Santa Monica's U. Census population was 93, Santa Monica is a popular resort town , owing to its climate, beaches, and hospitality industry. The rancho was later sold to John P. Jones and Robert Baker , who in , along with his Californio heiress wife Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker , founded Santa Monica, which incorporated as a city in 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.
The Tongva are Indigenous to the Santa Monica area. The village of Comicranga was established in the Santa Monica area. There are two different accounts of how the city's name came to be. One says it was named in honor of the feast day of Saint Monica mother of Saint Augustine , but her feast day is May 4. After the American conquest of California , Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which gave Mexicans and Californios living in state certain unalienable rights.
The first town hall was an brick building, later a beer hall, and now part of the Santa Monica Hostel. Amusement piers became popular in the first decades of the 20th century and the extensive Pacific Electric Railway brought people to the city's beaches from across the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Around the start of the 20th century, a growing population of Asian Americans lived in and around Santa Monica and Venice. The two ethnic minorities were often viewed differently by White Americans, who were often well-disposed toward the Japanese but condescending to the Chinese. Donald Wills Douglas Sr. Two planes returned after covering 27, miles 44, km in days, and were greeted on their return September 23, , by a crowd of , The Great Depression hit Santa Monica deeply.
One report gives citywide employment in of just 1, Hotels and office building owners went bankrupt. In the s, corruption infected Santa Monica along with neighboring Los Angeles. Douglas's business grew with the onset of World War II , employing as many as 44, people in To defend against air attack, set designers from the Warner Brothers Studios prepared elaborate camouflage that disguised the factory and airfield.
