[11] It has a diverse economy, hosting headquarters of companies such as Hulu, Activision Blizzard, Universal Music Group, Starz Entertainment, Lionsgate Studios, Illumination and The Recording Academy.

[12] The first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolá, which camped near the present-day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3, 1769.

After the American conquest of California, Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights.

[18] Amusement piers became popular in the first decades of the 20th century and the extensive Pacific Electric Railway brought people to the city's beaches from across the Greater Los Angeles Area.

To defend against air attack, set designers from the Warner Brothers Studios prepared elaborate camouflage that disguised the factory and airfield.

[30] Because of its location, nestled on the vast and open Santa Monica Bay, morning fog is a common phenomenon in May, June, July and early August (caused by ocean temperature variations and currents).

[31] Nonetheless, it will sometimes stay cloudy and cool all day during June, even as other parts of the Los Angeles area experience sunny skies and warmer temperatures.

[34] Eighty-two percent of the city's public works vehicles run on alternative fuels, including most of the municipal bus system, making it among the largest of such fleets in the country.

[36][37] The city exceeded that aspiration when, in February 2019, it switched over to electricity from the Clean Power Alliance,[38] with a citywide default of 100% renewably sourced energy.

According to the 2010 United States Census, Santa Monica had a median household income of $73,649, with 11.2% of the population living below the federal poverty line.

[62] The majority of this was property crime, which affected 3.74% of Santa Monica's population in 2006; this was higher than the rates for Los Angeles County (2.76%) and California (3.17%),[63] but lower than the national average (3.91%).

However, the Santa Monica Police Department has suggested the actual per-capita crime rate is much lower, as tourists, workers, and beachgoers can increase the city's daytime population to between 250,000 and 450,000 people.

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.

[74] Santa Monica is home to the headquarters of many notable businesses, such as Beachbody, Fatburger,[75] Hulu, Illumination, Otter Media, Lionsgate,[76] Macerich, Miramax, CBS Media Ventures, the RAND Corporation, Saban Capital Group, The Recording Academy (which presents the annual Grammy Awards), TOMS Shoes,[77] Universal Music Group, and ZipRecruiter.

These include: In addition, Santa Monica has emerged as the center of the Los Angeles region called "Silicon Beach", and the area serves as the home of hundreds of venture capital funded startup companies.

[96] Ishihara Park opened to the public in 2017 and acts as a buffer between the Los Angeles Metro Rail and the surrounding residential community.

The other five council members are Gleam Davis, Christine Parra, Oscar de la Torre, Jesse Zwick, and Caroline Torosis.

Asahi Gakuen, a weekend Japanese supplementary school system, operates its Santa Monica campus (サンタモニカ校･高等部 Santamonika-kō kōtōbu) at Webster Middle in the Sawtelle neighborhood of Los Angeles.

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 and Orange counties.

The city of Santa Monica is also served by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro) bus lines.

Design and construction on the 6.6-mile extension (10.6 km) of the Expo Line from Culver City to Santa Monica started in September 2011, with service beginning on May 20, 2016.

The line was built in 1875 as the steam-powered Los Angeles and Independence Railroad to bring mining ore to ships in Santa Monica harbor and as a passenger excursion train to the beach.

[116] In August 2018, Santa Monica issued permits to Bird, Lime, Lyft, and Jump Bikes to operate dockless scooter-sharing systems in the city.

[124] 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.

Other films that show significant exterior shots of Santa Monica include Fletch (1985), Species (1995), Get Shorty (1995), and Ocean's Eleven (2001).

Iron Man features the Santa Monica pier and surrounding communities as Tony Stark tests his experimental flight suit.

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the main exterior set of the town of Sunnydale that includes the infamous "sun sign", was in Santa Monica in a lot on Olympic Boulevard.

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.

[127] 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.