Santa Monica, California: Camera Obscura: Giant Pinhole Camera (In Transition)

Coast view projected onto the innards of the primitive giant camera. Closed as of 2025, but perhaps not forever.

Senior Recreation Center

Address:: 1450 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA
Directions:: Ocean Avenue and Broadway. Upstairs. Ask at the desk for the key to get inside.
Hours:: 2025: currently closed. (Call to verify)
Phone:: 310-458-8350
Status:: In Transition

Results 1 to 3 of 3...

Visitor Tips and News About Camera Obscura: Giant Pinhole Camera

Reports and tips from RoadsideAmerica.com visitors and Roadside America mobile tipsters. Some tips may not be verified. Submit your own tip.

Camera Obscura: Giant Pinhole Camera

The building is here, but as for an attraction it is permanently closed.

[Matt Winger, 12/31/2024]

The Art Lab that oversees the Camera Obscura says that it is only "currently" closed. It's still there, so there's a chance that it may eventually reopen.

Camera Obscura.

Camera Obscura - Giant Pinhole Camera

An update: this is no longer a senior center but an art/culture center. Still run by the City of Santa Monica. Offers classes and events around arts/crafts/movement/optics themes.

[Santa Monica Cultural Affairs, 08/03/2015]

Camera Obscura.

Camera Obscura - Giant Pinhole Camera

The Camera Obscura is inside the senior recreation center. It's upstairs but you have to get the key first from the desk.

Senior aerobics were going on while we were there. We looked lost and an employee helped us find it. Trust me, it was worth it.

[Mike, 06/22/2010]

Like its counterpart in San Francisco, the Camera Obscura is a room-sized example of early photography technology, capturing a Pacific Ocean image though a pinhole.