| Revision as of 04:14, 17 March 2007 editJordan Brown (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users2,449 edits MySpace is no longer in Santa Monica. Its former location there is mentioned in the Businesses section, but its location is not an attraction →Attractions and cultural resources← Previous edit | Revision as of 08:46, 18 March 2007 edit undoDreamGuy (talk | contribs)33,601 edits →Notable people from Santa Monica: this says NOTABLE people, not Misplaced Pages editors with articles and massive egosNext edit → | ||
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Revision as of 08:46, 18 March 2007
Place in California, United States| Santa Monica, California | |
|---|---|
 Downtown Santa Monica as seen from the Santa Monica Pier | |
| Nickname: SaMo | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles |
| Incorporated | November 30, 1886 |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Robert Holbrook |
| • City Council | Bobby Shriver Ken Genser Kevin McKeown Herb Katz Pam O'Connor Richard Bloom |
| Population | |
| • Total | 96,500 |
| U.S. Census, 2005 | |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (PST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
| Website | www.santa-monica.org |
Santa Monica is a coastal city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. It borders Santa Monica Bay (part of the Pacific Ocean) on the west, Pacific Palisades and Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles and Mar Vista on the east, and Venice on the south. Except for the Pacific Ocean to its west, it is a municipality completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles. As of the 2005 census, the city had a population of 96,500, but an early 2006 estimate has the population at 103,255. Santa Monica is named for Saint Monica of Hippo because the area on which the city is now located was first visited by Spaniards on her feast day. In the skateboard and surfing communities Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood and adjacent parts of Venice are sometimes called Dogtown. Santa Monica is sometimes referred to with the colloquial abbreviation "SaMo," a precursor to similar terms such as NoHo and WeHo.
Because of its agreeable weather, Santa Monica had become a famed resort town by the early 20th century. The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its downtown core, significant job growth, and increased tourism.
History
Main article: History of Santa Monica, California
Attractions and cultural resources
The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome (carousel) is a National Historic Landmark. It sits on the Santa Monica Pier, which was built in 1909. The La Monica Ballroom on the pier was once the largest ballroom in the US, and the source for many New Year's Eve national network broadcasts. The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was an important music venue for several decades and hosted the Academy Awards in the 1960s. McCabe's Guitar Shop is still a leading acoustic performance space, as well as retail outlet. Bergamot Station is a city-owned art gallery compound that includes the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The city is also home to the Santa Monica Heritage Museum.
Santa Monica is also the home for the Third Street Promenade, a major outdoor pedestrian oriented shopping district that stretches for three blocks between Wilshire Blvd. and Broadway Blvd.
The oldest theater in the city is the 1912 Majestic, also known as the Mayfair Theatre, closed since the 1994 Northridge earthquake. The Aero Theater (now operated by the American Cinematheque) and Criterion Theater were built in the 1930s and still show movies. The Santa Monica Promenade alone supports more than a dozen movie screens.
Palisades Park stretches out on the crumbling bluffs overlooking the Pacific and is a favorite walking area to view the ocean. It features a camera obscura. For 48 years local churches and the Police Association assembled a 12-tableau story of Christmas in Palisades Park. The sheds were open on the street side, protected by chain-link fencing. Inside were dioramas of the Holy Family made from store mannequins; critics argued that many of them did not resemble real people, were damaged, or were otherwise inappropriate. In 2001 the city decided to temporarily end the practice of allowing private groups to place displays in city parks, but in 2004 the Christmas displays returned.
Santa Monica is known for having a large population of British and Irish expatriates, which accounts for the numerous pubs in the city. Some bars are as likely to show English Premiership games as they are American football games.
Natives and tourists alike have enjoyed the Santa Monica Rugby Club since 1972. The club has been very successful since its conception, most recently winning back-to-back national championships in 2005 and 2006. Santa Monica defeated the Boston Irish Wolfhounds 57-19 in the Division 1 final, convincingly claiming its second consecutive American title on June 4, 2006, in San Diego. They offer Men's, Women's and a thriving children's programs. The club recently joined the Rugby Super League.
