- History of Santa Monica, California
The History of Santa Monica, California,
USA , covers the significant events and movements in Santa Monica's past. While intertwined with the history of its larger neighbor, Los Angeles, Santa Monica has led an independent existence in modern times.Population by decade
* 1880 - 417
* 1890 - 1,580
* 1900 - 3,057
* 1910 - 7,847
* 1920 - 15,252
* 1930 - 37,146
* 1940 - 53,500
* 1950 - 71,595
* 1960 - 83,249
* 1970 - 88,289
* 1980 - 88,314
* 1990 - 86,905
* 2000 - 84,084
* 2002 - 86,799 (estimate)Pre-history
Santa Monica was long inhabited by the
Tongva people.1760s
The first Caucasian group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer
Gaspar de Portolà , who camped near present day Wilshire Boulevard onAugust 3 ,1769 . There are two different versions of the naming of the city. One says that it was named in honor of thefeast day of Saint Monica (mother of Saint Augustine), while the other says that it was named on account of a dripping spring that was reminiscent of the tears that Saint Monica shed over her son's early impiety.Regarding the latter, one of the padres noted in his diary that the group found a Gabrioleno spring (where University High School is today). They re-named it "Spring of Saint Monica" to recall the tears that St. Monica had for her reckless son, Augustine. This spring remains holy to the Natives Americans in the area.
1840s
The
Californios valiantly defended their territories against theManifest Destiny colonial expanision of the United States westward during theMexican–American War . The annexiation of Mexican territories cost the US dearly, it was by far bloodiest war per capita the US had ever fought against a foreign country (CIA website). Specifically in Los Angeles several battles were fought by theCalifornios , however in the end the US came out victorious. Mexico signedthe Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights. US Govt sovereignty over California was born on February 2, 1848.1870s
The northern sections of the City of Santa Monica once belonged to
Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica andRancho Boca de Santa Monica .Jose del Carmen Sepulveda of the prominentSepulveda family sold 38,409 acres (155 km²) of the land for $54,000 in 1872 to ColonelRobert A. Baker and his wife,Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker . Bandini was the daughter ofJuan Bandini , a prominent and wealthy early Californian, and was the widow ofAbel Stearns , once the richest man in Los Angeles.Nevada Senator John P. Jones bought a half interest in Baker's property in 1874. The first lots in Santa Monica were sold onJuly 15 ,1875 . The residents voted to incorporateNovember 30 ,1886 , creating a mayor-council government. The first town hall was a modest 1873 brick building, later a beer hall, and now part of the Santa MonicaHostel . It is Santa Monica's oldest extant structure.The southwestern section of the city originally belonged to the
Rancho la Ballona of the Machado and Talamantes families. Mrs. Nancy A. Lucas purchased 861 acres (3.5 km²) from the rancho in 1874 for $11,000. The property was farmed by her sons, and a parcel of 100 acres (400,000 m²) was sold to W.D. Vawter for subdivision in 1884.1880s
Business started springing up. The town's new business district was initially centered around the current
Third Street Promenade . Early street names consisted of both numbers and the names of western States; however Utah eventually became Broadway and Oregon becameSanta Monica Boulevard .By 1885 the town's first hotel, the Santa Monica Hotel, was constructed on Ocean Ave., between Colorado and Utah in 1885. The Hotel burned in 1887. The 125-room "
Arcadia Hotel " opened onJanuary 25 ,1887 . Named for Arcadia Bandini, it was one of the great hotels on the Pacific Coast of its era. The hotel was the site where ColonelGriffith J. Griffith shot his wife in 1904, which led to their divorce and his (short) imprisonment.Santa Monica was incorporated as a city in 1886 with
Juan José Carrillo elected as the first mayor.Senator Jones built a mansion, "Miramar", and his wife planted a
Moreton Bay Fig tree in its front yard in 1889. (The tree is now in the courtyard of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and is the second-largest such tree in California.)1890s
When the
