Elements Claim Beloved Landmark

Arch Rock, one of Santa Monica’s most popular natural wonders and tourist spots, crumbled during a severe rainstorm. The arch-shaped rock formation on the beach just south of Topanga Canyon “spanned the two columns through which the county road passed.” When it collapsed, traffic was blocked. “Arch Rock Is Gone,” read the headline the next day. “Arch Rock was as old as the hills when the mission padres who preceded Father Junipero Serra to this bay first wended their way up the Coast,” The Times reported. “It had no historic significance other than its natural beauty and romantic surroundings.”