The South Bay is a region in the southwest peninsula of Los Angeles County. Its name stems from the fact that it stretches along the southern shores of Santa Monica Bay, which forms its western border. Its other boundaries are San Pedro Bay on the south, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on the north, the San Diego Freeway to the northeast, and the boundaries of Long Beach on the east. A more restrictive definition of the South Bay includes only the Beach Cities, the cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Torrance. This definition is more commonly found near the ocean, while not as accepted in the inland portions of the South Bay.
The Harbor (I-110), San Diego (I-405), Gardena (CA/SR-91), and Century (I-105) Freeways provide the region with its principal transportation links. The Los Angeles MTA's Green Line light rail line also serves the South Bay. Several ports and harbors in the South Bay provide access to Santa Catalina Island, a popular resort.
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People
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The South Bay is one of the most culturally, economically, and ethnically diverse areas in the United States, with a largely even distribution of population among persons of European, Asian/Pacific Islander, African, and Latino ancestry. The Beach Cities on Santa Monica Bay and the communities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula are some of Greater Los Angeles' and the nation's wealthiest suburbs.
Major Employers
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Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, sprawling across the shorelines of San Pedro and Wilmington, is the busiest in the United States (and, when combined with the Port of Long Beach, the fifth-busiest in the world). Traditionally, most of the populations of Wilmington and San Pedro have worked for the port in some capacity. It is increasingly the primary driver of the Southern California economy: industrial growth in the Inland Empire is almost entirely attributable to increased port traffic since the 1980s. Unfortunately, the massive increase in cargo volume has created significant air pollution (especially of particulate matter resulting from the combustion of low-grade marine diesel fuel) in neighboring communities.
Aerospace
The South Bay is the traditional home of Southern California's aerospace industry. While considerably shrunken from its Cold War peak, it still represents a major economic force, employing thousands in high-skill, high-wage engineering positions and generating enormous amounts of tax revenue. Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman maintain extensive production facilities throughout the South Bay, and Raytheon's Space and Airborne Systems business unit is based in El Segundo. Los Angeles Air Force Base, in El Segundo, is the locus of much of this aerospace research activity, as it is the primary development facility for military satellites and other space programs. DirecTV, a former subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft, is also headquartered in El Segundo for this reason.
Refining
Petroleum refining is another important component of the South Bay's economy. Major South Bay refiners include BP (ARCO facility in Carson), Chevron (El Segundo), ConocoPhillips (Wilmington), ExxonMobil (Torrance), Shell (Wilmington), and Valero (Wilmington). These refiners supply the lion's share of petroleum products for Southern California, as well as for Nevada and Arizona. As the Los Angeles region's oil fields are mostly exhausted, most of the crude oil that feeds the refineries is brought in from terminals at the port.
Local politicians and activists have long denounced the refineries for the amount of air pollution they generate, but in recent years these protests have been muted as the Port of Los Angeles has become the region's dominant polluter. The controversial practice of residue flaring returned to the forefront during the September 12, 2005 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power outage; facing dangerous pressure buildups, refinery operators in Wilmington were forced to flare, resulting in dangerously bad air quality throughout the southeastern South Bay. The incident has renewed calls for restrictions on flaring in non-emergency situations.
Automotive
Japanese automobile manufacturers Toyota, Honda (and Nissan up until late 2005 when the company relocated to Tennessee because of cost of running business in California) all maintain their North American headquarters in the South Bay. While this is largely an artifact of the region's historical importance as a Japanese-American population center, it has proven fortuitous for two reasons: first, since it enables closer oversight of vehicle import operations at the nearby ports; and second, by giving proximity to the automobile customization culture that flowers most fully in nearby South Los Angeles.
Education
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California State University, Dominguez Hills
Los Angeles Harbor College
El Camino College
Marymount College
College of Oceaneering