Every fall the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce hosts The Taste of Santa Monica on the Santa Monica Pier. Visitors can sample food and drink from Santa Monica restaurants.
Santa Monica is an international mecca for skateboarding culture.
Its two hospitals are Saint Johns and the Santa Monica Medical Center. Its cemetery is Woodlawn Memorial.
Education
Elementary and Secondary
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Private high schools in the city include the Carlthorp School, Crossroads School, New Roads School, Concord High School, Pacifica Christian High, Lighthouse Christian Academy and Saint Monica Catholic High School.
Post-Secondary
Santa Monica College (SMC, informally known as Pico Tech, Harvard-by-the-Sea or UC Santa Monica), a junior college founded in 1929 many of whose graduates transfer to the University of California system, occupies 35 acres (14 ha) and enrolls 30,000 students annually. The Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, associated with the RAND Corporation, is the U.S.'s largest producers of public policy PhDs. The University of Santa Monica is a small institution granting MA degrees in Clinical and Spiritual Psychology.
Universities and colleges within a 15-mile radius from Santa Monica include Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles Valley College, Loyola Marymount University, Pepperdine University, West Los Angeles College, UCLA and West Valley Occupational Center.
Transportation
The Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) begins in Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean and heads east. The Santa Monica Freeway between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles has the distinction of being one of the busiest highways in all of North America. After traversing Los Angeles County, I-10 crosses seven more states, terminating at Jacksonville, Florida. In Santa Monica, there is a road sign designating this route as the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. California State Route 2 (Santa Monica Boulevard) begins in Santa Monica, barely grazing California State Highway 1 at Lincoln Boulevard, and continues northeast across Los Angeles County, through the Angeles National Forest, crossing the San Gabriel Mountains as the Angeles Crest Highway, ending in Wrightwood. Santa Monica is also the western (Pacific) terminus of historic U.S. Route 66. Close to the eastern boundary of Santa Monica, Sepulveda Boulevard reaches from Long Beach at the south, to the northern end of the San Fernando Valley. East of Santa Monica is Interstate 405, the San Diego Freeway, a major north-south route in Los Angeles and Orange Counties.
The City of Santa Monica runs its own bus service, the Big Blue Bus, which also serves much of West Los Angeles and UCLA. A Big Blue Bus was featured prominently in the motion picture Speed.
The city is also served by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's bus lines. Metro also complements Big Blue service, as when Big Blue routes are not operational overnight, Metro buses make many Big Blue Bus stops, in addition to MTA stops. It currently has no rail service but Metro is working on bringing light rail to Santa Monica in the form of the Exposition Line. The Red Line subway is also in the midst of an extension to Santa Monica, dubbed "subway to the sea". In the past, Santa Monica had rail service operated by the Pacific Electric Railway, until it was dismantled in the 1960s.
The city owns and operates a general aviation airport, Santa Monica Airport, which has been the site of several important aviation achievements. Passenger flights are available at Los Angeles International Airport just to the south of Santa Monica via Sepulveda Boulevard.
Like other cities in Los Angeles County, Santa Monica is dependent upon the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles for international ship cargo. In the 1890s, Santa Monica was once in competition with Wilmington, Calif., and San Pedro for recognition as the "Port of Los Angeles" (see History of Santa Monica, California).
Geography
Santa Monica is situated at 34°1'19" North, 118°28'53" West (34.022059, -118.481336)Template:GR.
The city rests on a mostly flat slope that angles down towards Ocean Aveue and towards the south. Some beautiful high bluffs separate the city from the beaches.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 41.2 km² (15.9 mi²); 21.4 km² (8.3 mi²) of land. Its borders extend three nautical miles (5.6 km) out to sea, and so 19.8 km² (7.7 mi²) of it is water for a total area that is 48.08% water.
