Santa Monica Bay

Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in Malibu, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

The largest ship held the state police off for nine days with submachine guns in what the newspapers called The Battle of Santa Monica Bay.

However, during the region's rainy winters, the bay suffers from algal bloom and other water pollution-related maladies, periodically forcing most of the famous beaches along its shore to close.

On January 13, 1969, Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 crashed into the bay while on approach to Los Angeles International Airport, killing 15 of the 45 people on board.

They were heading to San Diego to pick up a cancer patient who needed transportation to UCLA Medical Center for treatment when their airplane crashed.