The Shores Santa Monica Apartments at the Beach

Douglas Kim

I moved to The Shores Santa Monica in June 2021 and this is far the best apartment I've stayed in. Victoria, the leasing agent is awesome!l She made sure that the unit was in impeccable condition before the move-in. Maintenance crew and front desk clerk people are very attentive and friendly. Living at the Shores feels like living in a community filled with amazing people. Nothing beats the location! It is right next to the beach and hands down the best pool in Santa Monica.

Polly Morris

I must say that after looking everywhere to buy a condo, I find The Shores a very good bet. Victoria, in the leasing department, was the first person I met 5 years ago, and she was extremely helpful. She helped me find my first apartment. Since then, I have moved into a unit with a north-facing view which I prefer. However, I now realize that the advice given to my by Victoria was correct. I have been looking all over for a 2 bedroom condo but not found anything with a better location and well-kept complex that rivals The Shores. This is what Victoria told me 5 years ago and it's still true. Forget the condo. I'll stay here. Thanks for your patience in showing me all those units and all your help in making the best decision.

Try D

The building is in a great location and I like my unit ........but they advertise security and have greeters with no security qualifications. The building was supposed to be smoke free and a "no pet" building. In reality, many people smoke and 80% of the residents have the same filthy rag mop dog. The dogs can bark all night and fight in the common areas and elevators. There have been times when ALL of the elevators were broken. Many times hundreds of residents rely on one elevator. There have been physical fights requiring police reports, regarding elevator crowding. The residents can be nasty, refusing to take two seconds to hold the elevator for each other. Some residents actually feel inconvenienced when the elevator has to stop on a floor they don't live on. The walls are very thin. The previous review sites are fake. WARNING!! The building forces you to have “in-house” INTERNET and CABLE under the Frontier Brand, which is often down for a month, yes a month. No phone signal in the lobby. The phone signal is very unreliable. I had to use AT&T WIFI on my phone to stop dropped calls. Residents rent the units on Airbnb without punishment. A new resident reserved the freight elevator to move furniture in and a fellow resident removed the furniture and took the elevator to his floor then posted about his triumph of stealing the elevator on the residents Facebook page. I found it disappointing that no one on the Facebook page thought stealing the elevator while someone was moving in, was wrong. The mail receiving system is chaotic. When a package is given to the wrong resident the resident rarely returns it. The building is rent controlled and is operated like a low rent building except new residents pay inflated rent to offset the fact that many pay $700.00. Ironically the people paying the least have far more privileges. Zero Security!! The homeless are allowed to camp outside of the building and wait for darkness to fall. They use the pool, restrooms etc. The homeless regularly steal bikes and vandalize cars in the garage. The homeless routinely enter the building and wreak havoc on each floor. Management has obviously trained the desk attendants to release the homeless thieves caught in the act and to NOT report it to police. Recently a homeless man attempted to break into an older resident's home. The lady was traumatized and died shortly after. The homeless murderer was never held accountable.

Ryan Case

Overall I am not a fan and only wish more honest reviews existed when I signed my lease a few months ago. The only good thing is Victoria, as she is a pleasure to deal with, but once you move in, that's where the fun ends. Yes the location is great being right by the beach. But the laundry list of issues far outweigh everything else, and living here has been a colossal disappointment for me thus far. Reasons detailed below, most with photographic and documented evidence from myself and other residents. 1. The elevators are a nightmare. 3 for 17 floors, however one has been out for repair since I moved here, and the other breaks down constantly or is being reserved for move in move outs, leaving one elevator for 250+ people. 2. Touching again on the elevators, residents shame you if you have pets or live on low floors, as they feel you shouldn't be allowed to ride and have no problem making snark comments both to your face and behind your back 3. The 20-30+ year tenants paying 1/4 of your market rent often times can be overwhelming. In the south tower they loiter in the lobby all day, and use the TV room as their personal living room, bringing in food, etc. They also rarely speak up regarding fixing things wrong with the building as their insanely low rent stifles their voice. 4. Homeless issues on the premises. They follow cars into the south tower garage, have been caught doing drugs in the bathroom, and also bathing in the Jacuzzi. Better security is needed for the building as people also hop over the gate on Neilson at night and use our pool as a public amenity. 5. I stopped using the Jacuzzi for longer than 10 mins at a time as they over chlorinate it, causing your skin to burn. This was one of the only perks I actually enjoy about The Shores but it literally makes it hard to sleep if you stay in for a good amount of time as it burns you 6. Airbnb is rampart in the south tower especially, and due to rent control rules little can be done about it. They clog up our amenities, our elevators and are rude / loud. Complaints fall on deaf ears due to the archaic city process of getting these people out 7. Front desk isn't well managed. While I like some of the employees, they often let people by without verifying with the resident that they're even an approved visitor, and hand out parking passes like candy. 8. The south tower parking lot fills up with beach goers and they never tow unauthorized vehicles. They park all the way to the fence in the no parking zone and force residents leaving the a and b garage to risk damage to their cars as they poke out leaving no room to exit or for 2 cars passing by at the same time 9. Management cuts corners all over the place, and I have a feeling they will continue to until all the residents paying $1200 a month pass away. I could write a whole review just on that. My neighbors unit flooded and they didn't even put blowers in the hallway. Now outside my unit smells musty and moldy ever since. 10. Lots of weed smokers for a non smoking building. A girl on my floor hot boxes the entire hallway every time she lights up, which is quite annoying as I was told no one smoked here. 11. They force you to use frontier, and even at the highest speed, it's literally like having dialup internet since the building won't allow Frontier to update it to Fiber Optic. I pay $185 a month for TV and dial up Internet... not kidding, and wasn't disclosed to me when signing my lease.