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Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Pacific Palisades spreads over ocean-view hills on the West Side of Los Angeles, an affluent residential district beside Santa Monica.
About Pacific Palisades
Where to stay in Pacific Palisades
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Pacific Palisades keeps its rooms scarce. The district is overwhelmingly residential, a spread of hillside houses with ocean views, so most visitors book down the coast in neighbouring Santa Monica and drive in. What beds exist sit among the quiet canyon streets near Saint Matthew's Episcopal church, suited to travellers who want green, low-key surroundings and quick reach of the beach rather than nightlife.
Stay here for the hills and the water.
About Pacific Palisades
What are the main landmarks in Pacific Palisades?
Pacific Palisades counts few grand monuments. Its landmarks are domestic in scale: the Keeler House, a piece of modern residential architecture set into the hillside, and Saint Matthew's Episcopal church, a low timber-and-glass sanctuary among the canyon oaks. Both reward a slow drive more than a crowd.
The real draw remains the long views toward the Pacific from the ridgelines above Santa Monica.
What is the history of Pacific Palisades?
Pacific Palisades grew as a residential quarter in the hills above the Los Angeles coast, its name marking the cliffs that face the Pacific. Houses came first. Development spread across the canyons and ridgelines rather than a single old core, filling the wooded slopes above Santa Monica.
Landmarks such as Saint Matthew's Episcopal church and the Keeler House trace that later growth.
Where is Pacific Palisades?
Pacific Palisades climbs the coastal hills of western Los Angeles, its streets running down toward the Pacific just north of Santa Monica.
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Updated July 2026