Southern Pacific Railroad arrived atLos Angeles a controversy erupted over where to locate thesea port . The SP preferred Santa Monica, while others advocated for San Pedro Bay. The Long Wharf was built in 1893 at the north end of Santa Monica to accommodate large ships and was dubbed Port Los Angeles. At the time it was constructed it was the longest pier in the world at 4700 feet, and accommodated a train. The plan did not last: San Pedro Bay, now known as thePort of Los Angeles , was selected by theUnited States Congress in 1897. Still, the Long Wharf acted as the major port of call for Los Angeles until 1903. Though the final decision disappointed Jones and other property owners, the selection allowed Santa Monica to maintain its scenic charm. The rail line down to Santa Monica Canyon was sold to thePacific Electric Railroad , and was in use from 1891 to 1933.Meanwhile,
Abbot Kinney acquired deed to the coastal strip previously purchased by W.D. Vawter and named the area "Ocean Park" in 1895. It became his first amusement park and residential project. A race track and golf course were built on the "Ocean Park Casino". After a falling out with his partners he focused on the south end of the property, which he made into Venice of America.1900s
Amusement piers became enormously popular in the first decades of the 20th century. The extensive Pacific Electric Railroad easily transported to the beaches people from across
Greater Los Angeles . Competing pier owners commissioned ever largerroller coaster rides. Wooden piers turned out to be readily flammable, but even destroyed piers were soon replaced. There were five piers in Santa Monica alone, with several more down the coast. The earliest part of the currentSanta Monica Pier , which is now the last remaining amusement pier, was built in 1909 on what was referred to as the North Bay. The second half, an amusement park pier, was built later and the two rival piers were merged.Among the South Bay piers, the most notable in this period was Abbot Kinney's Venice of America pier, started in 1904 and built to rival his former partner's Ocean Park Pier. Located at the end of Windward Avenue in Venice, Kinney's pier was 900 feet long, 30 feet wide and included an Auditorium, large replica Ship Cafe, Dance Hall, Dentzel carousel, a Japanese Tea House and an Ocean Inn Restaurant. [http://www.westland.net/venice/history.htm Venice History] ] Venice soon became considered its own neighborhood.
At the turn of the century, a growing population of
Asian-Americans lived in or near Santa Monica and Venice. A Japanese fishing village was located near the Long Wharf while small numbers of Chinese lived or worked in both Santa Monica and Venice. The two ethnic minorities were often viewed differently by White Americans who were often well-disposed towards the Japanese but condescending towards the Chinese. The Japanese village fishermen were an integral economic part of the Santa Monica Bay community. [Mark McIntire, [http://www.virtualvenice.info/print/1914-1916pt5.htm Minorities and Racism] , "Free Venice Beachhead" #126, June 1980.]1910s
The Ocean Park Pier burned down in 1912. In its place was Fraser's Million Dollar amusement pier, which claimed to be the largest in the world at 1250 feet long and 300 feet wide. The pier housed a spacious dance hall, two carousels, the Crooked House fun house, the Grand Electric Railroad, the Starland Vaudeville Theater, Breaker's Restaurant and a Panama Canal model exhibit. It too burned within the year. [http://www.westland.net/venice/history.htm Venice History] ]
A new
charter was adopted in 1914 that converted the city government to a commission form. This proved to be very weak, especially since the police commissioner was poorly paid and had no accountability.Car racing became popular. Drivers would race an 8.4 mile loop made up of city streets. The "Free-For-All Race" was conducted between 1910-1912. TheUnited States Grand Prix was held in Santa Monica in 1914 and 1916, awarding the "American Grand Prize" and the "Vanderbilt Cup" trophies. By 1919 the events were attracting 100,000 people, at which point the city halted them.1920s
Donald W. Douglas founded the
