Did You Know? — Santa Monica
1
The Santa Monica Pier is actually two piers built separately: the Municipal Pier (1909) and the Looff Pleasure Pier (1916), later joined.
2
Santa Monica was once home to the massive Douglas Aircraft Company, a major employer that produced thousands of planes during WWII.
3
The city is famously the western terminus of the historic Route 66, ending just steps from the Pacific Ocean at the Santa Monica Pier.
4
Santa Monica has a long history of environmental activism and was one of the first cities in the U.S. to ban plastic bags in 2011.
5
The city was named after Saint Monica because a Spanish expedition, led by Father Juan Crespí, camped near a natural spring on her feast day in 1769.