In November, mall owner Macerich Co. introduced the Samo's Clubhouse play area at its newly redeveloped Santa Monica Place mall, just a few blocks from the beach in Santa Monica, Calif.

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Not to mention that, from downtown LA, one is only about 8 miles from Hollywood, 10 miles from Beverly Hills, and 15 miles due West to the Pacific Ocean and its assortment of beaches and tourist traps in Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach, and the like.

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The ceremony was hosted by Adam Samberg at the awards' usual venue, a tent along the beach in Santa Monica just west of Los Angeles.

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An informal celebration compared to Hollywood's many black-tie honors, the Spirit Awards were presented in their usual venue in a tent along the beach in Santa Monica, just west of Los Angeles.

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Readers of a certain age will remember the opening from the '70s sitcom "Three's Company, " where roommates Janet, Chrissy and Jack ride their bikes down a pathway on the beach in Santa Monica.

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"The story itself revolves around six or seven kids who live in a beach house in Santa Monica, " Collins says.

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He took her out to restaurants on Sunset, to the movies in Hollywood, or on drives to the beach in rich Santa Monica.

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Steven Wyner's client, Deborah Porter, asked the Manhattan Beach district (south of Santa Monica) to give her fourth-grade son extra reading instruction and work on his socializing skills. (He would later be diagnosed with autism.) She won an administrative ruling requiring the district to provide them.

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In fact, greater Los Angeles has seen a flowering of public spaces in the past few years: Santa Monica and Pasadena have created pedestrian precincts, and Venice Beach and Melrose Avenue are sometimes as crowded as mid-town Manhattan.

ECONOMIST: California life