Officials Fine-Tune Their Search for City Song

Lillian Abelson recently updated a song she wrote 16 years ago as an ode to her beloved hometown of Santa Monica with the hope that it would be adopted as the city’s official song.

But after playing a tape recording of “That Santa Monica Feeling” to the City Council Tuesday night, Abelson--and the Santa Monica Historical Society, which was pushing for such designation--discovered that the city may already have an official song.

City Clerk Clarice E. Johnsen, who along with most city officials had thought this was the first attempt at adopting an official city song, notified the council that a song written in 1916, “Come Along to Santa Monica,” was discovered on file in the city attorney’s office.

A copy of the song--whose chorus includes the lines, “Come along to Santa Monica, where the girls are sweet and true; Come along to Santa Monica, where the men all dare and do”--indicated it was copyrighted as the city’s official song in 1916.

However, a further search of city records failed to produce any record of any official governmental body making the designation. And a check with the Santa Monica Public Library showed that at least four other songs about Santa Monica have been written: “Santa Monica I Love You,” “Where the Mountains Meet the Sea,” “Let’s Go to Santa Monica” and “Santa Monica.”

“It’s interesting that in 74 years we have forgotten about this song,” said Councilman William H. Jennings, who encouraged Abelson to present her song for official designation. “It makes you wonder what else we may have forgotten in that time.”

The City Council directed city staff to research the matter. If none of the songs are found to be officially designated, the council may consider holding a contest to select a song. The matter is expected to come back to the council in about 60 days.

The song would join the bougainvillea as Santa Monica’s official flower, and the brown pelican as the city’s official bird. There are no known challenges to those designations.

Meanwhile, Louise Gabriel, president of the historical society, said that although news of the other song came as a surprise, she is pleased that the City Council is considering the adoption of an official song.

“At least this is generating some interest,” she said.

Abelson, 70, a retired caterer, said she was pleased with the courteous applause she received after the song was played in the City Council chamber.

“At least they didn’t throw me out,” she said.

Abelson, who is on the historical society’s board of directors, said she wrote “That Santa Monica Feeling” in 1974 while waiting in a self-service laundry. “It came to me in a peculiar way,” she said. “If I told you any more people would really think I’m crazy.”

She entered the song in a contest during the city’s centennial celebration in 1974, but didn’t win.

Last fall, she saw a scenic newspaper photo of Palisades Park and decided to change some of the lyrics and compose a new melody for her song.

“I gave it a little Latin beat,” Abelson said. “You can dance to it, and it just gives you a good feeling.”

The 2 1/2-minute song describes the gentle sounds of the surf and the music from the carousel at Santa Monica Pier, and the sights of gulls flying into the sunset and sailboats riding the tide.

“And when you walk along the Palisades,” a verse of the song says, “Children play ‘neath trees that never age, and folks come from out of town just to see the sun go down. That Santa Monica feeling, it’s all over the world.”

“You feel relaxed, you feel good when you hear the song,” said Gabriel, the historical society president. “You feel like you’re lying on the beach.”