Information about Santa Monica, Ca

Santa Monica, California
Downtown Santa Monica as seen from the Santa Monica Pier Downtown Santa Monica as seen from the Santa Monica Pier
Nickname: SaMo, The Peoples Republic of Santa Monica
Location of Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California Location of Santa Monica in Los Angeles County, California
Coordinates:
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
Area
- City	15.9 sq mi (41.2 km)
- Land	8.3 sq mi (21.4 km)
- Water	7.7 sq mi (19.8 km)
Elevation	105 ft (32 m)
Population (2006)
- City	88,050
- Density	10,178.7/sq mi (3,930.4/km)
	U.S. Census Bureau, 2006
Time zone	PST (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP codes	90401-90411
Area code(s)	310
FIPS code	06-70000
GNIS feature ID	1652792
Website: www.santa-monica.org

Santa Monica is a coastal city in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. Situated on Santa Monica Bay of the Pacific Ocean, it is surrounded by the City of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades and Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles and Mar Vista on the east, and Venice on the south.

The Census Bureau 2006 population estimate for Santa Monica is 88,050, while a 2007 estimate from the California State Department of Finance places the population at 91,124 ^[1][2]. 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 with 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 of the Third Street Promenade, a major outdoor pedestrian-oriented shopping district that stretches for three blocks between Wilshire Blvd. and Broadway Blvd. Third Street has been closed for those three blocks and converted to a pedestrians-only stretch to allow people to congregate, shop and enjoy street performers.

The oldest movie theater in the city is the Majestic. Also known as the Mayfair Theatre, the theater which opened in 1912 has been 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 along 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 drinks from Santa Monica restaurants.

Santa Monica is an international mecca for skateboarding culture.

Santa Monica has two hospitals: Saint John's Health Center and Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center. Its cemetery is Woodlawn Memorial.

Education

Elementary and secondary schools

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Private schools in the city include the Crossroads School, New Roads School, Concord High School, Pacifica Christian High[1], St. Anne Catholic School, Lighthouse Christian Academy and Saint Monica Catholic High School. Notable primary schools include the Carlthorp School and Santa Monica Montessori School.

Post-secondary

Santa Monica College (SMC, informally known as "Pico Tech," "Harvard-by-the-Sea" or "UC Santa Monica") is a junior college founded in 1929. Many SMC graduates transfer to the University of California system. It occupies 35 acres (14 hectares) and enrolls 30,000 students annually. The Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School, associated with the RAND Corporation, is the U.S.'s largest producer of public policy Ph.D.s.

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, UCLA, West Los Angeles College 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. State Route 2 (Santa Monica Boulevard) begins in Santa Monica, barely grazing State Route 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. Since the mid-1980s, various proposals have been made to extend the Red Line subway to Santa Monica under Wilshire Boulevard. However, to this day, no plans to complete the "subway to the see" are imminent, due to the difficulty of funding the estimated $5 billion project. 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. Commercial flights are available for residents at Los Angeles International Airport, a few miles south of Santa Monica.

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)^GR1.

The city rests on a mostly flat slope that angles down towards Ocean Avenue and towards the south. High bluffs separate the north side of 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 the vast and open 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.

Environment

The city is well known as one of the leading sustainable cities in all of the US. Three of every four of the city’s public works vehicles run on alternative fuel, making it among the largest such fleets in the country. All public buildings use renewable energy. In the last 15 years, the city has cut greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 10 per cent, a feat in car-crazy Southern California. City officials and residents have made the ongoing cleanup of the Santa Monica Bay a priority – an urban runoff facility catches 3.5 million gallons of water each week that would otherwise flow into the bay. Add in the miles of beaches, extensive curbside recycling, farmer’s markets, community gardens, the city’s nimble bus system and Santa Monica is clearly more than just another bathing beauty. [2] [3]

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 census^GR2 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.

Industry

Santa Monica is home to many notable businesses.

Businesses with their headquarters in Santa Monica include; video game companies Activision, Hydrogen Whiskey Studios and Naughty Dog, Experian subsidiary LowerMyBills.com, investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, and search engine company Business.com. Major companies with branch offices in Santa Monica include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Universal, and MTV. The Design Center California for Volkswagen is located at what once was the Museum Of Flying at the Santa Monica Airport. The DCC moved to it's present location from Simi Valley in 2006. Volkswagen's only styling studio in North America has been responsible for many notable automotive designs, including The New Beetle & The Audi Road Jet concept seen at the Detroit Car Show. The offices for the Comedy Central show South Park are located in Santa Monica.

Former Santa Monica businesses include Douglas Aircraft (now merged with Boeing) and MySpace (now headquartered in Beverly Hills). Supermarine, now Atlantic Aviation at the Santa Monica airport

Crime

Santa Monica passed a measure in 2007 to move marijuana smoking to the bottom of the police priority list.