Douglas Aircraft Company in 1921 with his first plant on Wilshire Boulevard. He built a plant in 1922 at Clover Field (Santa Monica Airport ), which was in use for 46 years. In 1924 four Douglas-built planes took off from Clover Field to attempt the first aerial circumnavigation of the world. Two planes made it back, after having covered 27,553 miles in 175 days, and were greeted on their returnSeptember 23 1924 by a crowd of 200,000 (generously estimated). The Douglas Company (laterMcDonnell Douglas ) kept facilities in the city until the 1960s.The nationwide prosperity of the 1920s was felt in Santa Monica. The population increased from 15,000 to 32,000 at the end of the decade. Downtown saw a construction boom with many important buildings going up such as "Henshey's Department Store" (destroyed) and the "Criterion Theater". Elegant resorts were opened, including the 1925 "Miramar Hotel" and the 1926 "Club Casa del Mar".Stiles O. Clements designed the art deco "Bay City Building", a 13-story skyscraper topped with a huge four-faced clock that was finished in 1930.Beach volleyball is believed to have been developed in Santa Monica during this time.Duke Kahanamoku brought a form of the game with him fromHawaii when he took a job as athletic director at the "Beach Club". Competition began in 1924 with six-person teams, and by 1930 the first game with two-person teams took place. "La Monica Ballroom" opened in 1924 on the Santa Monica Pier. It was capable of holding 10,000 dancers in its over 15,000 square foot (1,400 m²) area. A major storm in 1926 almost destroyed the pier and the ballroom, necessitating major repairs. "La Monica" hosted many national radio and television broadcasts in the early days of networks, before it was finally torn down in 1962. From 1958-1962 the ballroom became one of the largest roller-skating rinks in the western U.S.Comedian
Will Rogers bought a substantial ranch in "Santa Monica Canyon" in 1922. Among his improvements was a polo field where he played with friendsSpencer Tracy ,Walt Disney and Robert Montgomery. Upon his untimely death it was discovered that he had generously deeded to the public the ranch now known asWill Rogers State Historic Park ,Will Rogers State Park , andWill Rogers State Beach . More recent residents of Santa Monica Canyon have includedChristopher Isherwood ,Don Bachardy ,Jane Fonda , andTom Hayden (the last two who previously lived in Ocean Park). The southern rim of the canyon is the oldest residential part of Santa Monica, while most of the canyon is in the City of Los Angeles. In 1928 Will Rogers sold a parcel with two large houses on the beach at the base of the bluffs toWilliam Randolph Hearst , who then gave it toMarion Davies . ArchitectJulia Morgan oversaw the construction of what ultimately became the $7 million, 5-building, 118-room "Ocean House". As with other lavish Hearst/Morgan projects it contained entire rooms removed from antiqueEurope an buildings. Davies was a vivacious and popular hostess and "Ocean House" saw many grand parties ofHollywood celebrities. Davies sold the property in 1945 for just $600,000 to a failed attempt at a hotel. Most of the property was torn down in 1958, leaving only the "North House" with a marble pool and tennis courts. The remaining property was sold to the State of California and leased as the private "Sand and Sea Club". Following the expiration of the 30-year lease in 1990, management of the property was turned over to the City of Santa Monica. For a short period of time until the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the City operated the site as a public beach facility. It was also used as a shooting location, most notably in the TV show "Beverly Hills 90210 ", in which it was the "Beverly Hills Beach Club". Redevelopment of the property has been a political issue in the city since the 1990s. In 2006, the City Council approved plans for the first ever public beach club, which included the rehabilitation of the property and construction of new facilities. The project, now under construction, is made possible by a generous gift from the Annenberg Foundation, at the recommendation of Wallis Annenberg, and in partnership with the City of Santa Monica and California State Parks. The new Annenberg Community Beach House is scheduled to open in early 2009.The area around the Davies mansion became known as the "Gold Coast". Stretching along Pacific Coast Highway between Santa Monica Canyon and the Santa Monica Pier it became fashionable in the 1930s for beach homes of discrete celebrities. Following the lead of Rogers and Davies, other actors with homes there have included
Norma Talmadge ,Greta Garbo andCary Grant .Douglas Fairbanks spent his last years living there.Peter Lawford had a house there in the 1960s.Ed Kolpin, Jr. opened a small
