Santa Monica’s coastal bluffs, circa 1898. This week for Los Angeles magazine, L.A. as Subject has the story of how this cliff-top land was made into the beach city’s treasured Palisades Park.

Corner of Third Street and Santa Monica Boulevard (then named Oregon Avenue) in Santa Monica, circa 1900. Today the intersection is part of the popular Third Street Promenade retail district.

Part of the California Historical Society Collection in the USC Digital Library.

The final segment of Pacific Coast Highway, then known as the Roosevelt Highway, opened 83 years ago today. From the USC Digital Library, here are two circa 1929 views of the famed roadway, taken between Santa Monica and Malibu.

Circa 1890 view of the Santa Monica shoreline, looking northwest from the Arcadia Hotel.

Circa 1895 view of Santa Monica’s seaside bluffs. The Arcadia Hotel and a wharf - forerunner to today’s Santa Monica Pier - are both visible in the distance.

Between 1893 and 1920, a 4,600-foot long wharf extended into Santa Monica Bay at Port Los Angeles. Read L.A. as Subject’s latest KCET contribution, “How Santa Monica Almost Became a Commercial Harbor,” to learn more.

Circa 1905 view of the Santa Monica shoreline from Palisades Park. The tracks of the Los Angeles & Independence R.R. run where Pacific Coast Highway is today. To the right, a motorcar ascends an early version of the California Incline.

Testing the new heliport atop the Santa Monica Hospital on this day in 1954.

Santa Monica’s Third Street circa 1891. The view of the street, now a shopping- and dining-oriented pedestrian promenade, looks northwest from Broadway toward Wilshire Boulevard (then named Nevada Avenue).

Vintage Postcard: Palisades along the Santa Monica coast circa 1931