The history of Santa Monica, California covers the significant events and movements in Santa Monica's past.
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 2010 – 89,736 2020 – 93,076
Pre-history Santa Monica was long inhabited by the Tongva people. The village of Comicranga was established in the Santa Monica area. One of the village's notable residents was Victoria Reid, who was the daughter of the chief of the village. During the Spanish period, she was taken to Mission San Gabriel from her parents at the age of six. The general area of Santa Monica was referred to as Kecheek.
1760s The first non-indigenous group to set foot in the area was the party of explorer Gaspar de Portolà, who camped near the present day intersection of Barrington and Ohio Avenues on August 3, 1769. There are two different versions of the naming of the city. One says that it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica (mother of Saint Augustine), but her feast day is actually May 4. Another version says that it was named by Juan Crespí on account of a pair of springs, the Kuruvungna Springs, that were reminiscent of the tears that Saint Monica shed over her son's early impiety.Paula A. Scott, Santa Monica: a history on the edge. Making of America series (Arcadia Publishing, 2004), 17–18. The Kuruvungna Springs ("the place where we are in the sun") are sacred to the Tongva People.
Regarding the latter, Crespi did note in his diary that the group found a Tongva village at the springs (where the SE corner of the campus of University High School is today). As is also recorded in his diary, Crespí named the place San Gregorio, while the expedition soldiers called it "El Berendo" after a deer they wounded there.Handcock, Ralph, "Fabulous Boulevard", Funk & Wagnalls, 1949 The springs were probably commonly called by the name Santa Monica by the turn of the 19th century. By the 1820s, the name Santa Monica was in use and the name's first official mention occurred in 1827 in the form of a grazing permit, quickly followed by the grant filing for the Rancho Boca de Santa Monica in 1828.
1870s Government sovereignty in California passed from Mexico to the US on February 2, 1848. The northern sections of the city of Santa Monica once belonged to Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica and Rancho Boca de Santa Monica. The Sepulveda family sold of Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica for $54,000 in 1872 to Colonel Robert S. Baker and his wife, Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker. Bandini was the daughter of Juan Bandini, a prominent and wealthy early Californian, and was the widow of Abel Stearns, once the richest man in Los Angeles. Baker also bought a half interest in Rancho Boca de Santa Monica. Nevada Senator John P. Jones bought a half interest in Baker's property in 1874.
Jones and Baker subdivided part of their joint holdings in 1875 and created the town of Santa Monica. The town site fronted on the ocean and was bounded on the northwest by Montana Avenue, on the southeast by Colorado Avenue and on the northeast by 26th Street. The avenues were all named after the states of the West, the streets being simply numbered. The first lots in Santa Monica were sold on July 15, 1875.
Jones built the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, which connected Santa Monica and Los Angeles, and a wharf out into the bay. The first town hall was a modest 1873 brick building, later a beer hall, and now part of the Santa Monica Hostel. 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 from the rancho in 1874 for $11,000. The property was farmed by her sons, and a parcel of was sold to Williamson Dunn Vawter for subdivision in 1884.
1880s 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 became Santa 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 on January 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 Colonel Griffith J. Griffith shot his wife in 1903, which led to their divorce and his (short) imprisonment.
The residents voted to incorporate November 30, 1886, and chose the first board of trustees. The original townsite was bounded by Montana Avenue on the north, 26th Street on the east, Colorado Avenue on the south, & the Pacific Ocean on the west.
Senator Jones built a mansion, Miramar, and his wife Georgina 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, the largest being the tree in Santa Barbara.)
1890s When the Southern Pacific Railroad arrived at Los Angeles, a dispute erupted over where to locate the seaport. 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 the Port of Los Angeles, was selected by the United 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 the Pacific Electric Railway, 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 the Greater Los Angeles Area. Competing pier owners commissioned ever larger roller 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 current Santa 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. Venice soon became considered its own neighborhood.
A new charter was adopted in 1906 that converted the city government to a Mayor – Council form of government. Under the new charter, the City Council was composed of one Mayor with veto power, and one Councilmember from each of its seven wards.
Around the start of the 20th 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, , Free Venice Beachhead #126, June 1980.
1910s Fraser's Million Dollar Pier 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, an exhibit of premature babies in incubators at Frederick House, the Crooked House fun house, the Grand Electric Railroad, the Starland Vaudeville Theater, Breaker's Restaurant, and a Panama Canal model exhibit. It burned 15 months after it opened.
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.
Auto 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 and 1912. The United 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 Wills Douglas, Sr. 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 return September 23, 1924, by a crowd of 200,000 (generously estimated). The Douglas Company (later McDonnell Douglas) kept facilities in the city until 1975. The entire facility was demolished and removed by 1977.
In 1922, a local newspaper, discussing African Americans, stated "We don't want you here; now and forever, this is to be a white man's town".
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. The Los Angeles firm of Walker & Eisen 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 from Hawaii 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 to 1962 the ballroom became one of the largest roller-skating rinks in the western U.S.