Santa Monica Pier Revs Up S.T.E.A.M Machines

Zipping a zipper is something everybody knows how to do, but what if you wanted to build an elaborate machine to creatively, artistically, turn this task into a fantastic feat of engineering?

Teams of high school and college students have done just that, and entered their curious contraptions into the L.A. region’s inaugural Rube Goldberg Contest. The machines will be on display Nov. 9 at the Santa Monica Pier as part of a daylong S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) event hosted by Heal the Bay and presenting sponsor Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds.

The first-ever event known as S.T.E.A.M. Machines will offer a variety of interactive science, technology, engineering and math activities using art as the medium and fun as the common denominator. This day of innovation also includes tasty treats by Peddlers Creamery: artisan quality ice cream and non-dairy frozen delights churned by bicycle power; they are products that have to be seen – and tasted – to be believed.

Join S.T.E.A.M. Machines at the east end of the Pier from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. to check out the Rube Goldberg machines in action, alongside a kaleidoscope of innovative exhibitors. Paint by numbers on a grand scale with Time Warner; Trash For Teaching will stage a make-your-own recycling machine station; try games galore courtesy Two Bit Circus and Marbles the Brain Store; and Pacific Park will present a thrilling physics lesson (think roller coasters and the Pacific Wheel). The S.T.E.A.M. theme continues at Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, beach level just beneath the Carousel – with an underwater ROV and a screening of the awesome Whale Fall Video.

Don’t miss this opportunity to play, learn, and celebrate the art of the mechanical.