This week I decided to head to Santa Monica and take a stroll through 3rd Street Promenade and its adjacent neighboring streets. My friend picked me up from UCLA and dropped me off at the corner of 3rd Street and Arizona Street. As soon as I stepped out of his car I noticed the ambiance of the street was quite nice. There were Big Blue Santa Monica signs that said "3rd Street Promenade" on both sides of the street. I noticed that 3rd Street Promenade was sectioned off for a few blocks because it was meant for pedestrians to stroll. The street had a mixture of tall palms and low decidious trees that were planted in rows going up and down in order to give the atmosphere of a laidback "Southern California lifestyle." I noticed on this one block there were high end stores such as Apple, Victoria's Secret, and Sephora on one side of the street and on the other side there was a Sushi Bar and a J Crew store. I walked south down 3rd Street Promenade past Arizona Street and continued to browse the shops all around. I definitely can tell that this was an upper middle class area with stores tailored to the more "well-to-do." The people I passed by were mostly Caucasian people in their 20's and 30's, which makes me think that Santa Monica is a more Yuppie place. I looked up the demographics of Santa Monica and it says the area is about 70 percent Caucasian which was reflected in my observation.
3rd Street Promenade
As I walked down the promenade, I came across a Pinkberry's Yogurt and decided to have a nice treat. I ordered a nice vanilla yogurt and sat outside and observed. I noticed that people had a sense of mobility and knew where they were going. I could see customers conversing with a store owner outside and it appeared she wanted to buy a shirt. Ernest Burgess states that mobility involves "The state of mobility of the person, and the number and kind of contacts or stimulations in his environment (344)." Since it was a Saturday afternoon there were quite a good amount of people. A lot of people were conversing and carrying about their day, just minding their own business. I would say there was a constant flow of people down the promenade.
After I finished my Pinkberry yogurt I decided to walk up the street towards Wilshire Blvd. As I walked, I noticed there were more homeless people that came out, most likely because it was in the early afternoon. I saw some homeless looking in trashcans for food. These homeless come to this commericial area known as "The Loop" because it is basically Santa Monica's center of trade and business district. The Promenade is "The Loop." From "The Loop" there usually is a Transition Zone, which was apparent on the adjacent street. In "Growth of the City," the transition zone is usually a mixture of light businesses and light manufacture (340). I noticed that when I walked on 4th street behind the 3rd Street Promenade there were small manufacturing businesses such as a tire repair shop and a gas station. What's interesting is that 4th Street seemed to have more hispanic workers in the auto repair shop and hispanic workers at the gas station.
Apartments in Santa Monica
I noticed that Wilshire Blvd served as a dividing line between the commericial area of Santa Monica and the "residential zone." I saw nice apartment buildings in this residential area as pictured above. Once again the area was mostly Caucasian. I saw two Caucasian women walk by me with their dogs and I saw a Caucasian man jog by me. The area had nice tall palm trees on the block. The area seems to be restrictive to an elite bunch with successful jobs.
After walking up the "residential zone" of 3rd Street, my friend picked me up at the corner of Montana and 3rd Street and we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway on our way back to UCLA. I noticed the Santa Monica pier in the distance and the sun up high. What a day in Santa Monica!
Santa Monica Pier