I am planning a trip out your way, and was looking for pics of some beach hotels we are planning to stay at, and came across this website.

Cool website to look around at.

http://www.californiacoastline.org.

Didn't know if you guys knew this was out there or not, but I found it helpful in planning a trip.

For instance, the Fairmount Hotel north of the Pier in Santa Monica requires that you rapel to the beach, whereas the Lowe's south of the pier is in the same general altitude as the beach. Beaches are all flat here - never thought about wearing my mountain climbing gear to get to it.