Post by gamedave on Mar 22, 2009 15:43:05 GMT -5
Santa Angela is the largest city in Santa Barbara County, California, situated on the famed Barbary Coast, with a population of approximately 650,000.
Originally founded as a Spanish mission settlement in the 16th century, Santa Angela eventually become a center of gray market and black market commerce, and served as a refuge for smugglers and pirates. It became known as "the Port Royal of the Pacific." A succession of Spanish governors attempted to crack down on the endemic smuggling and piracy, but the prevalence of sea caves, tunnels, and small coves along the coast, combined with corruption and the dependence of the local populace on illicit trade, doomed such efforts.
By the time the United States annexed California, changing patterns of commerce and trade, and the suppression of high-seas piracy, cost Santa Angela much of its commerce, but it was still renowned as a smugglers have for decades. With the explosion of immigration to California in the second half of the 1800s, Santa Angela regained some of its former importance, as it became an important commercial port, although its proximity to the port of Los Angeles meant that it never quite achieved the wealth or prominence it might have otherwise.
Then, 1893, Santa Angela was hit by a major earthquake, which largely leveled the city and caused much of it to subside. The current city of Santa Angela was rebuilt over the ruins of Old Santa Angela. The result is that underneath modern Santa Angela is a complex system of natural caves and tunnels, sewers, a subway system, and an entire buried city.
Santa Angela received another major economic and population boost during World War II, as its port facilities received major upgrades to support the war in the Pacific, and a number of maritime and aerospace industries grew up around the city.
Today, Santa Angela is the 25th largest city in the United States. It is the fourth most important port in California. It is also a major center for the aerospace, bio-tech, and computer industries, although they still have not completely made up for the loss of the shipbuilding industry. While the inland suburbs are booming with new aerospace, bio-tech, and computer office, research and industrial parks, large swaths of the industrial waterfront are still occupied by abandoned shipyards, a rusting blight for the city.
Other highlights of the city and the metropolitan area include Underground Santa Angela, UC-Santa Angela, Gaviota State Park, and the Los Padres National Forest.
Underground Santa Angela is an entertainment and recreation district, popular with both tourists and native Santa Angelenos. It is a revamped section of Old Santa Angeles, combining both renovated original structures and new buildings modeled on Spanish mission architecture. It includes several underground pedestrian streets and plazas, and includes interlinked shopping malls, restaurants, dance clubs, and theaters, with both above-ground and below-ground sections.
UC-Santa Angela was founded in 1898 as the Santa Angela Maritime College, as part of the rebuilding efforts after the earthquake of 1893 and in response to America's Pacific naval expansion. It was originally built on the outskirts of the city, but by the end of World War II, it had been completely surrounded by the booming city. in 1951 it was officially incorporated into the University of California system as UC-Santa Angela. With approximately 30,000 students, it is the third largest campus in the UC system. It has a world-renowned marine sciences program, and its marine biology program became the basis for a leading program that has diversified into all fields of bio-tech research. Campus legend has it that the basements and steam tunnels under the campus link to the old smugglers' tunnels and the ruins of Old Santa Angela, and that dozens of students have become lost in the labyrinthine maze over the decades, never to be seen again.
Gaviota State Park is located just to the west of the city. It is a popular spot for swimming, picnicking, surf fishing and camping. A pier on the west end of the beach is used by anglers, and scuba divers and surfers use a boat hoist on the pier to access the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. Visitors can explore the rugged upland portions of the park from a trailhead in the parking area. Ambitious hikers can climb to Gaviota Peak that offers a spectacular view of the coast and the Channel Islands. Although officially off-limits to park visitors, the park is also well-known for the sea caves that honeycomb the rugged coastline bracketing the beach area. It has long been a rite of passage for local teenagers to make the treacherous climb down the cliff face or swim through the turbulent and rock-filled waters to explore the caves and search for "pirate treasure."
Located to the north of Santa Angela, Los Padres National Forest encompasses approximately 1.75 million acres and stretches across almost 220 miles from north to south. Ecosystems in the Forest range from semi-desert in interior areas to redwood forest on the coast. The Forest provides diverse wildlife habitat, including approximately 468 species of fish and wildlife, and two condor sanctuaries. In addition, Los Padres National Forest produces gold, copper, zinc, chrome, antimony, silver, uranium, mercury, gypsum, limestone and bentonite, as well as geothermal energy, phosphates, and oil and gas. The Forest is also a major supplier of wildland recreation for southern California; there are 1,257 miles of maintained trails and 459 miles of roads and trails designated for off-road vehicle use, while much of Los Padres National Forest is unroaded and primitive. Finally, Los Padres National Forest has prehistoric and historic Native American sites, properties related to the practice of Indian and non-Indian religion, historic properties and districts, including some of the most extraordinary native rock art to be found anywhere in the world.
