It's an endless ugly urban sprawl with a traffic problem that defies description. One third of the surface of Los Angeles is paved, including their only river. It's good only for film car chases. I wouldn't go there at night because I'd probably end up as an organ donor or a hamburger ingredient. When entering Los Angeles from the north, one first enters Santa Monica .
Shops close late.
They even have an outdoor farmer's market there, on Thursdays I think. Santa Monica is lovely, and so is the youth hostel one block from Third Street Promenade. The picture shows the courtyard, but they also have lots of reading rooms, a library, game rooms, and everything you could ask for. It's one of the nicest youth hostels I know. To me it seems more like a Disneyland designed to confirm the misconceptions of tourists.