When the Santa Monica Pier turned off its Ferris wheel's lights in May while the ride underwent a major lighting update, a few fans surely pondered how the spectacular Pacific Wheel could shine even brighter.
Shine brighter it did, once the light switch was again flipped ahead of Memorial Day Weekend, thanks to "higher resolution, greater color depth, and faster 'frames per second' display speed."
All of that fresh tech will be put into stirring service from Friday, July 1 through Monday, July 4 when the Pacific Wheel goes red, white, and blue in honor of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
Look for a variety of patterns incorporating the colors of our flag, as well the flag itself, to grace the side of the Ferris wheel, which boasts 174,000 LED lights.
If you're trying to add up how many different color value combinations the wheel might be capable of, you might be adding for awhile: There are 16,700,000 color value combinations in all, a mighty feather in the cap of the world's only solar-powered Ferris wheel (which, too, is a feather in its cap, of course).
Call it a moving way to honor Independence Day, and a very SoCal way, too, with the Pacific Ocean lending a quiet nighttime backdrop to the bright-bulb'd proceedings on the pier.
The Pacific Wheel's red, white, and blue light show is expected to last each night through the July 4 weekend from sunset — about 8:09 p.m. — through to 12:30 p.m., when Pacific Park closes.
