Santa Monica, California

Santa Monica is a coastal city located in Los Angeles County, California, USA, by the Pacific Ocean, south of Pacific Palisades and Brentwood, west of Westwood, Los Angeles, and north of Venice. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 84,084. Santa Monica is named for Saint Monica of Hippo, the patron saint of wives and abuse victims. 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 was a famed resort town in the early 20th century. Now, the city has been subsumed into the welter of towns in the greater Los Angeles area, but is still considered a pleasant place to live. Santa Monica has experienced a tremendous economic boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its downtown core, significant job growth, and increased tourism.

Santa Monica is famous for its progressive politics, including local policies that favor renters, consumers, and homeless persons. Residents of the city are among the largest contributors in the nation to Democratic Party candidates. Because of its political leanings the city has been jocularly labeled The People's Republic of Santa Monica. The city was well-known for its strict rent control ordinance, which had been enacted in 1978 and was partially-overriden by state law in 1999. Santa Monica is sometimes called the "Homeless Capital of the West" due to its tight housing market and homeless problem; satirist Harry Shearer calls it "The home of the homeless."

Contents

1 History 2 Attractions and cultural resources 3 Education 4 Transportation 5 Geography 6 Weather 7 Demographics 8 Notable people born in Santa Monica 9 External links

History

Main article: History of Santa Monica, California

Attractions and cultural resources

The Santa Monica Looff Hippodrome (AKA carousel) is a National Historic Landmark. It sits on the world-famous Santa Monica Pier first 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. The Cheetah was a famous nightclub. Bergamot Station is a city-owned art gallery compound which includes the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The city is also home to the Santa Monica Heritage Museum.

Santa Monica has been the site of many notable births and deaths due to its hospitals, St. Johns Hospital and the Santa Monica Medical Center. The municipal cemetery in Santa Monica is Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.

The oldest theater in the city is the 1912 Majestic, aka 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 sits 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-stop, drive-through story of Christmas along the Palisades Park. The sheds were open to the street side, covered in chain link fencing. Inside were dioramas of the Holy Family made from donated store mannequins, many with inappropriately fashionable features or missing limbs thinly disguised by clothing or palm fronds. 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. Bars are as likely to show English Premiership games as they are American football games.

Education

Founded in 1929 with an enrollment of 153, Santa Monica College (SMC, informally known as Pico Tech or Harvard-by-the-Sea) now occupies 35 acres (142,000 m²) and enrolls 25,000 students annually. The 2-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, Arnold Schwarzenegger,and former Microsoft chief technology officer Nathan Myhrvold. It is the host for KCRW, an innovative and popular National Public Radio affiliate.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Santa Monica High School, informally known as Samohi, changed location several times in its early years before settling into its present campus. Until the 1980s, students from Malibu were required to bus into Santa Monica for grades 10-12. Notable alumni include: Gloria Stuart, Glenn Ford, John Ehrlichman, dancer Gene Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, Rob Lowe, Robert Downey Jr., Art Alexakis, Dean Cain, Maya Rudolph, and Carson Daly. The site was used as a location for the movie Rebel Without a Cause.

Private schools in the city include the Crossroads School.

Transportation

Besides the Santa Monica Freeway, the city also has a large street system. California State Highway 1 (Lincoln Boulevard/Pacific Coast Highway) passes through the city and California State Highway 2 (Santa Monica Boulevard) begins in Santa Monica. Bicycling is popular.

The City of Santa Monica runs its own bus line, the Big Blue Bus, which also serves much of the Westside and UCLA. It is generally considered to be one of the best run bus lines in California, as evidenced by the fact that it did not raise its regular fare above 50 cents until 2002. In contrast, most public bus lines in California were charging fares of a dollar or higher well before the year 2000.

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. It currently has no rail service but Metro is currently working on bringing light rail to Santa Monica in the form of the Exposition Line.

The city has a general aviation airport, Santa Monica Airport, the site of several aviation achievements. Passenger flights are available at Los Angeles International Airport to the south.

Like all Los Angeles County cities, Santa Monica is dependent upon the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles for international cargo. In the 1890s, Santa Monica had been in competition with Wilmington for recognition as the "Port of Los Angeles" (see History of Santa Monica, California).

Geography

Santa Monica is located at 34°1'19" North, 118°28'53" West (34.022059, -118.481336)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.2 km² (15.9 mi²). 21.4 km² (8.3 mi²) of it is land. The city borders extend three miles (5 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 opened bay (Santa Monica Bay), morning fog and haze is a common phenomenon in the months of 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 well-known "June Gloom". Overcast skies are common for June mornings, but usually the strong sun burns it off by noon. Nonetheless, it will sometimes stay cloudy and cool all day during the month of June as other parts of the Los Angeles area will enjoy sunny skies and warmer temperatures. As a general rule, the temperature is from 5 to 10 Fahrenheit (3 to 5.5 Celsius) cooler than it is inland. A typical spring day (Mid-April) is sunny, pleasant and about 68F (20C). In the summer, which stretches basically from May to late October, temperatures can reach up to the mid-80's (28-30C) at the beach. The average temperature for August is 71F (21C). September is the warmest month of the year in Santa Monica, with an average of 73F (22C). It is also in September that records tend to be broken. In early September 2004, temperatures of 92F to 98F (33C to 37C) were recorded.

In early November, it is about 68F (20C). In late January, temperatures are around 63F (17C). It is winter, however, when the hot, dry winds of the Santa Anas are most common. In Mid-December 2004, temperatures soared to 84F (28C) 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 LA area. There is very little rain during the rest of the year, especially the summer months.

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 residents 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. Those dry, hot Santa Anas also make conditions ripe for the devastating brush fires for which Los Angeles is known.

Demographics

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 residing 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, 3.78% African American, 0.47% Native American, 7.25% Asian, 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 living with them, 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.

In the city the population is spread out with 14.6% under the age of 18, 6.1% from 18 to 24, 40.1% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.4% who are 65 years of age 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.

Notable people born in Santa Monica

• Dwight Evans
• Miguel Ferrer
• Bonnie Franklin
• Anjelica Huston
• Lorenzo Lamas
• Lorna Luft
• Christina Ricci
• Bobby Sherman
• Shirley Temple
• Suzanne Vega
• Sara Gilbert
• Randy Rhoads

External links

• City of Santa Monica (http://www.santa-monica.org/)
• Santa Monica Mirror (http://www.smmirror.com/)
• Santa Monica Daily Press (http://www.smdp.com/)

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