Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and Venice on the southeast.
Because of its agreeable climate, 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.
Santa Monica has three shopping districts, Montana Avenue on the north side of the city, the Downtown District in the city's core, and Main Street on the south end of the city. Each of these districts has its own unique feel and personality. Montana Avenue is a stretch of boutique stores, restaurants, and small offices that generally features more upscale shopping. The Main Street district offers an eclectic mix of clothing, restaurants, and other specialty retail.
The Downtown District is the home of the Third Street Promenade, a major outdoor pedestrian-only shopping district that stretches for three blocks between Wilshire Blvd. and Broadway (not the same Broadway in downtown and south Los Angeles). Third Street is closed to vehicles for those three blocks to allow people to stroll, congregate, shop and enjoy street performers. Santa Monica Place, the indoor mall designed by Frank Gehry, is located at the south end of the Promenade. After a period of redevelopment, the mall reopened in the fall of 2010 as a modern shopping-entertainment complex with more outdoor space. Palisades Park stretches out along the crumbling bluffs overlooki
ng 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.
The Santa Monica Steps, a long, steep staircase that leads from north of San Vicente down into Santa Monica Canyon, is a popular spot for all-natural outdoor workouts. Some area residents have complained that the stairs have become too popular, and attract too many exercisers to the wealthy neighborhood of multimillion-dollar properties.
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. Other annual events include the Business and Consumer Expo, Sustainable Quality Awards, Santa Monica Cares Health and Wellness Festival, and the State of the City.
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%. 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.
Cityscape
Demographics
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1880 | 417 | | |
| 1890 | 1,580 | 278.9% | |
| 1900 | 3,057 | 93.5% | |
| 1910 | 7,847 | 156.7% | |
| 1920 | 15,252 | 94.4% | |
| 1930 | 37,146 | 143.5% | |
| 1940 | 53,500 | 44.0% | |
| 1950 | 71,595 | 33.8% | |
| 1960 | 83,249 | 16.3% | |
| 1970 | 88,289 | 6.1% | |
| 1980 | 88,314 | 0% | |
| 1990 | 86,905 | −1.6% | |
| 2000 | 84,084 | −3.2% | |
| Est. 2009 | 87,563 | 4.1% | |
| * U.S. Decennial Census | |||
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 10,178.7 inhabitants per square mile (3,930.4/km²). There are 47,863 housing units at an average density of 5,794.0 per square mile (2,237.3/km²). 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, with 23.8 percent of all residents holding 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 2009 estimate, the median income for a household in the city is $71,095, and the median income for a family is $109,410 . 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.
Education
Elementary and secondary schools
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. In addition to the traditional model of early education school houses, SMASH (Santa Monica Alternative School House) is "a K-8 public school of choice with team teachers and multi-aged classrooms."
Elementary Schools
The district maintains eight public elementary schools in Santa Monica:
- Edison Language Academy
- Franklin Elementary School
- Grant Elementary School
- John Muir Elementary School
- McKinley Elementary School
- Roosevelt Elementary School
- Will Rogers Learning Community
Middle Schools
The district maintains two public Middle Schools in Santa Monica: John Adams Middle School and Lincoln Middle School.
High Schools
The district maintains two High Schools in Santa Monica: Olympic High School and Santa Monica High School.
Private Schools
Private schools in the city include:
- Carlthorp School
- Santa Monica Montessori School
- Crossroads School
- New Roads School
- Saint Monica Catholic Elementary School
- Concord High School
- Pacifica Christian High
- St. Anne Catholic School
- Lighthouse Christian Academy
- Saint Monica Catholic High School
Post-secondary
Santa Monica College is a community 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 PhDs. The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles is also located in Santa Monica near the Santa Monica Airport.
Transportation
Bicycles
Santa Monica has received the Bicycle Friendly Community Award (Bronze) by the League of American Bicyclists in 2009. The distinction was mostly based on the local bicycle valet program. Local bicycle advocacy organizations include Bikerowave (moved to Mar Vista in 2009) and Santa Monica Spoke. Local police cracked down on Santa Monica Critical Mass rides in 2008 and effectively discontinued this flourishing tradition.
Motorized vehicles
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. Just east of Santa Monica is Interstate 405, the "San Diego Freeway", a major north-south route in Los Angeles County and Orange County, California.
The City of Santa Monica has purchased the first ZeroTruck all-electric medium-duty truck. The vehicle will be equipped with a Scelzi utility body, it is based on the Isuzu N series chassis, a UQM PowerPhase 100 advanced electric motor and is the only US built electric truck offered for sale in the United States in 2009.
Bus
The city of Santa Monica runs its own bus service, the Big Blue Bus, which also serves much of West Los Angeles and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). A Big Blue Bus was featured prominently in the action movie Speed.
The city of Santa Monica 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 Purple 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.
