Santa Monica, California
For the Philippine municipality, see Santa Monica, Surigao del NorteSanta 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. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 84,084, 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.
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.
Santa Monica is known for its
left-wing politics, including policies designed to address the needs of renters, consumers, and the homeless. Residents of the city are among the largest contributors in the nation to
Democratic Party candidates. The city was well known for its strict
rent control ordinance, enacted in 1978 and partially overridden by state law in 1999. Santa Monica is sometimes called the "Homeless Capital of the West" due to the presence of the third largest
homeless population in Los Angeles County (after
Downtown Los Angeles and
Hollywood), a large number of whom are teenaged
runaways; satirist
Harry Shearer calls it "The home of the homeless."
Main article: History of Santa Monica, California
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Santa Monica Pier entrance |
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Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, designed by Welton Becket in 1958. Home of the Oscars award ceremony from 1961 to 1968. |
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The Monica, on 2nd Street, remains a popular place to catch an artsy flick. |
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.
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.
Its two hospitals are Saint Johns and the Santa Monica Medical Center. Its cemetery is
Woodlawn Memorial.
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 two 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 twelve-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 4th, 2006, in San Diego. They offer Men's, Women's and a thriving childrens programs.
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.
Founded in
1929 with an enrollment of 153,
Santa Monica College (SMC, informally known as Pico Tech or Harvard-by-the-Sea), a
junior college, now occupies 35 acres (14 ha) and enrolls 30,000 students annually. The two-year college is the leading source of transfers to the
University of California system.
Rolling Stone magazine rated it among the top ten community colleges in the nation in
1998. Notable SMC alumni and dropouts include:
James Dean,
Dustin Hoffman,
Rickie Lee Jones,
Monica Lewinsky,
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and former
Microsoft chief technology officer
Nathan Myhrvold. The college also serves as the location of the studios of 89.9
KCRW, a
National Public Radio affiliate known for its eclectic music programming.
The
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Private high schools in the city include the
Crossroads School,
New Roads School, Lighthouse Christian Academy and Saint Monica's Parochial School.
The
Santa Monica Freeway (Interstate 10) begins in the Santa Monica near the Pacific Ocean and heads east from there. 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 continues all the way across the USA, crossing seven more states, to the Atlantic Ocean at
Jacksonville, Florida. At the eastern edge of Santa Monica, there is a large road sign designating this route as the
Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, but it is doubtful that more of these signs have been erected by the states.
California State Highway 1 (
Lincoln Boulevard/Pacific Coast Highway) passes through Santa Monica on its way from the southern boundary of California to the northern boundary.
California State Route 2 (
Santa Monica Boulevard) begins in Santa Monica and continues northeast across
Los Angeles County, crossing the
San Gabriel Mountains as the
Angeles Crest Highway. Santa Monica is also the western (Pacific) terminus of historic
U.S. Route 66, a road from
Chicago, Illinois, to Los Angeles County.
Route 66 terminates at the
Santa Monica Pier, a location that has served as the setting for numerous television shows, commercials and movies. Close to the eastern boundary of Santa Monica the very long
Sepulveda Boulevard passes on its way from southmost Los Angeles County to the
San Fernando Valley. Also close to the eastern boundary of Santa Monica lies Interstate-405, the
San Diego Freeway, a major north-south route in
Los Angeles County. To summarize, in spite of its relatively small land area, Santa Monica is a critical highway junction and terminus.
Santa Monica is also the home for the
Third Street Promenade, a major outdoor pedestrian oriented shopping district that stretches for four blocks between Wilshire Blvd. and Colorado Blvd.
The City of Santa Monica runs its own award-winning bus service, the
Big Blue Bus, which also serves much of Los Angeles's
Westside 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 all 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 1960's.
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Santa Monica beach and pier |
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).
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Santa Monica Bay coast with the Pier on the right. Note that the bluff is highest at the north end, here exaggerated by the perspective. |
Santa Monica is situated at 34°1'19" North, 118°28'53" West (34.022059, -118.481336).
The city rests on a mostly flat slope that angles down towards Ocean Ave 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 it is 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.
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Palm trees line Ocean Avenue |
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 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 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.
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
census 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 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.
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Tony Alva, skateboarder,
Z-Boys*
Kenneth Anger, film-maker, author
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Sean Astin, film-actor, director, and producer
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Jack Black, actor, musician
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Steve Blum, voice actor
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Elonka Dunin, game-developer and writer
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Dwight Evans, former
Major League Baseball player
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Ed Fallon,
Iowa politician
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Miguel Ferrer, actor
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Bobbi Fiedler, congresswoman
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Bonnie Franklin, actress
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Lynette Fromme, criminal
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Sara Gilbert, actress
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Anjelica Huston, actress
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Tommy Kendall,
NASCAR driver
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Lorenzo Lamas, actor
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Mark Loretta, MLB baseball player
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Lorna Luft, entertainer
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Tobey Maguire, actor
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Teena Marie, singer, songwriter, producer
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Chris Masters, professional wrestler
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Sean Penn, actor
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Robert Redford, motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, model, and philanthropist
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Randy Rhoads, guitarist
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Christina Ricci, actress
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Mike Scott, former MLB baseball player
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Bobby Sherman, singer and actor
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Amber Tamblyn, actress
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Shirley Temple, diplomat and former film child actress
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Robert Trujillo, bassist,
Metallica*
Suzanne Vega, songwriter and singer
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Trifun Zivanovic, figure skater
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Santa Monica Daily Press*
Muscle Beach*
City of Santa Monica*
Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce*
Santa Monica Observer*
Santa Monica Mirror*
Santa Monica Library Photo Archives
