I had been looking forward to Glow all week and arrived at the Pacific Palisades Park giddy with anticipation. Perhaps, though, I should have taken this overheard comment as a fair warning: "Omigod," said a girl as she passed me by Saturday night, "Nothing is glowing."

The beach will literally glow this weekend in Santa Monica, as the city launches its first-ever light installation / art festival. While it may be true that they got the idea from the Parisian art festival Nuit Blanche, which goes on all night once a year, this is the first all-night, light-based interactive art…