Santa Monica Bay

Santa Monica Bay

Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. 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. Its eastern shore forms the western boundary of the Los Angeles Westside and South Bay regions. Although it was fed by the Los Angeles River prior to the river's catastrophic change of course in 1825, the only stream of any size now flowing into it is Ballona Creek. Other waterways draining into the bay include Malibu Creek, and Topanga Creek.

The Santa Monica Bay is home to some of the most famous beaches in the world including Malibu Lagoon State Beach (Surfrider), Will Rogers State Beach, Santa Monica State Beach, and Dockweiler State Beach.

Several piers extend into the bay, including Malibu Pier, Santa Monica Pier, Venice Pier, Manhattan Beach pier, Hermosa Beach pier, and Redondo Beach pier. Marina Del Rey is a dredged marina. The Bay is also a very popular fishing destination year round. Chevron Reef is an artificial surfing reef in the bay.

History

In the 1930s, gambling ships anchored beyond the regulated three mile limit, then kept measured from the beach. The ships were popular, and a fleet of ever-larger ships and barges appeared until the State Attorney General recalculated the limit to exclude the bay. 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.

Once a major commercial fishery, Santa Monica Bay's water quality declined drastically in the 20th century as development of Los Angeles County resulted in large amounts of sewage and trash-rich storm runoff being dumped into its waters. Through restoration projects mandated by the Clean Water Act and advocated by groups such as Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation, the bay's water quality has improved fairly dramatically from its early-1980s nadir. Hyperion sewage treatment plant's output is now far cleaner than before. However, during the region's rainy winters, the bay suffers from algal bloom and other water pollution-related maladies, forcing the closure of most of the famous beaches along its shore during that time.

Communities and settlements

External links

Coordinates: 33°56′20″N 118°30′15″W / 33.93889°N 118.50417°W / 33.93889; -118.50417

Greater Los Angeles Area

Central city	Los Angeles

Counties	Los Angeles Orange Riverside San Bernardino Ventura

Satellite cities	Long Beach Riverside San Bernardino

Cities >200k	Anaheim Fontana Huntington Beach Irvine Long Beach Moreno Valley Oxnard Riverside San Bernardino Santa Ana

Cities and towns 100k−200k	Burbank Corona Costa Mesa Downey East Los Angeles El Monte Fontana Fullerton Garden Grove Glendale Huntington Beach Inglewood Lancaster Murrieta Norwalk Ontario Orange Palmdale Pasadena Pomona Rancho Cucamonga Rialto Santa Clarita Simi Valley Temecula Thousand Oaks Torrance Ventura Victorville West Covina

Area regions	Los Angeles metropolitan area Antelope Valley Central Los Angeles Coachella Valley Colorado Desert Conejo Valley Downtown Los Angeles East Los Angeles Gateway Cities Greater Hollywood Harbor Area Inland Empire Mojave Desert Northwest Los Angeles Palos Verdes Peninsula Pomona Valley San Bernardino Valley San Fernando Valley San Gabriel Valley Santa Ana Valley Santa Clarita Valley Simi Valley South Bay South Los Angeles Victor Valley Westside Los Angeles

Landforms	Los Angeles Basin Baldwin Hills (range) Catalina Island Channel Islands Chino Hills Hollywood Hills Oxnard Plain Palos Verdes Hills Puente Hills San Fernando Valley San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Valley San Jacinto Mountains Santa Ana Mountains Santa Monica Mountains Santa Susana Mountains Sierra Pelona Mountains Simi Hills Verdugo Mountains

Bodies of water	Los Angeles River Aliso Creek Arroyo Calabasas Arroyo Seco Ballona Creek Bell Creek Big Bear Lake Coyote Creek Lake Arrowhead Lake Gregory Lake Perris Lake Piru Los Angeles Aqueduct Malibu Creek Mojave River Pacific Ocean Pyramid Lake Rio Hondo San Gabriel River San Juan Creek San Pedro Bay Santa Ana River Santa Clara River Santa Margarita River Santa Monica Bay Tujunga Wash

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, December 14, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.