The historic Merry Go-Round Building on the Santa Monica Pier will be transformed into a floating casino next month, as the Santa Monica Pier Corporation honors two families whose names are stitched into the pier's history: the Gordons of Playland Arcade and the Whitings, descendants of the Newcomb family. The second annual A Pierfect Benefit, set for September 19, will hand out the 2026 Santa Monica Pier Award to both families for what organizers describe as generations of commitment, generosity and love for the landmark.
According to the Santa Monica Daily Press, the Santa Monica Pier Corporation announced the honorees as part of the gala, which carries an SS Rex theme complete with casino night, gaming tables, auctions, live entertainment and signature cocktails. Guests are encouraged to dress in vintage attire inspired by 1920s and 1930s ocean liners, and those who purchase gaming tickets in advance get 50 percent off the day-of price. Table winners will also earn raffle tickets for prizes. Tickets, gaming packages, sponsorships and tax-deductible donations are available through the benefit's page at givebutter.com/pierfectbenefit2026.
A Casino Theme Rooted in Real History
The SS Rex name is no random flourish. It nods to a notorious 1930s offshore gambling ship that anchored off the Santa Monica coast under operator Tony Cornero, floating three miles out to dodge California's land-based gambling prohibitions, according to the Los Angeles Times. That operation became national news in 1939 during the so-called Battle of Santa Monica Bay, when then-California Attorney General Earl Warren ordered a nine-day law enforcement raid to shut the vessel down.
The gala itself will unfold inside the Looff Hippodrome, the building built in 1916 by carousel pioneer Charles I. D. Looff that houses today's Merry Go-Round Building. The Santa Monica Conservancy notes the Hippodrome was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987 and remains the oldest original building still standing on the pier. The carousel spinning inside it, Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel No. 62, was built in 1922 with 44 hand-carved wooden horses and brought to the pier in 1947 by Walter Newcomb, per Water and Power Associates.
Four Generations Behind Playland Arcade
Playland Arcade, founded in 1954 by brothers George and Eugene Gordon alongside their father Morris “Pops” Gordon, is being recognized as the longest-running family-owned business on the Santa Monica Pier, having stayed in Gordon family hands for more than seven decades. The arcade is now led by a fourth generation of women: sisters Joanie and Marlene Gordon, and their nieces Dana Picore and Monique Giroux. The pier corporation is honoring the family for its stewardship, resilience and commitment to creating memories.
The Whiting family's ties run through the Newcombs, who acquired the commercial lease to the pier's amusement area in 1943 and operated what was then called Newcomb Pier as a family enterprise for three decades. Following Walter Newcomb's 1944 death, his widow Enid Newcomb managed the pier's commercial area for more than two decades, according to the Santa Monica Lookout. The family's lease ended in 1973 when it transferred ownership to the City of Santa Monica.
The Fight That Saved the Pier
That 1973 handover came only after the pier survived an existential threat. A Santa Monica City Council plan to demolish the structure and replace it with an artificial island resort hotel sparked a fierce grassroots Save the Pier movement, culminating in a 1975 voter-approved ballot measure to preserve it. The backlash over the demolition proposal was intense enough that it ousted three sitting council members in the elections that followed, per the same Lookout report.
The Whiting family is being honored for supporting the pier through physical, political and financial challenges over the decades, and for contributing to the book “Santa Monica Pier: America's Last Great Pleasure Pier.” That book was authored by Jim Harris, executive director and historian of the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, and features a foreword by actor Robert Redford and an afterword by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to the Wave Newspaper. “The people who dedicate their lives to protecting the pier truly define it,” Harris said.
From Sewage Pipe to Cultural Landmark
It is easy to forget the pier's utilitarian roots while watching a casino-themed gala unfold on it. The Santa Monica Pier originally opened on September 9, 1909, as a concrete municipal pier built mainly to carry a municipal sewage pipe past the ocean surf line; the adjacent Pleasure Pier was built separately in 1916 before the two structures were eventually merged into one, the Wave Newspaper notes.
The Santa Monica Pier Corporation itself was established as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the wake of destructive 1983 winter ocean storms, tasked with managing daily pier programming, street performer permitting and community events. Today that includes free, year-round programming such as the annual Pier 360 Beach Festival and a Youth Day for underserved children across Los Angeles County. Proceeds from A Pierfect Benefit go directly toward supporting that nonprofit's work.
Early bird pricing for the gala is available through Wednesday, offering 20 percent off admission with the code EARLYBIND. Attendees can also get 15 percent off rentals and purchases with the code PIER at Adele's of Hollywood, a costume house that has outfitted guests since 1945. The Santa Monica Pier Awards were established in 2025, meaning this year's honorees are only the second group recognized under the program, which the pier corporation says exists to recognize individuals, families and organizations dedicated to preserving and strengthening the Santa Monica Pier.
The gala arrives as the pier undergoes its own modernization: the city's Pier Bridge Replacement Project is currently underway to replace aging access infrastructure ahead of the 2028 Olympics pier upgrade, a reminder that the landmark's preservation is an ongoing effort involving both families like the Gordons and Whitings and the city itself.
