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Geography
Northwest of Santa Monica are the Santa Monica Mountains, a mountain range rising up to 948 meters. Except on the Pacific coast, the city is surrounded on all sides by the metropolis of Los Angeles.
Traffic
The best way to get to Santa Monica is via Los Angeles International Airport, which is about 10 km south, or with the Expo Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail directly from downtown Los Angeles.
Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica
Interstate 10 (west of Los Angeles called „Santa Monica Freeway“ – east „San Bernardino Freeway“) ends in Santa Monica near the pier and goes here seamlessly in a north-easterly direction into the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH – Highway 1) Direction Malibu over. Interstate 10 runs east from Santa Monica towards Downtown Los Angeles and crosses Interstate 405 (San Diego Freeway) shortly after the Santa Monica city limits.
Santa Monica has an award-winning bus network; the Big Blue Bus uses modern vehicles and runs comparatively frequently by southern California standards.
Santa Monica also has a local airport, Santa Monica Airport for charter flights, private and sport aircraft.
Major arteries in Santa Monica when viewed from the coast are San Vicente Boulevard, Montana Avenue, Wilshire, Santa Monica, and Ocean Park Boulevard. Parallel to the coast, these are the Pacific Coast Highway, Ocean Avenue / Neilson Way as well as Lincoln Boulevard (which is also Pacific Coast Highway 1 in a south-easterly direction) and 26th Street. Historic Route 66 also ends in Santa Monica – on the Santa Monica Pier.
History
The city of Santa Monica, initially founded as a small Spanish settlement, became Mexican from 1828 to 1848, only to become American. [2] The place, which had less than 3,000 inhabitants around 1900, was expanded by businessmen John Percival Jones and Robert Baker in 1875. The rectangular settlement was then bordered by Ocean Avenue on the coast, Montana Avenue in the northwest, Colorado Avenue in the southeast and inland by 26th Street. Summer residence lots on the first line of the beach were sold for $ 300. Behind it, on Second Street, were the first stone buildings. The oldest house still preserved today is the Rapp Saloon, in which the German-born William Rapp ran the “Los Angeles Beer Garden”. Robert Baker had a 27-kilometer-long railway line built between Los Angeles and Santa Monica in just ten months, which enabled the town to expand rapidly. In 1887, the Arcadia Hotel opened, which at the time was the finest beach establishment in Southern California. In the years to come, Santa Monica developed into a bathing and entertainment destination for the greater Los Angeles area. The main attraction was the Santa Monica Pier. [3]
Attractions
Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Pier with Santa Monica West Coaster
Santa Monica Third Street Promenade
Original Muscle Beach
The Santa Monica Pier, which was built in 1909, is one of the most famous attractions in the city. In addition to the small Pacific Park amusement park with roller coaster (Santa Monica West Coaster) and Ferris wheel, it also houses numerous restaurants and shops. In the Looff Hippodrome building, at the beginning of the pier, there has been an old horse carousel since 1947. The entrance to the pier on Ocean Avenue is a white and blue gate that is illuminated with neon lights at night.
The Third Street Promenade, [2] with a length of around 400 [2] meters one of the few pedestrian zones in the greater Los Angeles area, extends over three blocks between the Santa Monica Place shopping center and Wilshire Blvd. Its proximity to the Santa Monica Pier makes it a popular spot for tourists and locals alike. In the evenings, many street performers entertain visitors along the three-block shopping area. The south end of Third Street Promenade is completed by the Santa Monica Place shopping mall, which was designed by Frank Gehry.
The „Rapp Saloon“ is located in the parallel street, Second Street. After the city was founded, William Rapp, of German descent, ran the „Los Angeles Beer Garden“ in the one-story house; later the town hall was temporarily housed here. The small building is the last remaining house from the founding year 1875 and today one of the landmarks of Santa Monica. [3]
Health care Edit source]
Health care is provided by two hospitals, both of which are undergoing a multi-year renovation phase. The Saint John’s Health Center was named the best communalle Clinic of the American West Coast. The nearby UCLA Medical Center, a former city hospital, is now a branch of UCLA’s University Hospital in Westwood, which is one of the top 10 US hospitals.
Churches
The largest local church is the Roman Catholic St. Monica Catholic Church at the intersection of 725 California Avenue and 7th Street. The services are broadcast as a live stream on the Internet. [4] There are, however, many other churches as well. [5]
Population and demographics
A significant minority of the population is of Latin American descent. However, the majority of the population is non-Hispanic whites, which distinguishes Santa Monica from both the city and Los Angeles County.