tobacco , pipe, andcigar store in Santa Monica, the "Tinder Box", in 1928. Later it moved to its current location in 1948 where it began serving the many Hollywood celebrities living nearby. Part of the attraction were the famous pipes handmade by Kolpin himself. In 1959 Kolpin began a tobacco-store franchise, at first locally and then by the mid-1960s there were "Tinder Box" stores in malls across America. The franchise business was sold in the 1970s, but Kolpin still owns and operates the original store as of 2003.1930s
The
Great Depression hit Santa Monica deeply. One report gives citywide employment in 1933 of just 1,000. Hotels and office building owners went bankrupt. The pleasure piers were a cheap form of entertainment that got cheaper, attracting a coarser crowd.Muscle Beach , located just south of the Santa Monica Pier, started to attract gymnasts and body builders who put on free shows for the public, and continues till today.In the 1930s corruption infected Santa Monica (along with neighboring
Los Angeles ). This aspect of the city is depicted in variousRaymond Chandler novels thinly disguised as "Bay City". Chandler's "Farewell, My Lovely " was inspired by the true story of the "S.S. Rex." Beginning in 1928,gambling ship s started anchoring inSanta Monica Bay just beyond the 3-mile (5.6 km) limit.Water taxi s ferried patrons from Santa Monica and Venice. The largest such ship was the "S.S. Rex", launched in 1938 and capable of holding up to 3,000 gamblers at a time. The "Rex" was a red flag to anti-gambling interests. After stateAttorney General Earl Warren got a court order to shut the ships down as a nuisance, the crew of the "Rex" initially fought off police by usingwater cannon s and brandishing sub-machine guns. The engine-less ship surrendered after nine days in what newspapers called "The Battle of Santa Monica Bay". Its owner,Tony Cornero , went on to build the Stardust casino inLas Vegas, Nevada .The greatest benefit to the city came from the Douglas Corporation when it built the
DC-3 commercial aircraft. The DC-3, which first flew from Clover Field, was a terrifically successfulairliner that transformed the air transportation business and brought needed jobs to the city. In a more modest show of entrepreneurship,Merle Norman founded her cosmetic business in 1931 by making creams and cosmetics on her kitchen stove. Both her former house and her 1933 Streamline-styled business headquarters are well maintained.The federal
Works Project Administration helped build several buildings in the city, most notably " City Hall". The 1938art deco structure was designed byDonald Parkinson and featuresterrazo mosaic s byStanton MacDonald-Wright . The main "Post Office " and "Barnum Hall" (Santa Monica High School auditorium) were among several other WPA projects.1940s
Douglas's business grew astronomically with the onset of
World War II , employing as many as 44,000 people in 1943. To defend against air attackset designer s from the Warner Brothers Studios prepared elaborate camouflage that disguised the factory and airfield.In 1945 Santa Monica City College started the Community Radio Workshop (CRW) to teach returning GIs broadcasting and used the call letters "
KCRW ". (Later KCRW became a popular and innovativeNPR affiliate.)The Sears building was built in 1947 at the south end of the retail district and has retained architect
Rowland Crawford's original late-Moderne styling.The
RAND Corporation began as a project of the Douglas Company in 1945, and spun off into an independentthink tank onMay 14 ,1948 . RAND eventually acquired a 15 acre (61,000 m²) campus centrally located between the Civic Center and the pier entrance.As a response to the corruption and inefficiency that grew in the 1930s the current charter was enacted in 1946. It created a
council-manager government that has proven to be successful.1950s
Papermate opened its Santa Monica factory in 1957. The plant produced 600 millionballpoint pen s in 1971 and closed in 2005.The 3,000-seat