Gang activity

While gentrification has transformed the city, some areas of Santa Monica have serious crime problems. The city estimates that there are less than 50 gang members in Santa Monica, although community organizers, such as Oscar De La Torre dispute this claim.[4] Gang activity has been prevalent for decades 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 Ave. This war has sporadically spilled into the halls of Santa Monica High School and impacts daily life for students at Olympic High School (at the corner of Ocean Park Blvd and 7th Street). These various feuds have claimed dozens of lives over more than two decades. While there are gangs in the Pico neighborhood: Graveyard gangsta crip trays, and the Santa Monica 17th St, and Santa Monica 13 Latino gangs, the grave yard gangster crips and santa monica 17 have been rivals for years.[5]

Culver/Pico feud

One of the most violent feuds was between Latino Santa Monica gangs and the rival Culver City 13 gang. In 1998, five shooting deaths occurred in a two week period between these two gangs.

In October of 1998, alleged Culver City 13 gang member Omar Sevilla, 22, of Culver City was killed.[6]

A couple of hours after the shooting of Sevilla, German tourist Horst Fietze[7] was killed by a Culver City gang member.

Several days later Juan Martin Campos, age 28, a Santa Monica City employee and former gang member was shot and killed. Police believe this was a retaliatory killing in response to the death of Omar Sevilla. [8]

Less than twenty-four hours later, Javier Cruz was wounded outside his home on 17th and Michigan, a violence riddled pocket of the Pico area.[9]

One of the most eye opening events was the double homicide in the Westside Clothing store on Lincoln Boulevard. During the incident, Culver City gang members David "Puppet" Robles and Jesse "Psycho" Garcia entered the store masked and began opening fire, killing Anthony and Michael Juarez. [10] They then ran outside to a getaway vehicle driven by a third Culver City gang member, who is now also in custody.[11] The clothing store was believed to be a local hang out for Santa Monica gang members. The dead included two men from Northern California who had merely been visiting the store's owner, their cousin, to see if they could open a similar store in their area. Police say the incident was in retaliation for a shooting committed by the Santa Monica 13 gang days before the Juarez brothers were gunned down. [12]

Aside from the rivalry with the Culver City gang, Black and Latino Pico gang members also feud with the Venice and West Los Angeles gangs. The main rivals in these regions include Venice 13, and Venice Shoreline Crips gangs located in the Oakwood area of Venice, CA. The Sotel 13 gang located in West Los Angeles has long been the main rival of Santa Monica's Latino gangs.

Notable residents

• Nicole Scherzinger, singer
• Melody Thornton, singer
• Ashley Roberts, singer
• Jessica Sutta, singer
• Jay Adams, famous skateboarder
• Tony Alva, famous skateboarder
• Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace
• Kenneth Anger, film-maker, author
• Sean Astin, film-actor, director, and producer
• Steven Blum, voice actor
• Earl Cole, winner, Sole Survivor of
• Scott Davis, former tennis player
• Elonka Dunin, American game developer
• Dwight Evans, former Major League Baseball player
• Shelley Fabares, actress
• Ed Fallon, Iowa politician
• Miguel Ferrer, actor
• Bobbi Fiedler, congresswoman
• Bonnie Franklin, actress
• Lynette Fromme, criminal
• John Frusciante, musician, guitarist Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Frank O. Gehry, architect
• Sara Gilbert, actress
• Adam Goldberg, actor
• Jennifer Grant, actress, writer
• Helen K. Garber, photographer
• Horace Heidt, '40s bandleader
• Anjelica Huston, actress
• Tommy Kendall, NASCAR driver
• Cory Kennedy, It -girl, fashion model
• Apollonia Kotero, actress, model, dancer, and singer
• Lorenzo Lamas, actor
• Tim Leary, former MLB baseball player
• June Lockhart, actress
• Mark Loretta, Houston Astros second baseman
• Lorna Luft, entertainer
• Tobey Maguire, actor
• Stephen Malkmus, musician
• Teena Marie, singer, songwriter, producer
• Kevin Millar, MLB baseball player
• Chris Masters, professional wrestler
• John Nash, Nobel prize, arrested when lived here, subject of A Beautiful Mind
• Gunnar Nelson, musician
• Grant Nordman, Canadian politician
• Neil Peart, drummer, lyricist, novelist (Rush)
• 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
• Owen Wilson, actor
• Syrus Yarbrough, model and reality TV star of The Real World
• Trifun Zivanovic, figure skater

Filming location and setting

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 television series, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, had one of its major sets at the intersection of Stewart and Olympic Blvd, in Santa Monica.

In music

The name of the band Linkin Park is a homage to Santa Monica's Lincoln Park.

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 band Savage Garden also released a song titled "Santa Monica" off their #3 US album Savage Garden (1997).

The ska/reggae band, Bedouin Soundclash has a song entitled "Santa Monica".

One of the few songs that musical satirist Tom Lehrer has recorded since the 1970s is a tribute to the holidays of the Jewish calendar entitled "I'm Spending Hanukkah in Santa Monica".

See also

• Santa Monica Daily Press
• Santa Monica Observer Newspaper
• Muscle Beach
• Santa Monica Airport ex Clover Field
• Santa Monica neighborhoods

References

External links

• City of Santa Monica
• Santa Monica Observer Newspaper
• Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau
• Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce
• Santa Monica Little League
• Santa Monica Observer
• Santa Monica Mirror
• http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/printedition/la-re-guide21may21,1,7149458.story Los Angeles Times profile of northern Santa Monica
• * Maps and aerial photos for Coordinates:
• Maps from , Google Maps, Live Search Maps, Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest
• Topographic maps from TopoZone or TerraServer-USA

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