered, night by night by night.
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The Halloween bats and Day of the Dead sugar skulls, in addition to other images, will begin their seasonal shimmer on Oct. 20, with a conclusion in early November.
That's Nov. 2, to be specific, making this current run, which is free to see, a full and not-too-frightful 14 nights.
Some 174,000 LED lights will create the patterns, which can be composed of 16,700,000 color combinations, a number an illumination enthusiast would be agog over.
If you can't make it to Santa Monica as October concludes and November begins, the Pacific Wheel's evening shows, which begin at sundown and wrap around 12:30 a.m., may be viewed live via the Pacific Park site.