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium , designed in the International Style byWelton Becket , opened in 1958. From 1961-1968 theAcademy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences held its annual "Oscar" awards ceremony there. Performers that have appeared over the decades include:Andre Previn ,Dave Brubeck ,Pete Seeger ,Ella Fitzgerald ,Tony Bennett ,Joan Baez ,Bob Dylan ,Jimi Hendrix ,David Bowie ,Elton John ,Ray Charles ,Arlo Guthrie ,the Beach Boys ,the Carpenters ,Bill Cosby ,Jonathan Winters ,Bob Hope ,Allen Ginsberg ,The Rolling Stones , T. Rex,Led Zeppelin ,The Ramones ,The Clash ,The Buzzcocks , Public Enemy and countless others. Since the late 1980s the auditorium has been more popular for trade conventions than performances. The films "The T.A.M.I. Show " and "Urgh! A Music War " were shot there.Pacific Ocean Park , the last of the great amusement piers, opened in 1958. While it temporarily eclipsed competitorDisneyland , attendance later plummeted and by 1967 the park was foreclosed for back taxes. It sat empty and rotting, an unattractive "attractive nuisance " until finally removed in 1974.Adjacent to Pacific Ocean Park was the rock and roll club, The Cheetah, which featured earlyperformances by such acts as
The Doors ,Alice Cooper ,Pink Floyd , Love,The Mothers of Invention , The Seeds,Buffalo Springfield and others. Itclosed in 1968.The
Synanon drug rehabilitation cult moved into the large Casa Del Mar building in 1959 and added their strange presence to the area until they left for more remote quarters in 1968. They retained ownership of the empty building until 1978.1960s
The completion of the
Santa Monica Freeway in 1966 brought the promise of new prosperity, though at the cost of decimating the Pico neighborhood that had been a leadingAfrican American enclave on the Westside.Third Street in downtown was converted into the "Santa Monica Mall" in 1965, an innovative but ultimately unsuccessful development that turned the three block core of the retail district into an open-air pedestrian mall. Large parking structures were built, but rarely filled. Within a couple of decades it was in severe decline. (The "Santa Monica Mall", just prior to its conversion to the "Third Street Promenade", is a location for some scenes in the movie, "
Pee-wee's Big Adventure ").The Douglas plant closed in 1968, depriving Santa Monica of its largest employer. A decade passed before the site was redeveloped into an office park. The
Museum of Flying was opened on the same site another decades later, in 1989.Bandleader
Lawrence Welk built the "Champagne Towers" apartment building and the adjoining 300-foot tall "Lawrence Welk Plaza" in 1969. The plaza is now known by its address, "100 Wilshire", and it is still the tallest building in the city.1970s
During the 1970s a remarkable number of notable fitness- and health-related businesses started in the city. The
Supergo bicycle shop (now a large chain) opened in 1971, and coincidentally work on thebicycle path along the beach was undertaken by the city. The "Santa Monica Track Club ", founded in 1972 byJoe Douglas , has helped the careers of many Olympians, such asCarl Lewis . Sensei James Field opened hisdojo in 1974, which became one of the primary Shotokankarate schools in the US and is now called the "Japan Karate Association (JKA) Santa Monica".Joe Gold , who had sold his chain ofGold's Gym s years before, started theWorld Gym chain in 1977.Nathan Pritikin opened the "Pritikin Longevity Center" in the Casa Del Mar building in 1978. Ocean Park residentJane Fonda opened a smallaerobics studio on Main Street.In the late 1970s
progressivism became the dominant political force in Santa Monica.Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) formed in 1978 and was led byRuth Yannatta Goldway ,Derek Shearer ,Dennis Zane , andReverend James Conn with support fromTom Hayden and Jane Fonda. Conn'sOcean Park Community Organization (OPCO) was formed in 1979 as an adjunct to theChurch in Ocean Park , partly in reaction to the rapid pace of change along Main Street. It was the first of what became nine community organizations that serve as neighborhood advocates. A strictrent control ordinance passed in 1979 and SMRR achieved a council majority in 1981. It has largely remained the controlling political organization since then.By 1977 the large 1894 "
American Foursquare "-style home of founder John P. Jones was threatened with destruction. It had been converted into rooming houses and was decrepit. It, along with an adjoining 19th century house, was saved by being relocated to Main Street in Ocean Park and renovated. The Jones house became the home of theSanta Monica Heritage Museum and the other house became a restaurant. The salvation of the buildings was representative of the changes taking place in the city.The late-1970s/early-1980s
sitcom "Three's Company " was set in Santa Monica.1980s