Weather
Santa Monica enjoys an average of 325 days of sunshine a year. Because of its location, nestled on a vast open bay, Santa Monica Bay, morning fog and haze is a common phenomenon in May, June and early July (caused by ocean temperature variations and currents). Locals have a particular terminology for this phenomenon: the "May Gray" and the "June Gloom". Overcast skies are common for June mornings, but usually the strong sun burns the fog off by noon. Nonetheless, it will sometimes stay cloudy and cool all day during June, even as other parts of the Los Angeles area will enjoy sunny skies and warmer temperatures. At times, the sun shines east of 20th St, while the beach area is overcast.
As a general rule, the beach temperature is from 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 5.5 degrees Celsius) cooler than it is inland. A typical spring day (Mid-April) is sunny, pleasant and about 68 °F (20 °C). In the summer, which stretches basically from May to late October, temperatures can reach to the mid-80's Fahrenheit (about 30 °C) at the beach. The average temperature for August is 71 °F (21 °C). September is the warmest month of the year in Santa Monica, with an average of 73 °F (22 °C). It is also in September that high temperature records tend to be broken. In early September 2004, temperatures of 92 °F to 98 °F (33 °C to 37 °C) were recorded.
In early November, it is about 68 °F (20 °C). In late January, temperatures are around 63 °F (17 °C). It is winter, however, when the hot, dry winds of the Santa Anas are most common. In mid-December 2004, temperatures soared to 84 °F (28 °C) in Santa Monica, for a few straight days, with perfectly sunny skies.
The rainy season is from late October through late March. Winter storms usually approach from the northwest and pass quickly through the Southland. There is very little rain during the rest of the year.
Santa Monica usually enjoys a cool breeze blowing in from the ocean, keeping the air fresh and clean. Therefore, smog is less a problem for Santa Monica than elsewhere around Los Angeles. However, in the autumn months of September through November, the Santa Ana winds will sometimes blow from the east, bringing smoggy inland air to the beaches.
Demographics
Santa Monica's population has grown from 417 in 1880 to 84,084 in 2000. For population statistics by decade, see History of Santa Monica, California.
As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 84,084 people, 44,497 households, and 16,775 families in the city. The population density is 3,930.4/km² (10,178.7/mi²). There are 47,863 housing units at an average density of 2,237.3/km² (5,794.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 78.29% White, 7.25% Asian, 3.78% African American, 0.47% Native American, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 5.97% from other races, and 4.13% from two or more races. 13.44% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race. There are 44,497 households, out of which 15.8% have children under the age of 18, 27.5% are married couples living together, 7.5% have a female householder with no husband present, and 62.3% are non-families. 51.2% of all households are made up of individuals and 10.6% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 1.83 and the average family size is 2.80.
The city of Santa Monica is consistently among the most educated cities in the United States, as measured by the number of residents with graduate degrees, although this status is declining as gentrification continues.
The population is diverse in age, with 14.6% under 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 40.1% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% 65 years or older. The median age is 39 years. For every 100 females, there are 93.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $50,714, and the median income for a family is $75,989. Males have a median income of $55,689 versus $42,948 for females. The per capita income for the city is $42,874. 10.4% of the population and 5.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 9.9% of those under the age of 18 and 10.2% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
Businesses
Santa Monica is home to many notable business.
Former Santa Monica businesses include Douglas Aircraft (now merged with Boeing) and MySpace (now headquartered in Beverly Hills).
Current businesses headquartered in Santa Monica include video game companiesActivision and Naughty Dog, Experian subsidiary LowerMyBills.com, and search engine company Business.com.
Major companies with branch offices in Santa Monica include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Universal, and MTV.
Gang activity
Some areas of Santa Monica have serious crime problems. A well-documented, yet small scale, gang war has been going on for years between Black and Latino gangs in the Pico neighborhood, particularly the portion of the area running roughly from 14th Street to just east of Cloverfield, and between Pico Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard. This war has sporadically spilled into the halls of Santa Monica High School and impacts daily life for students at Olympic High School (located at the corner of Lincoln and Ocean Park). This feud has claimed dozens of lives over more than two decades. The main gangs involved are the Graveyard Crips a small black gang with about 20 members, and Santa Monica 17th St, a larger Latino gang. Both of these gangs are minuscule compared to the much larger gangs in Los Angeles. Some estimates put the total number of gang members in Santa Monica around 100, but their impact is still felt in many communities.
