Two of the most celebrated resorts in the UK and US are about to become “friendship cities”.
Brighton and Santa Monica are teaming up from next month – with each resort hoping to attract visitors from the other.
On 29 July the mayor of Brighton & Hove, Lizzie Deane, and her counterpart in Santa Monica, Kristin McCowan, will sign the official Friendship City Partnership Agreement.
A street art mural to mark the collaboration by Santa Monica artist, Ruben Rojas, will be unveiled on Brighton’s Palace Pier before it moves to its permanent home in the city.
Brighton’s surviving pier dates from 1899, making it a decade older than the 1909 Santa Monica pier.
Both feature frequently as backdrops for movies.
Santa Monica Travel & Tourism said: “The pact aims to deepen the relationship between the two cities promoting cultural understanding between their citizens and offering an exchange of ideas and activities through school curriculums, events series, and in-market tourism experiences on both sides of theAtlantic.”
Brighton does not currently have a twin city. Santa Monica is twinned with Hamm in Germany, Fujinomiya in Japan and Mazatlan in Mexico.
But now that the Sussex resort has teamed up with the Californian icon, The Independent asks: which is cooler?
Notable highways that end at the pier
Brighton: A23 from London via Gatwick and Crawley
Santa Monica: Route 66 from Chicago via St Louis and Tulsa
Journey’s End: the sign at Santa Monica pier marking the end of Route 66
(Simon Calder)
Average water temperature in September
Brighton: 17C
Santa Monica: 21C
Songs that feature the resort
“Seaside Shuffle” by Terry Dactyl and the Dinosaurs is about a trip to Brighton, “Where the breeze blows and the air tastes of the sea”.
The refrain in “All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow ends “Until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard”
Rate tonight for a room at a Holiday Inn Express
Brighton: £163
Santa Monica: £198
Top cultural sight
Brighton: Royal Pavilion, the most beautiful palace in Europe
Santa Monica: California Heritage Museum. “The people there were helpful and we got a little tour of the quilts,” reads the most recent Tripadvisor review
Brighton beautiful: the Royal Pavilion
(Simon Calder)
Travel time from London
Brighton: 58 minutes by train from Victoria, £32.
Santa Monica: 11 hours 15 minutes by air from Heathrow to Los Angeles followed by the Big Blue Bus to Santa Monica (42 minutes, $1).
Most celebrated movie shot in the resort
Brighton: Quadrophenia (1979)
Santa Monica: Forrest Gump (1994)
Smaller sibling
Brighton: Hove, actually
Santa Monica: Venice Beach
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