Airport and ports
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. The Santa Monica Airport has been a source of conflict between the City of Santa Monica and it southern neighbors in the city of Los Angeles. Due to the flight paths set by the FAA (in consultation with the city of Santa Monica), much of the noise and air pollution generated by the airport is borne by the neighborhoods of Venice and Mar Vista in the City of Los Angeles. Despite profiting from airport operations, the City of Santa Monica does not compensate its southern neighbors for the negative effects of the airport operations. Recently, the City of Santa Monica aggressively and successfully lobbied the FAA to reverse an FAA decision to route a small number of planes over the Santa Monica neighborhood of Sunset Park rather than over the Los Angeles neighborhood of Venice.
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).
Medical services
Two major hospitals are within the Santa Monica city limits, UCLA Santa Monica Hospital and St. John's Hospital. There are four fire stations providing medical and fire response within the city staffed with 6 Paramedic Engines, 1 Truck company, 1 Hazardous Materials team and 1 Urban Search & Rescue team. Santa Monica Fire Department has its own Dispatch Center. Ambulance transportation is provided by Gerber Ambulance Services.[citation needed]
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services operates the Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica. The Department's West Area Health Office is in the Simms/Mann Center.
In popular culture
Film and television
Hundreds of movies have been shot or set in part within the city of Santa Monica. One of the oldest exterior shots in Santa Monica is Buster Keaton's Spite Marriage (1929) which shows much of 2nd Street. The comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) included several scenes shot in Santa Monica, including those along California Incline, which led to the movie's treasure spot, "The Big W". The Sylvester Stallone film Rocky III (1982) shows Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed training to fight Clubber Lang by running on the Santa Monica Beach, and Stallone's Demolition Man (1993) includes Santa Monica settings. Henry Jaglom's indie Someone to Love (1987), the last film in which Orson Welles appeared, takes place in Santa Monica's venerable Mayfair Theatre. Heathers (1989) used Santa Monica's John Adams Middle School for many exterior shots. The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) is set entirely in Santa Monica, particularly the Palisades Park area, and features a radio station that resembles KCRW at Santa Monica College. 17 Again (2009) was shot at Samohi. Other film that show significant exterior shots Santa Monica include Fletch (1985), Get Shorty (1995), and Ocean's Eleven (2001).
The documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys (2001) and the related dramatic film Lords of Dogtown (2005) are both about the influential skateboarding culture of Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood in the 1970s.
The Santa Monica Pier is shown in many movies, including They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), The Sting (1973), Ruthless People (1986), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Clean Slate (1994), Forrest Gump (1994), The Net (1995), Love Stinks (1999), Cellular (2004), Iron Man (2008) and Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009).
A number of television series have been set in Santa Monica, including Baywatch, Three's Company, Pacific Blue, and Private Practice. The Santa Monica pier is shown in the main theme of CBS series NCIS: Los Angeles. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the main exterior set of the town of Sunnydale, including the infamous "sun sign", was located in Santa Monica in a lot on Olympic Boulevard.
The film The Doors (1991) and Speed (1994) featured vehicles from Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus line, relative to the eras depicted in the films.
The city of Santa Monica (and in particular the Santa Monica airport) was featured in Roland Emmerich's disaster film 2012 (2009). An earthquake destroys the airport and the surrounding area as a group of survivors escape in a personal plane.
Literature
Raymond 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.
The main character from Edgar Rice Burroughs' The Land That Time Forgot (novel) was a shipbuilder from Santa Monica.
In Al Capone Does My Shirts, the Flanagans move to Alcatraz from Santa Monica.
Tennessee Williams lived (while working at MGM Studios) in a hotel on Ocean Avenue in the 1940s. At that location he wrote The Glass Menagerie. His short story titled The Mattress by the Tomato Patch was set near Santa Monica Beach, and mentions the clock visible in much of the city, high up on The Broadway Building, on Broadway near 2nd Street.
Music
- Major Labels Aftermath Entertainment started by Dr.Dre, Interscope started by Jimmy Iovine, A&M Records, Geffen Records, Shady Records,and G-Unit Records created by 50 Cent & Sha Money XL are based in Santa Monica,Ca.
- The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences is based in Santa Monica on Pico Boulevard.
- The band "Linkin Park" was named after the Lincoln Park in Santa Monica.
- 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".
- Santa Monica is referenced throughout Jack's Mannequin's debut album Everything In Transit.
- In 1968, British singer-songwriter Noel Harrison released a song and album titled Santa Monica Pier.
- In 1948, bandleader Kay Kyser released a 78 record of the novelty song "When Veronica Plays the Harmonica (Down at the Pier in Santa Monica)."
- Kim Kibum, a member of the popular Korean boy band Super Junior attended Santa Monica High School
Video games
Santa Monica is featured in the video games True Crime: Streets of LA (2003), Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004), Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (2004), Destroy All Humans! (2004), Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (2005), and Midnight Club: Los Angeles (2008).
