EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA

'El Segundo' is a city in Los Angeles County, California on the Santa Monica Bay, incorporated on January 18, 1917. The population was 16,033 at the 2000 census.
The area was once a part of Rancho San Pedro and later became ''El Rancho Sausal Redondo'' ("The Clump of the Willows"). The most common story of how the city received its current name is that it became the site of the second ("el segundo" in Spanish) Standard Oil refinery on the West Coast in 1911. In 2006, El Segundo won an Eddy award for being the most business friendly city in Los Angeles county. El Segundo is in transition from being a Caucasian, blue-collar 'company town' to being a 'corporate' town where the tax base relies on a non-resident working population. Pollution and toxic waste cleanup remain issues as El Segundo restores industrial sites to shopping malls and sports facilities. To date the social problems in areas east of El Segundo have not spread west of the Burlington-Northern/Santa Fe railway. Many east-west avenues in El Segundo do not penetrate the neighborhoods lying east; the elevated commuter rail also runs north-south on the east edge of the town. The north and south boundaries of the town are the LAX airport and prosperous Manhattan Beach with the Pacific as the western boundary. The most prominent feature of the town is the massive oil refinery which borders the town center and the massive sewage treatment facility on the west side of the town. Office towers are not a prominent feature of this town from any but a very select vantage point (the towers are no longer occupied by Hughes although the helipad #1 remains in place.) Aircraft noise from LAX is a major issue for residents on the north side of El Segundo. Warnings of West-nile virus are posted in the town. Traps for rats can be found near the walls of most office buildings. There is a notable lack of songbirds in the town as compared to towns east and south of El Segundo. The town's decision to destroy vast numbers of Ficus trees remains very controversial: the trees can still be found near the city hall where they offer abundant shade. The trees were blamed for the high cost of sidewalk repairs in the town. Residents are currently active in tree-planting along Imperial Highway.

Contents

Economy

Geography

Demographics

Education

In popular culture

Trivia

Notable residents

References

External links

Economy

Many large aerospace companies have facilities in El Segundo, including Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and The Aerospace Corporation, which is headquartered there. It is also home to the Los Angeles Air Force Base and the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), which is responsible for space-related acquisition for the military. In addition to the Chevron oil refinery, El Segundo is also home to the El Segundo power plant and adjacent to the Hyperion sewage treatment plant. Los Angeles International Airport is located immediately to the north of El Segundo. Dockweiler State Beach is partially located in El Segundo, including the only RV park on the beach in California. The North American headquarters to the Australian company Globe Shoes are located in El Segundo as well as Toy manufacturer Mattel, satellite TV provider DirecTV, IT services firm Computer Sciences Corporation, power semiconductor company International Rectifier, and the internet company Internet Brands.

Geography

El Segundo is located at (33.921313, -118.406233).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 28.0 km² (10.8 mi²). 14.3 km² (5.5 mi²) of it is land and 13.6 km² (5.3 mi²) of it (48.70%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 16,033 people, 7,060 households, and 3,911 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,117.4/km² (2,894.6/mi²). There were 7,261 housing units at an average density of 506.0/km² (1,310.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.61% White, 1.17% Black or African American, 0.47% Native American, 6.41% Asian, 0.29% Pacific Islander, 3.51% from other races, and 4.55% from two or more races. 11.01% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 7,060 households out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.6% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 3.00.
In the city the population was spread out with 22.7% under the age of 18, 6.2% from 18 to 24, 38.7% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $61,341, and the median income for a family was $74,007. Males had a median income of $52,486 versus $41,682 for females. The per capita income for the city was $33,996. About 3.1% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.7% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The El Segundo Unified School District serves El Segundo. The school district is listed as one of the state's 29 academic outperformers by Standards and Poor's in 2005.

★ El Segundo High School

★ Vistamar School

In popular culture

★ The hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest wrote the song "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo," which was included on their 1990 album ''People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm''. The elderly landlady (Irma P. Hall as Marva Munson) in ''The Ladykillers'' repeatedly complained about the insanity of this lyric.

★ Besides mentioning Watts, Redd Foxx often referred to El Segundo on the 1972 hit TV show ''Sanford and Son''. In one episode, he refers to his Ripple wine as coming from "the vineyards of El Segundo"

★ The alternative ending of '' states that subsequent to the crash-landing of Dr. Evil's Bob's Big Boy rocket, Dr. Evil found work as the night manager of a Big Boy restaurant in El Segundo.

★ El Segundo was also mentioned in an episode of the ''Fairly Oddparents''.

★ The movie ''Dude, Where's My Car?'' was filmed in El Segundo, in front of the ice cream parlor formerly known as Scoops which closed down due to a drug bust, but now is known as Likity-Split.

★ A "roadmap to El Segundo" generally refers to the state of something as soiled or messy.

★ The beginning of the Blink 182 video of their song "First Date" lists El Segundo, 1974 as its location.

★ El Segundo High School has been featured in many films and television shows, including ''WarGames'', ''Joe Dirt'', ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'', ''Boston Public'', ''The Hot Chick'', ''Yours, Mine and Ours'', ''Even Stevens'', ''24'', ''Joan of Arcadia'', ''The O.C.'', ''Superbad'', ''Room 222'', ''Epic Movie'', ''Shredderman Rules'' and many others. Some promotional T-shirts sold in El Segundo claim that El Segundo High School has appeared in more films and TV shows than any other high school.

★ David Spade mentioned El Segundo on ''The Showbiz Show with David Spade''.

★ An episode of ''Bones'' was filmed at Scattergood water treatment facility which lies on El Segundo's West border.

★ Many years ago a Ripley's Believe It Or Not newspaper item suggested that El Segundo was one of the few U.S. cities where every street had a hill. However, that is only true of the western residential area of the city.

★ '' is filmed in parts of El Segundo.

★ The Nicktoon ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters'' was set in a waste dump in El Segundo.

Trivia

★ The Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings practice at the Toyota Sports Center located on the outskirts of El Segundo.

★ The Pacific Electric Railway opened a branch line, running into the city at the eastern border, crossing Aviation Boulevard south of El Segundo Boulevard, and ending at Main Street and Grand Avenue downtown. The line was meant as a commuter line for Standard Oil employees, but it was not traveled much and was abandoned in 1930.

Notable residents

★ Jamie Storr- Former L.A Kings Goaltender

★ Ken and George Brett, baseball players, grew up in El Segundo and graduated from El Segundo High School.

References

1. El Segundo Website - Elected Officials
2. Incorporation Dates of California Cities
3. El Segundo city, California - Fact Sheet - American FactFinder
4. USPS - ZIP Code Lookup - Find a ZIP+ 4 Code By City Results

External links

★ City of El Segundo website

★ City of El Segundo - pro-business website

★ El Segundo Chamber of Commerce

★ El Segundo.net - News and Information

★ El Segundo Unified School District