Santa Monica Pier On our recent trip to Los Angeles many mentioned visiting Santa Monica Pier.  I was excited for a couple of silly reasons – seeing the famous ferris wheel that opens up Private Practice made me giddy!  Silly, I know.  More than that, though, it’s a good place to people watch, surf, do the tourist thing (including getting pick pocketed – we saw 2 men speaking to police…so be careful). Interesting to note, the Pier was originally built to cover up a sewage…