Periodically the local Santa Monica gangs have feuded with Culver City and Venice street gangs. In October of 1998, alleged gang member Omar Sevilla, 22, of Culver City was killed. Several days later one Juan Martin Campos, age 28, a Santa Monica City employee was shot and killed. Police believe this was a retaliatory killing in response to the death of Omar Sevilla.
In 1998, five shooting deaths occurred in a two week period culminating in a double homicide in the Westside Clothing store on Lincoln Boulevard. During the incident, 15 shots were fired and two were killed, while others escaped with injuries. Compared to the gang problems of the greater Los Angeles area, however, Santa Monica's are relatively small.
Notable people from Santa Monica
- Jay Adams, famous skateboarder
- Ben Affleck, actor with wife Jennifer Garner and daughter Violet Affleck
- Tony Alva, famous skateboarder
- Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace
- Kenneth Anger, film-maker, author
- Sean Astin, film-actor, director, and producer
- Steve Blum, voice actor
- Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
- Scott Davis, former tennis player
- Dwight Evans, former Major League Baseball player
- Ed Fallon, Iowa politician
- Miguel Ferrer, actor
- Bobbi Fiedler, congresswoman
- Bonnie Franklin, actress
- Lynette Fromme, criminal
- Sara Gilbert, actress
- Adam Goldberg, actor
- Helen K. Garber, photographer
- Anjelica Huston, actress
- Tommy Kendall, NASCAR driver
- Apollonia Kotero, actress, model, dancer, and singer
- Lorenzo Lamas, actor
- Tim Leary, former MLB baseball player
- Mark Loretta, Boston Red Sox second baseman
- Lorna Luft, entertainer
- Tobey Maguire, actor
- Teena Marie, singer, songwriter, producer
- Chris Masters, professional wrestler
- Gunnar Nelson, musician
- Grant Nordman, Canadian politician
- Stacy Peralta, famous skateboarder, film maker
- Robert Redford, motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, model, and philanthropist
- Randy Rhoads, guitarist
- Christina Ricci, actress
- Mike Scott, former MLB baseball player
- Bobby Sherman, singer and actor
- Gloria Stuart, actress, artist
- Amber Tamblyn, actress
- Shirley Temple, diplomat and former film child actress
- Robert Trujillo, musician
- Suzanne Vega, songwriter and singer
- Syrus Yarbrough, model and reality TV star of The Real World
- Trifun Zivanovic, figure skater
- Jeanne Mas, singer, actress
Trivia
The U.S. sitcom Three's Company was set in Santa Monica.
The 1963 U.S. mega-comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World included several scenes shot in Santa Monica, including those along California Incline, which led to the Big W.
The modern rock band Theory of a Deadman's song titled "Santa Monica", is a first-person account about a girl leaving her significant other to start a new life in Santa Monica.
The band Everclear released a song titled "Santa Monica" in 1995, which became their first mainstream hit.
The computer game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines starts the player in the city of Santa Monica.
The band Savage Garden also released a song titled "Santa Monica" off their #3 US album Savage Garden (1997).
Santa Monica Boulevard travels through the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood and figures prominently in "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow.
The ska/reggae band, Bedouin Soundclash has a song entitled "Santa Monica".
See also
- Santa Monica Daily Press
- Muscle Beach
- Santa Monica Airport ex Clover Field
- Santa Monica neighborhoods
External links
- City of Santa Monica
- Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce
- Santa Monica Observer
- Santa Monica Mirror
- Santa Monica Library Photo Archives
- Los Angeles Times profile of northern Santa Monica
- Santa Monica News and Blogs Home
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