Kind of hard to see, but there is a row of pelicans flying on the left hand side of the photo.
Santa Monica Pier if you ever been there then you must know how busy it is with tourists and locals. Sometimes when I visit there I tray and get a new perspective and ignore people while still trying to take a photo.
Click on the image for a large view. 2 photos stitched together for a landscape view. I got a bit inspired by a Flickr user named C.Rangefinder you can have a look at his photostream on Flickr.