After the economic doldrums of the 1960s and early 1970s the city's economy began to recover in the 1980s. An early sign of that change was in the neighborhood of Ocean Park. Main Street, a quaint mile of sawdust bars and dilapidated stores selling old furniture, was upgraded by the concerted efforts of a new generation of owners. Soon it was attracting increasingly expensive boutiques and restaurants. Between burgeoning Main Street and the still declining "Santa Monica Mall" a city block was levelled in 1980 to build a new mall, "
Santa Monica Place " designed by Frank Gehry. The 1984 "Edgemar" retail complex on Main Street (also designed by Frank Gehry) brought development with regretably little attention to parking.While the
Santa Monica Pier had been preserved from intentional destruction in 1973, it was nonetheless poorly maintained. By the 1980s it had become a blight. The area around the pier was filled with poorly built and maintained buildings that housed seedy biker bars andhead shop s. The pier itself had dilipated bars, an odd plaster statue store, and creepy game arcades. The city put off repairing the breakwater that protected the pier and the so-called "yacht harbor" immediately north. Studies were made for rehabilitation of the pier and repair of the breakwater, but they were never acted upon. In 1983 major winter storms, part of theEl Niño weather pattern, struck Santa Monica onJanuary 27 and again onMarch 1 . The storms destroyed more than a third of the pier, along with stores, bars, cars, and a large crane brought in to begin repairs. Rebuilding the pier was a contentious effort, costing $43 million dollars. Ultimately the work was completed and the pier remains the city's best-known landmark. Three interesting buildings owned by the city were abandoned and destroyed, including the "Sinbad's Restaurant" that featured a large whale's tale in the facade.In the 1980s the city put together the plan for turning the failed "Santa Monica Mall" into the "Santa Monica Promenade". The project, completed in 1989 has proven to be a huge success and is a major regional shopping and entertainment center. Between 1988 and 1998, taxable sales in the city grew 440%, quadrupling city revenues. Retails rents in the development area also quadrupled. More than $500 million of private money has been invested into the Promenade and the adjacent streets in the
Bayside District Corporation business association.The city opened its "Public Electronic Network (PEN)" in 1989, providing citizens with a
bulletin board system (BBS) to discuss local issues and access city services. PEN was the first municipally-operated BBS in the world. While plagued by the ills common to BBSes, the site empowered residents. Due in part to the placement of publicly-available terminals in libraries,homeless persons and their issues received considerable attention on PEN. The SWASHLOCK (Showers, WASHers, and LOCKers) plan was developed on PEN and implemented in 1993. PEN also served as a center to organize opposition to the 1990 proposal to redevelop "415 PCH".1990s
The 1990s saw continued development in Santa Monica. The Promenade caught on. "Colorado Place", "Water Garden", and other nearby office developments on the east side of town attracted
MGM ,Sony ,Symantec , and other corporations. The "Shutters Hotel" was the first of several new hotels built between the pier and Pico Boulevard. One of them, the "Loews", is on the site of the long forgotten Arcadia Hotel. The Casa Del Mar returned to its former glory as a luxury hotel in 1999 after a reported $60 million renovation by the owners of the Shutters Hotel. Even the comparatively-dowdy Miramar Hotel found new prominence with the many visits ofPresident Bill Clinton .In 1994 an old rail station was transformed by the city into
Bergamot Station , a collection of art galleries that has become a center of art exhibition and retailing.The
1994 Northridge earthquake caused the loss of many residences and historic buildings, particularly on the north side of the city. Other notable daThe "Evening Outlook", which had been purchased by the
