Month OF Love 2024

In the summer of 2017, in a record-breaking Twilight crowd, I managed to get onto the pier for the Khalid concert, where I would meet my current boyfriend. We both attended the show alone and managed to find one another in the beer garden. Well, he managed to find me. He started off with a line, something cute, and politely asked if I wanted to hang out with him during the show. I agreed, and it was the start of something lovely that grew into something life-changing. Dear Pier, thank you for the meet-cute, I am forever smitten.

I brought a friend of mine to the Pier, knowing that although she was hoping for more, our friendship was going to stay a friendship. I wanted to make it more but my heart wasn’t on the same page. We sat watching the sunset as I broke her heart and then, as she wiped a tear off my face, she put a smile on hers. In that moment we decided to simply enjoy the night and play in the arcade: eat dippin’ dots, ride the carousel, watch a puppy dance to “Despcito” and feed a seagull. It was on that same night I fell in love. We drove home knowing everything had changed. Over a year later, my wife and I visit the Pier to remember that night, the night that changed both our lives.

My favorite memory was a spontaneous trip to the Pier last April. My boyfriend and I live walking distance to the Pier and try to visit about once a month. We had been together for one year and he knows I LOVE rollercoasters. It was a Friday night after a long work week, and out of the blue he said “Hey, let's grab drinks on the Pier and then ride the rollercoaster!” The spontaneity of the idea felt like an unexpected trip to the candy story as a kid.

We grabbed drinks at The Lobster, and then ran to the rollercoaster with excitement. The Pier at night is magical, the weather was perfect, and to our delight, it wasn't that crowded so we didn’t wait long to ride. It was the best night! 

That evening was one of those magical moments where you realize you are falling more in love with the person you are with. I’ll never forget that night; it was pure joy, pure happiness and pure love.

Because we've had perfect attendance at the Twilight concerts the last 6+ years, my husband proposed to me on the beach AT a Pier Concert in August 2015. We got married, of course, at Shutters on the Beach 7 months later, with the Pier aglow in the background. 

April 12, 2019 holds a special place in my heart, as I will never forget how happy I felt that day. It was my last semester in college, the 50th anniversary ball of my fraternity, and I shared the night with Hillary Lu, who I fell in love with after a couple of months of getting to know her really well. We took a party bus to my fraternity ball, had a blast dancing the whole night, and ended the night on a party bus straight to Santa Monica Pier all the way from Castaway, in Burbank. We were all enjoying the night, Hillary and I laughing, hugging and squeezing one another so tight when a friend of ours told us to turn around. This candid moment, in my opinion, captured a perfect moment of life, love, fun, honesty, and friendship. Hillary is my best friend till this day. We have been together for over a year and are madly in love with one another. I hope my story with Hillary will inspire love in your life!