By Daniel Larios
Staff Writer

September 17, 2014 -- Actor Harrison Ford, fresh out of surgery, was recently spotted in Santa Monica. So was Jessica Alba, whose business is headquartered in Silicon Beach. And Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey was recently seen strolling with his three kids through a Santa Monica park.

All three celebrity sightings made news that was beamed around the world, reinforcing Santa Monica’s image as a leading West Coast capitol for the hip and famous. That they chose the beachside city as a place to play and conduct business is a testament to the success of Third Street Promenade, civic and business leaders say.

“Before the renovation, there was really nothing in the area. There were no stores or restaurants around,” said Skip Rimer, former editor of the Santa Monica Outlook, the bay city’s paper of record between 1875 and 1998. “People were just coming to see the pier and visiting the few restaurants on Ocean Avenue.

“The city was struggling with the serious issues of homelessness, drug dealing and an unsuccessful Third Street shopping mall,” said Rimer, who is executive director of events and communications at the Milken Institute, located a block from the Promenade.

“Once the current Promenade became a success, and the city started doing something about the problems, all of it contributed to lifting Santa Monica’s stature.”

Today, the beachside city of 90,000 is marketed across the world as home to Third Street Promenade. Santa Monica’s official visitors guide touts the three-block stretch launched 25 years ago as “the city’s great gathering place.”

“Both locals and people from all over the planet come to enjoy street performers and incomparable people-watching — often from front-row seats at sidewalk cafes,” reads the guide. “This is the heart of the city thanks to its pedestrian-friendly character.”

It didn’t take long for the Promenade to capture the public’s imagination.

In a 1992 article, the New York Times called the fledgling strip a “great renewed, reinvented urban living room” and compared it to other cosmopolitan, European-flavored gathering places.

“The accents you hear on the Promenade prove that many Europeans are now reversing roles with us, coming here instead of us going there, having a coffee in a sidewalk restaurant on a charming American ‘square’ on our own Left Coast,” the Times wrote.

Comparisons to European cities turned into comparisons with New York City in a 2006 column in the Los Angeles Times.

“Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade might be about as close to New York City living as Los Angeles offers,” journalist Benjamin Brayfield wrote.

“Where else can you hang out on your fire escape (OK, balcony deck) over the local deli (OK, they probably serve more salads than pastrami sandwiches) and be entertained by street performers? You’ll never cook again.”

A quarter century after the Promenade opened, some 14.6 million people visited the area last year, pumping $1.53 billion into the local economy, according to DTSM, Inc.

More than half of the tourists were from other parts of the world, including the United Kingdom (10.6 percent), Germany (9.8 percent) and Australia (8.4 percent).

“With shopping and dining representing the two largest visitor spending segments in Santa Monica, the Third Street Promenade is an essential part of the visitor experience,” said Kim Baker, the bureau’s vice president of marketing.

“More than half of our visitors are international and they love hearing that they can experience both big brands and eclectic retail, award-winning dining and live entertainment only two blocks from the beach,” Baker said.

Although the reasons for visiting the Promenade may vary, those who visit agree that they love what they find, although it’s not always easy to put into words.

“I miss this strip of Santa Monica,” Maria N. from Sydney, Australia wrote on the popular business review website Yelp. “The people, the performers, the vibe, the lights … add to that the feel of that sea breeze!! Such a beautiful collection of stores and the fact it’s closed off to traffic gives this a huge thumbs up from me.”

Given the mix of locals and tourists who frequent the Promenade, it’s a sentiment Santa Monicans, and much of the world, seem to share.

“We have tourists come in from all over Europe,” said Hany Sabongy, general manager of Best Western Gateway. “They come to Santa Monica, and the Promenade is an attraction. Does the Promenade bring people to Santa Monica? In my experience, it does.”

Said former Mayor Denny Zane: “We always had the beach, but it wasn’t until we had a more attractive urban center that the local and international visitors paid attention.”