Santa Monica, California
beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States
Santa Monica (Spanish: Santa Mónica, lit. 'Saint Monica') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. As of the 2020 census, Santa Monica had a population of 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to its climate, beaches, and hospitality industry. It has a diverse economy, hosting headquarters of companies such as Hulu, Activision Blizzard, Universal Music Group, Game Show Network, Starz Entertainment, Lionsgate Studios, Illumination, Snap Inc., and The Recording Academy.
Santa Monica traces its history to Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica, granted in 1839 to the Sepúlveda family of California. The rancho was later sold to John P. Jones and Robert Baker, who, in 1875, along with his Californio heiress wife Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker, founded Santa Monica, which incorporated as a city in 1886. The city developed into a seaside resort during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with the creation of tourist attractions such as Palisades Park, the Santa Monica Pier, Ocean Park, and the Hotel Casa del Mar. It is bounded by the City of Los Angeles on all sides except for the western part, which is bordered by the Pacific Ocean.
History
Indigenous
The Tongva are indigenous to the Santa Monica area.
The public source identifies “Santa Monica, California” as beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Santa, Monica and California.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Santa Monica, California”, the useful work is to connect “beachfront city in Los Angeles County, California, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q47164. VIAF identifies the subject as 141038451. The Library of Congress control number is n79018782. Authority coordinates are 34.022, -118.481. 5 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020, 1839, 1875 and 1886.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Santa Monica, California”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Santa Monica, California primary sources, Santa Monica, California archive and Santa research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Santa Monica, California”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Santa Monica, California” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.