The 89,736 residents of Santa Monica, found in the 2010 census, lived in 46,917 households; including 17,929 families. The population density was 4117 per km². 50,912 residential units were recorded in the village. Among the population, 77.6% were white (including 70.1% non-Hispanic white), 3.9% African American, 0.4% American Indian, 9.0% Asian, and 4.6% of other races; 4.4% said they belonged to several races. Regardless of race, 13.1% of the population was Hispanic or Latino.
Of the 46,917 households, 16.7% had children under the age of 18; 27.9% were married couples living together. 48.4% of the households were single households. The average household size was 1.87 and the average family size was 2.79.
The population was divided into 14.0% under 18 years of age, 7.2% from 18 to 24 years of age, 36.3% from 25 to 44 years of age, 27.6% from 45 to 64 years of age and 15.0% from 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.4 years. [6]
The median household income in 2000 was $ 50,714 and the median family income was $ 75,989. The per capita income in Santa Monica was $ 42,874. 10.4% of the population lived below the poverty line. [7] According to an extrapolation for 2014, the values for the value of household income rose to $ 74,534 and family income to $ 113,956. [8] In 2010, the median family income was $ 72,271, with 11.3% living below the poverty line. [6]
The following table lists the population of Santa Monica since 1880, according to the results of the 1880-2010 censuses conducted by the United States Census Bureau:
Year residents
1880 417
1890 1,580
1900 3,057
1910 7,847
1920 15,252
1930 37,146
1940 53,500
Year residents
1950 71,595
1960 83,249
1970 88,289
1980 88,314
1990 86.905
2000 84,084
2010 89,736
media
KCRW-FM, also known as Public Radio for Southern California, broadcasts from Santa Monica on the FM frequency 89.9 MHz. The station is operated by Santa Monica College and is one of the strongest partners of National Public Radio in Southern California. The station reaches an audience of 550,000 weekly.
Trivia
Santa Monica is a city independent of Los Angeles and therefore has its own administration and police force. In Santa Monica there are therefore numerous – in contrast to Los Angeles – different regulations. Pedestrians are prohibited from crossing the streets away from pedestrian crossings or traffic lights.
Due to its proximity to the film industry, locations of Santa Monica are often shown in a variety of films. The entrance to Santa Monica Pier was a turning point for Forrest Gump in his traverse across the United States. On the pier is a restaurant owned by the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, which was inspired by the movie. The horse carousel on the pier was the scene of a chase and shootout in The Net. A BigBlueBus operated by the public transport company was Speed’s arena. One scene in Terminator 2 took place at the Santa Monica Place mall. The Baywatch television series was partly played on the beach and on the pier in Santa Monica.
In the Wii U game Lego City Undercover, there is a reference to the Santa Monica Pier in the Paradise Sands district.
The British band The Sweet released the song Santa Monica Sunshine on their first album Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be in 1971.
Town twinning
Santa Monica, 1908
Santa Monica has twinned cities with the German city of Hamm (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Hechuan district of the city of Chongqing, People’s Republic of China. [9]
Personalities [edit | Edit source]
Sons and daughters of the city Edit source]
→ Main article: List of sons and daughters of the city of Santa Monica
Shirley Temple (1928-2014), actress
Frank Gifford (1930-2015), American football player and sports presenter
Robert Red
ford (* 1936), actor, director and producer
Geraldine Chaplin (born 1944), actress
Richard Hatch (1945–2017), actor and writer
Mark Mancina (* 1957), composer
Lorenzo Lamas (born 1958), actor
Joseph Williams (born 1960), rock singer
Scott Davis (born 1962), tennis player
Jack Black (* 1969), actor, comedian and singer in the band Tenacious D.
Sara Gilbert (* 1975), actress
Tobey Maguire (born 1975), actor
Christina Ricci (* 1980), actress
Tyler Posey (born 1991), actor
Personalities with a relationship to the city Edit source]
Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970), philosopher and science theorist
Elzie Segar (1894–1938), comic artist and the inventor of the character of Popeye
Richard Maibaum (1909–1991), screenwriter
Sidney Luft (1915-2005), film producer
Peter Hobbs (1918–2011), actor
Walter Arlen (* 1920), composer and music critic
Frank Gehry (* 1929), Canadian-American architect and designer
John Baldessari (1931-2020), artist
Don Bachardy (* 1934), artist and art collector
Troy Donahue (1936-2001), actor
Carole Caldwell Graebner (1943-2008), tennis player
Dan Harrington (born 1945), poker player
Paul Haggis (* 1953), Canadian screenwriter, producer and director
Edwin Kantar (* 1932), bridge player
Chris Penn (1965-2006), actor and brother of actor Sean Penn
Charlie Sheen (born 1965), actor
Christy Hemme (* 1980), actress, model, singer and wrestler
Jenna Marbles (* 1986), YouTube video producer
Clay Thompson (born 1992), tennis player
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