Search Santa Monica Homes
Santa Monica is a coastal city in Los Angeles County,CA. Situated on Santa Monica Bay of the Pacific Ocean, it is surrounded by the City of Los Angeles.

Population=91,124

Santa Monica is named for Saint Monica of Hippo because the area on which the city is now located was first visited by Spaniards on her feast day. In the skateboard and surfing communities, Santa Monica's Ocean Park neighborhood and adjacent parts of Venice are sometimes called Dogtown. Santa Monica is sometimes referred to with the colloquial abbreviation "SaMo," (no locals call it that..really!..we call it "Sanna MoMo" or "Sanna Monikka" with a Brooklyn accent) a precursor to similar terms such as NoHo and WeHo.

Because of its agreeable weather, Santa Monica had become a famed resort town by the early 20th century (I did not know that!). The city has experienced a boom since the late 1980s through the revitalization of its downtown core with significant job growth and increased tourism. We get a ton of tourist here honestly during the Summer months, you may want to ride the Bus to get here and save the parking and traffic headaches. Believe me, I know...I am a SM resident for more than 15 years.

Education

Elementary and secondary schools

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District provides public education at the elementary and secondary levels. Private schools in the city include the Crossroads School, New Roads School, Concord High School, Pacifica Christian High, St. Anne Catholic School, Lighthouse Christian Academy and Saint Monica Catholic High School. Notable primary schools include the Carlthor School and Santa Monica Montessori School.

Post-secondary

Santa Monica College is a junior college founded in 1929. Many SMC graduates transfer to the University of California system. It occupies 35 acres and enrolls 30,000 students annually.  Universities and colleges within a 15-mile radius from Santa Monica include Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles Valley College, Loyola Marymount Universit, Pepperdine University, UCLA, USC, West Los Angeles College and West Valley Occupational Center.