Originally founded as a Spanish mission settlement in the 16th century, Santa Angela eventually become a center of gray market and black market commerce, and served as a refuge for smugglers and pirates. It became known as "the Port Royal of the Pacific." A succession of Spanish governors attempted to crack down on the endemic smuggling and piracy, but the prevalence of sea caves, tunnels, and small coves along the coast, combined with corruption and the dependence of the local populace on illicit trade, doomed such efforts.
By the time the United States annexed California, changing patterns of commerce and trade, and the suppression of high-seas piracy, cost Santa Angela much of its commerce, but it was still renowned as a smugglers have for decades. With the explosion of immigration to California in the second half of the 1800s, Santa Angela regained some of its former importance, as it became an important commercial port, although its proximity to the port of Los Angeles meant that it never quite achieved the wealth or prominence it might have otherwise.
Then, 1893, Santa Angela was hit by a major earthquake, which largely leveled the city and caused much of it to subside. The current city of Santa Angela was rebuilt over the ruins of Old Santa Angela. The result is that underneath modern Santa Angela is a complex system of natural caves and tunnels, sewers, a subway system, and an entire buried city.
Santa Angela received another major economic and population boost during World War II, as its port facilities received major upgrades to support the war in the Pacific, and a number of maritime and aerospace industries grew up around the city.
Today, Santa Angela is the 25th largest city in the United States. It is the fourth most important port in California. It is also a major center for the aerospace, bio-tech, and computer industries, although they still have not completely made up for the loss of the shipbuilding industry. While the inland suburbs are booming with new aerospace, bio-tech, and computer office, research and industrial parks, large swaths of the industrial waterfront are still occupied by abandoned shipyards, a rusting blight for the city.
Other highlights of the city and the metropolitan area include Underground Santa Angela, UC-Santa Angela, Gaviota State Park, and the Los Padres National Forest.
Underground Santa Angela is an entertainment and recreation district, popular with both tourists and native Santa Angelenos. It is a revamped section of Old Santa Angeles, combining both renovated original structures and new buildings modeled on Spanish mission architecture. It includes several underground pedestrian streets and plazas, and includes interlinked shopping malls, restaurants, dance clubs, and theaters, with both above-ground and below-ground sections.
UC-Santa Angela was founded in 1898 as the Santa Angela Maritime College, as part of the rebuilding efforts after the earthquake of 1893 and in response to America's Pacific naval expansion. It was originally built on the outskirts of the city, but by the end of World War II, it had been completely surrounded by the booming city. in 1951 it was officially incorporated into the University of California system as UC-Santa Angela. With approximately 30,000 students, it is the third largest campus in the UC system. It has a world-renowned marine sciences program, and its marine biology program became the basis for a leading program that has diversified into all fields of bio-tech research. Campus legend has it that the basements and steam tunnels under the campus link to the old smugglers' tunnels and the ruins of Old Santa Angela, and that dozens of students have become lost in the labyrinthine maze over the decades, never to be seen again.
Gaviota State Park is located just to the west of the city. It is a popular spot for swimming, picnicking, surf fishing and camping. A pier on the west end of the beach is used by anglers, and scuba divers and surfers use a boat hoist on the pier to access the waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. Visitors can explore the rugged upland portions of the park from a trailhead in the parking area. Ambitious hikers can climb to Gaviota Peak that offers a spectacular view of the coast and the Channel Islands. Although officially off-limits to park visitors, the park is also well-known for the sea caves that honeycomb the rugged coastline bracketing the beach area. It has long been a rite of passage for local teenagers to make the treacherous climb down the cliff face or swim through the turbulent and rock-filled waters to explore the caves and search for "pirate treasure."
Located to the north of Santa Angela, Los Padres National Forest encompasses approximately 1.75 million acres and stretches across almost 220 miles from north to south. Ecosystems in the Forest range from semi-desert in interior areas to redwood forest on the coast. The Forest provides diverse wildlife habitat, including approximately 468 species of fish and wildlife, and two condor sanctuaries. In addition, Los Padres National Forest produces gold, copper, zinc, chrome, antimony, silver, uranium, mercury, gypsum, limestone and bentonite, as well as geothermal energy, phosphates, and oil and gas. The Forest is also a major supplier of wildland recreation for southern California; there are 1,257 miles of maintained trails and 459 miles of roads and trails designated for off-road vehicle use, while much of Los Padres National Forest is unroaded and primitive. Finally, Los Padres National Forest has prehistoric and historic Native American sites, properties related to the practice of Indian and non-Indian religion, historic properties and districts, including some of the most extraordinary native rock art to be found anywhere in the world.