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Manhattan Beach is a city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The population was 33,852 at the 2000 census. Of a rotating City Council of five members, Mitch Ward is the current mayor. The city is on the Pacific Ocean coast, to the south of El Segundo, and to the north of Hermosa Beach. To the east are the cities of Lawndale and Redondo Beach. It is one of the three Beach Cities in the South Bay.

History

Early inhabitants and European discovery

The first known inhabitants of present day Manhattan Beach were the Engnovangas rancheria indians. The indians survived off of corbina fish they hunted in the shallows, along with other species of surf fish. The Engnovangas often made the 3 mile trek south to the salt flats in present day Redondo Beach, CA to harvest the mineral. The old Salt Flat is now occupied by Southern California Edison, roughly located on Herondo Street and North Harbor Drive. The salty estuary was said to be only 150 yards from the ocean and the rough size of 120,000 square yards.

In 1781, when El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles was established, a small, one-lane dirt road was cleared to connect the Salt Flat and Los Angeles. Aviation Boulevard now runs almost directly on top of the old Salt Flat road. Three years later, in 1784, the Spanish government established "ranchos", or land parcels, all along the South Bay. The land grants did not convey titles to the land; rather they simply gave permission to migrant farmers to use the land as they wished. In 1822, the newly-established Mexican government sold the land to the highest bidder. Some of the Ranchos purchased by farmers were: Aguaje de la Centinela, La Ballona, La Tijera, and Sausal Redondo, which translates into "round clump of willows." (Note that many streets in the South Bay region are named after these ranchos.) In 1822, Rancho Sausal Redondo (present day Manhattan Beach) was purchased by Antonio Ygnacio Avila, who mainly used the 22,500 acres for sheep grazing.

Early development

In 1863 a Scottish immigrant, Sir Robert Burnett, purchased Rancho Sausal Redondo and Rancho Aguaje De Centinela from Avila's heirs for $33,000. Ten years later in 1873, Burnett decided to leave the California sunshine and head back for Scotland. He found Canadian Daniel Freeman to watch over the ranch and they agreed to a lease for the ranch. Freeman moved his wife and three children onto the ranch and started producing various crops. On May 4th, 1885 Freeman bought the ranch from Burnett for $140,000.

Geography

Manhattan Beach is located at (33.888980, -118.405357).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 26.8 km² (10.4 mi²). 10.2 km² (3.9 mi²) of it is land and 16.7 km² (6.4 mi²) of it (62.07%) is water.

Manhattan Beach features 2.1 miles (3.4 km) of ocean frontage, 40 acres (162,000 m²) of recreational beach, and a total of 59 acres (239,000 m²) of parkland in 10 parks, 1 municipal golf course, and 1 parkway, the Valley/Ardmore "Greenbelt" *.

Residents divide the city into several distinct neighborhoods, including the Sand Section, Hill Section, Tree Section, El Porto, East Manhattan Beach, and Liberty Village, Manhattan Heights.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 33,852 people, 14,474 households, and 8,394 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,325.8/km² (8,606.7/mi²). There were 15,034 housing units at an average density of 1,477.0/km² (3,822.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.99% White, 0.61% African American, 0.21% Native American, 6.04% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 1.23% from other races, and 2.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.19% of the population.

There were 14,474 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.8% were married couples living together, 5.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.0% were non-families. 29.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.98.

In the city the population was spread out with 22.3% under the age of 18, 4.1% from 18 to 24, 37.5% from 25 to 44, 25.7% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 101.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $100,750, and the median income for a family was $122,686. Males had a median income of $84,256 versus $54,142 for females. The per capita income for the city was $61,136. About 2.0% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 4.9% of those age 65 or over.

In February 2006 Manhattan Beach had a median home price of $1,925,000 In its Best Places to Live 2005 feature, Money Magazine ranked Manhattan Beach the 4th most expensive town in America *. Forbes has also ranked the local ZIP code 90266 as the 29th highest ZIP code.

The house in the movie Jerry Maguire is in Manhattan Beach.

Education

Public education in Manhattan Beach is provided by the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, which oversees 5 elementary schools, 1 middle school, and 1 high school.

The district as a whole received a score of 896 on the 2005 California Academic Performance Index, making it one of California's best performing districts. Each individual school also ranks at the top of its respective category *:

School2005 API Score
Grand View Elementary934
Meadows Avenue Elementary940
Pacific Elementary969
Pennekamp Elementary952
Robinson Elementary960
Manhattan Beach Middle910
Mira Costa High School846

Under policy of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District, residents who live in northern Redondo Beach may not attend schools within the MBUSD. As of Fall 2006, North Redondo Beach residents living in the 90278 zip code will be allowed to attend Mira Costa again.

See also: McMartin preschool trial

Media

In addition to the Los Angeles Times, Manhattan Beach is served by local daily the Daily Breeze and local weeklies the Beach Reporter and the Easy Reader.

Trivia

  • Film location of Starsky and Hutch. In the movie, Starsky(Ben Stiller), can be seen stretching under the pier.
  • As rumor has it, a retired colonel from the civil war and Manhattan Beach resident, Mr. Duncan, had built a tunnel from his property to the beach in order to smuggle slaves and treasure.
  • The name of present day Manhattan Beach was decided by a coin-flip in 1902 between George Peck (who branded his property Manhattan after his hometown in New York) and John Merrell (who named his property Shore Acres)
  • Much of the sand on Waikiki Beach was purchased by developers from Hawaii in the late 1920's, who negotiated a deal with the Kuhn Brothers Construction Company to ship the city's sand across the Pacific for over 10 years. The only remaining sand that resembles Manhattan Beach's original landscape can be found at Sand Dune Park.
  • Home to the filming of the Fox Network series The O.C.
  • Film and real life location George Jung of Blow
  • Was home to the Metlox Pottery company, and now has a shopping and restaurant plaza built on the old factory site dedicated to the pottery.
  • The AVP tournament in Manhattan Beach is known as "The Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball."

Notable residents

External links

Cities in Los Angeles County | Coastal towns in California with per capita incomes over $50,000" target="_blank" >*

Manhattan Beach | Manhattan Beach

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Manhattan Beach, California".

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