The Santa Monica area's original inhabitants were the Tongva Indians. In 1769, the first Europeans arrived, a Spanish exploration party headed by Gaspar de Portola. He named the city Santa Monica, but opinions differ about his motivation, with some saying it was to honor the feast day of Saint Monica and others claiming a nearby dripping spring reminded him of the saint's tears, caused by her only son's impiety.
Today's Santa Monica encompasses several Spanish land grants. The old ranchos passed through the hands of several prominent early California families before the first lots in Santa Monica were sold on 1875. The town incorporated in 1886.
Developer Abbot Kinney acquired a strip of coastal property in 1895, naming it Ocean Park and creating an amusement park and residential project which included a race track, casino and golf course.
As amusement piers became more popular in the early twentieth century, the Pacific Electric Railroad extended its trolley line to Santa Monica, and competing pier owners built ever-larger roller coasters to attract visitors. At one time, five piers were located here, but the 1909 Santa Monica Pier is the only one remaining today.
During the 1920s, Santa Monica's population grew quickly, downtown boomed and new resorts opened on the beach, including the Miramar Hotel. In 1921, Donald W. Douglas founded Douglas Aircraft Company and built a plant at Clover Field (now the Santa Monica Airport). Some say beach volleyball was developed here at this time, derived from a traditional game Duke Kahanamoku brought from Hawaii. Many celebrities built homes in Santa Monica, including newspaperman William Randolph Hearst, comedian Will Rogers and actors Greta Garbo, Cary Grant and Douglas Fairbanks.
During the Great Depression, the pleasure piers declined. Muscle Beach, where gymnasts and body-builders put on free public shows, started near the Santa Monica Pier, where it stayed until moving Venice Beach in the 1960s. 1930s political corruption here inspired novelist Raymond Chandler's fictional Bay City.
Pacific Ocean Park, the last great amusement pier opened in 1958, temporarily eclipsing its competitor Disneyland, but declining until it closed in 1967 and was torn down in 1974.
The Douglas Corporation closed their Santa Monica plant in 1968, creating much unemployment. The city began to recover economically in the 1980s, when the Santa Monica Pier was rehabilitated after severe winter storm damage and the Third Street Promenade, a shopping and entertainment center was completed.
