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History
Attractions and cultural resources
The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome 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.
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Timeline
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1996 The O.J. Simpson civil trial begins in Santa Monica, California.
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Encyclopedia
History
Attractions and cultural resources
The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome 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 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.
Santa Monica hosts the annual Santa Monica Film Festival.
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 (for years there was no fencing because vandalism was not yet a large problem). 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.
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 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 schoolsThe 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, 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, locally known as "Pico Tech" 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. The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles is also located in Santa Monica near the Santa Monica Airport, though many are misled to believe the institute is in the City of Los Angeles because of its name.
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, Mount St. Mary's College, Pepperdine University, California State University, Northridge, California State University, Los Angeles, UCLA, USC, West Los Angeles College and West Valley Occupational Center.
TransportationThe 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 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 sea" are imminent, owing 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).
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 km˛ (15.9 mi˛); 21.4 km˛ (8.3 mi˛) of land. Its borders extend three nautical miles (5.6 km) out to sea, and so 19.8 km˛ (7.7 mi˛) 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 are 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 from May to late October, temperatures can reach 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 73.2 °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 north-west 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.
EnvironmentThe 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. Other environmental features include miles of beaches, extensive curbside recycling, farmer’s markets, community gardens, and the city’s bus system.
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 of 2000, there are 84,084 people, 44,497 households, and 16,775 families in the city. The population density is 3,930.4/km˛ (10,178.7/mi˛). There are 47,863 housing units at an average density of 2,237.3/km˛ (5,794.0/mi˛). 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 percentage of residents with graduate degrees.
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.
According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city is $61,423, and the median income for a family is $100,996. 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.
PoliticsIn the state legislature Santa Monica is located in the 23rd Senate District, represented by Democrat Sheila Kuehl, and in the 41st Assembly District, represented by Democrat Julia Brownley. Federally, Santa Monica is located in California's 30th congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D +20 and is represented by Democrat Henry Waxman.
Industry Santa Monica is home to many notable businesses.
Businesses with their headquarters in Santa Monica include; video game companies and studios: Activision, Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, Naughty Dog SCE Santa Monica, Insomniac Games, Experian subsidiary LowerMyBills.com, investment firm Dimensional Fund Advisors, search engine company Business.com, and film / television production company and record label The Playtone Company, headed by actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman.
Major companies with branch offices in Santa Monica include Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Universal, MTV and Edmunds.com.
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 its 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
CrimeSanta Monica passed a measure in 2007 to move marijuana smoking to the bottom of the police priority list.
Gang activityWhile gentrification has transformed the city, some areas of Santa Monica have serious crime problems. The city estimates that there are less than 100 gang members in Santa Monica, although community organizers, such as Oscar De La Torre dispute this claim. 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 Lincoln Blvd). 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.
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, 21, of Culver City was killed.
A couple of hours after the shooting of Sevilla, German tourist Horst Fietze was killed by a Culver City gang member.
Several days later Juan Martin Campos, age 23, a Santa Monica City employer and former gang member was shot and killed. Police believe this was a retaliatory killing in response to the death of Omar Sevilla.
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.
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. They then ran outside to a getaway vehicle driven by a third Culver City gang member, who is now also in custody. 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.
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.
Sister cities
Notable residents
- Bill Eagles,famous director
- Jay Adams, famous skateboarder
- Tony Alva, famous skateboarder
- Tom Anderson, founder of MySpace
- Kenneth Anger, film-maker, author
- Dave Markey, film-maker, musician
- Sean Astin, film-actor, director, and producer
- Steven Blum, voice actor
- Ryan Braun, Major League Baseball player, Milwaukee Brewers
- Earl Cole, winner, Sole Survivor of
- Rivers Cuomo, Weezer front man
- Larry David, Comedian.
- Scott Davis, former tennis player
- Alexis Denisof, actor
- Bob Dylan, Musician
- 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 Gehry, architect
- Sara Gilbert, actress
- Helen Golay, convicted murderess
- Adam Goldberg, actor
- Jennifer Grant, actress, writer
- Helen K. Garber, photographer
- Alyson Hannigan, actress
- Dan Harrington, poker player
- Horace Heidt, '40s bandleader
- Christy Hemme,Professional wrestler for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- Anjelica Huston, actress
- Tommy Kendall, NASCAR driver
- Cory Kennedy, It -girl, fashion model
- Apollonia Kotero, actress, model, dancer, and singer
- John La Gatta, fine artist and Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame recipient in 1984
- Lorenzo Lamas, actor
- Rebecca Perry, Composer/Arranger
- Tim Leary, former MLB player
- Jun Hee Lee, Actor
- 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 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
- Stacy Peralta, famous skateboarder, film maker
- Robert Redford, motion picture actor, director, producer, businessman, model, and philanthropist
- Randy Rhoads, guitarist
- Christina Ricci, actress
- Ashley Roberts, singer
- Nicole Scherzinger, singer
- Mike Scott, former MLB player
- Bobby Sherman, singer and actor
- Neil Strauss, writer, journalist
- Gloria Stuart, actress, artist
- Jessica Sutta, singer
- Amber Tamblyn, actress
- Shirley Temple, diplomat and former film child actress
- Melody Thornton, singer
- Robert Trujillo, musician
- Suzanne Vega, songwriter and singer
- Wolfgang Van Halen, rock bassist, son of Eddie Van Halen and nephew of Alex Van Halen
- Owen Wilson, actor (now in Malibu)
- Luke Wilson, actor
- Syrus Yarbrough, model and reality TV star of The Real World
- Trifun Zivanovic, figure skater
- Cole and Dylan Sprouse, actors
- Rick Monday, MLB player, Dodger radio announcer
Filming location and settingThe 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.
Several scenes of Entourage have been filmed at Urth Cafe on Main Street.
The movie Seventeen was shot at Santa Monica High School.
The television series Pacific Blue was set in Santa Monica.
The 1989 movie Heathers used Santa Monica's John Adams Middle School for many exterior shots.
The television series, Private Practice starring Kate Walsh is situated at Santa Monica.
Forrest Gump ended his famous run across america at the Santa Monica Pier.
In literatureRaymond Chandler's most famous character, private detective Philip Marlowe, frequently has a portion of his adventures in a place called "Bay City", which is modeled on depression-era Santa Monica. In Marlowe's world, Bay City is "a wide-open town", where gambling and other crimes thrive due to a massively corrupt and ineffective police force.
The setting on a certain portion of Mitch Albom's book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, has similarities to the Pacific Pier located along the Santa Monica beach. In the book, it is named Ruby Pier. Mitch Albom even acknowledged the Pacific Pier for its cooperation.
In music
The name of the band Linkin Park is a homage to Santa Monica's former Lincoln Park which was near a recording studio they were using. (The park has since been renamed "Reed Park" in honor of longtime city councilmember Christine Reed.)
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
External links
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