Bergamot Station

Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California is the historical name for a site that was a stop for the Red Line trolley that ran from Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier right back to 1875. Bergamot is also a flower which flourished in the area.

Trolley cars stopped running in 1953 and the warehouse became a celery packing operation, then an ice-making plant. The warehouse was finally used as a factory to manufacture water heaters. The property was then purchased by the City of Santa Monica and sat abandoned until an official opening was help in September 1994 of a campus-like complex.

The station is now a popular destination for visitors as it is a central location where they can park and spend the day viewing art, rather then having to drive all over town. The station is featured in every Los Angeles guide as a primary cultural destination and has over 600,000 visitors each year. There is also no admission fee to enter the gallery.

The station and the galleries are able to be rented for private events; these include the James Gray Gallery, Pier 59 Studios West and Writer's Boot Camp.