The Annenberg Community Beach House at 415 Pacific Coast Highway is a public beach club on the site of a 110-room mansion built for Marion Davies by William Randolph Hearst.

It opened to the public on 25 April 2009, and it is the most improbable thing in Santa Monica: a Hollywood-era oceanfront estate, turned into a facility anyone can walk into, with no membership required.

The story

Worth telling properly, because it is genuinely remarkable.

William Randolph Hearst — the newspaper magnate — built a vast beachfront estate here for the actress Marion Davies. The main house ran to 110 rooms. It was one of the great private houses of the Hollywood era, on some of the most valuable coastline in America.

The mansion is gone. What survived were two original features: the Marion Davies Guest House and the swimming pool, and those are what the site was rebuilt around.

The project stalled for years for lack of funding until 2005, when the Annenberg Foundation committed $27.5 million to complete it. It opened four years later as a public facility.

So a private estate on the Pacific, built for a film star by a media baron, is now somewhere you can walk into on a Tuesday afternoon. That is an unusual ending for a story like this one.

The Marion Davies pool

The reason most people come, and the one part of the site that charges admission.

The mansion’s original swimming pool was rehabilitated by the Annenberg Foundation and opened to the public in 2009 on a fee-for-entry basis. It is trimmed in tile with a marble deck — built as a private pool for a Hollywood estate, and now a public one.

Swimming in it is the closest thing available to using a 1920s film-star estate as its owners did, and it costs the price of a swim rather than a membership.

Check current pool season, hours, ticketing and any reservation requirement before travelling. The pool operates seasonally and access arrangements change.

Everything else is free

The part people most often do not realise.

The pool area is the only part of the site that requires an admission fee. The rest of the Beach House — the grounds, the beach access, the public spaces and the historic Guest House — is open to the general public with no membership required.

That makes it one of the better free things in a city where very little is free, and it is why it belongs in the free things guide as much as anywhere.

How to visit

Parking is on site, and it is one of the less contested car parks on this stretch of coast — a genuine advantage in a city where parking is the main practical problem.

Check the pool season and hours before you plan a swim. Seasonal operation is the norm.

Go on a weekday if you can. It is considerably quieter than the Pier end of the beach at any time, and on a weekday morning it is close to empty.

Allow time for the Guest House, which is the surviving original building and the actual history on the site.

Bring a towel regardless. The beach here is the same sand as everywhere else in Santa Monica, with a fraction of the crowd.

Why it is better than the Pier end

An honest comparison, because most visitors never get this far north.

The Santa Monica Pier is the famous end of the beach — crowded, commercial and worth seeing once. The Beach House is a couple of miles north on Pacific Coast Highway and is a completely different proposition: quieter, historic, with parking, and with a swimming pool built for a film star.

For a local, or for a visitor on a second day, this is the better beach afternoon by a considerable margin. It draws serious search volume — over twenty thousand a month — and still manages to feel like somewhere most people have not found.

Why this site matters beyond the swimming

It is worth a moment, because the Beach House is a genuinely unusual piece of civic history.

Almost every great oceanfront estate of the Hollywood era went one of two ways: demolished for redevelopment, or preserved as a private house behind a gate. The Santa Monica coast in particular is some of the most valuable and most privately held land in the United States.

This one went a third way. The land became Santa Monica State Beach, the surviving structures were restored, a foundation put up $27.5 million, and the result is a public facility on a beach that anyone can use — with the film star’s own pool as the centrepiece.

Public access to premium coastline is a running argument in California, and the Beach House is one of the clearest wins on that side of it. That is worth knowing while you are lying on the sand there.

Combining it with the rest of Santa Monica

It sits at the northern end of the beach, which shapes the natural itinerary.

Morning: the Beach House — quiet, parking available, a swim if the pool is open.

Midday: walk or cycle south along the beach path toward the Pier. The path runs the length of the city and it is flat.

Afternoon: the Pier and the original Muscle Beach just south of it.

Evening: inland to Main Street or Montana Avenue for dinner, away from the pier prices. See the restaurants guide.

That is a full Santa Monica day with one parking payment at the start of it, which in this city counts as a strategy.

The short version

415 Pacific Coast Highway. Opened to the public 25 April 2009.

Site of Marion Davies’ 110-room estate, built by William Randolph Hearst.

The original pool and the Guest House survive; the pool is tile-trimmed with a marble deck.

No membership required. Only the pool charges admission.

On-site parking, which is rare on this coast.

Go on a weekday morning. It is nearly empty.

What to expect on the day

Practical detail, since the site is unlike a conventional beach or a conventional attraction.

It reads as a beach club, because it was one. The layout, the pool deck and the buildings all belong to a private estate rather than to a municipal park, and that is exactly what makes it worth visiting.

The pool is seasonal. It is an outdoor pool on the Pacific coast, and it operates on a season with its own hours and ticketing. Do not assume it is open — check.

The beach is immediately there. You are on Santa Monica State Beach, so the sand and the water are the same as anywhere else along this coast, with a fraction of the people.

There are public spaces and programming beyond the pool, and the site is used for events. Check what is on before travelling if you want a quiet visit.

It is on Pacific Coast Highway, north of the Pier — far enough that most visitors to Santa Monica never come this way, which is the entire appeal.

Annenberg Community Beach House: common questions, answered

Where is the Annenberg Community Beach House?

415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, on the site of the former Marion Davies estate.

What was there before?

A 110-room mansion built for the actress Marion Davies by William Randolph Hearst. The main house is gone; the Marion Davies Guest House and the swimming pool are the two surviving original features.

When did it open to the public?

25 April 2009, after the Annenberg Foundation committed $27.5 million in 2005 to a project that had stalled for lack of funding.

Do I need a membership?

No. The facility is open to the general public with no membership required.

Is it free?

Mostly. The pool area is the only part of the site that requires an admission fee — the grounds, beach access and public spaces are free.

Can I swim in the Marion Davies pool?

Yes. The mansion’s original pool was rehabilitated and opened to the public in 2009 on a fee-for-entry basis. It is trimmed in tile with a marble deck. Check the current season, hours and any reservation requirement before travelling.

Is there parking?

Yes, on site — and it is one of the less contested car parks on this stretch of coast, which matters in a city where parking is the main practical problem.

How does it compare to the Santa Monica Pier?

Completely different. The Pier is crowded, commercial and famous. The Beach House is a couple of miles north, far quieter, historic, with its own parking and a swimming pool built for a film star.

When is the best time to go?

A weekday, ideally in the morning, when it is close to empty. It is quieter than the Pier end of the beach at any time.

What is the Marion Davies Guest House?

One of the two surviving original structures from the estate, restored as part of the project. It is the actual history on the site and worth allowing time for.