Copley Press newspaper chain in 1983, was closed in 1998 after 123 years of reporting. [ [http://www.ketupa.net/copley.htm Copley: History ] ] [ [http://www.randomlengthsnews.com/archive/jadec8.html Random Lengths News (www.randomlengthsnews.com) ] ] It reportedly had 20,000 paid subscription at the time of the closure. [ [http://easyreader.hermosawave.net/news2002/storypage.asp?StoryID=20029447&IssuePath=news2006/0720/ Easy Reader ] ]MTBE , a major gasoline additive (10% by volume), was discovered in the city'swater well s in August 1995. The MTBE was found almost by accident since it was not on the list of knowncontaminant s and acceptable level had not been set. The city waters engineers had to research the hazard and they raised the alarm. Within a year all five wells were closed, leading to the loss of 45% of the city's water supply. One well had a concentration of 600parts per billion , while another rose from 14 parts per billion to 490 parts per billion within a year. The California EPA guidelines now call for no more than 35 parts per billion. The city's well field is in the "Charnock Sub-Basin", a small aquifer in Palms, Los Angeles that both Santa Monica and Culver City draw upon. To maintain supply to customers Santa Monica was forced to purchase water from theMetropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) at a cost of over $1.1 million per year. Cleanup of the site is ongoing at a current cost of $3 million per year, paid for by the responsible parties, principally:Shell Oil Company , Chevron, and Exxon. Following this discovery other water districts began testing that revealed tens of thousands of MTBE pollution cases across theUnited States .The State of California enacted a law, effective
January 1 ,1999 , that overrode Santa Monica's rent control ordinance by mandating vacancy decontrol. Landlords were reported to have raised rents so high that units remained vacant, requiring them to lower their rents to more marketable levels. Rent controls remained on inhabited units, leading to stories of landlords harassing existing tenants in order to make them leave so that higher rents could be charged. [http://www.ncpa.org/pd/state/pd042899b.html]2000s
On
July 16 ,2003 ,George Russell Weller drove hisBuick into the busy downtown Farmers Market, which was held on a city street that was closed to vehicular traffic. The 86-year-old driver killed 10 and injured 63. In the wake of numerous civil lawsuits filed against the City of Santa Monica and the company organizing the Farmer's Market, a new policy was adopted requiring portableconcrete barricade s to reliably block vehicle access forpedestrian street events.Santa Monica passed a law in 2003 restricting the distribution of food to homeless people in the city. Some organizations have deliberately disobeyed these laws.
The increasingly upscale nature of the city - not just the northern part, which was always affluent, but thesouthern Ocean Park neighborhood as well which has become a favorite of those in the entertainment industry - has created some tensions between newcomers and longtime residents nostalgic for the more bohemian, countercultural past. Nevertheless, with the recent corporate additions of
Yahoo! (2005) andGoogle (2006), gentrification continues.During the 2000s, the MTA has developed plans to return rail transit to
Santa Monica , which was gone after the dismantling of thePacific Electric Railway during the 1960s. It has developed two plans, including theLACMTA Expo Line andLACMTA Purple Line both which would extend into Santa Monica. The Purple Line was originally to be extended into Santa Monica, but was stopped due to legislative action. However, Democratic CongressmanHenry Waxman , one of those who opposed the Red Line's extension has recently reconsidered extending the Red Line into Santa Monica. The proposal to extend the Red Line has been described colloquially as the Subway to the Sea. It is estimated that if successful, both lines will be in service by the late 2010s.References
External links
* [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459374/01032003/audioslave.jhtml Tom Morello, Serj Tankian Break Law To Feed Homeless - MTV.com]
* [http://www.mckeown.net/PENaddress.html "Social Norms and Implications of Santa Monica's PEN (Public Electronic Network)"]
* [http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/pen.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set= "Yakety-Yak, Do Talk Back!" Wired magazine article on PEN]
* [http://www.oceanpark.ws/table_of_contents.htm "Ocean Park Forward and Backward"]
* [http://www.ddavid.com/formula1/track_us.htm American Grand Prix -- includes map of racing route.]
* [http://www.laweekly.com/bestofla/bestofla99/essays/essay202.php3 (Tinder Box) Little Shop of Briars]
* [http://www.smmirror.com/volume5/issue25/a_year_old.asp (Tinder Box) A 75-Year Pipe Dream]
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