The South Bay is a region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, located in the southwest corner of Los Angeles County. The name stems from its geographic location stretching along the southern shore of Santa Monica Bay. The South Bay contains sixteen cities plus portions of the City of Los Angeles and unincorporated portions of the county. The area is bounded by the Pacific Ocean on the south and west and generally by the City of Los Angeles on the north and east.[1]
The region is bordered on the north by the Westside region of Los Angeles, on the northeast by the South Los Angeles region and on the east and southeast by the Gateway Cities.
South Bay Cities Council of Governments
The South Bay Cities Council of Governments (SBCCOG) is a joint powers authority government agency made of politicians from the sixteen South Bay cities and unincorporated Los Angeles County that share the goal of maximizing the quality of life and productivity of the South Bay region of Los Angeles. The SBCCOG members are Carson, El Segundo, Gardena, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Torrance, the Harbor City/San Pedro/Wilmington communities of the City of Los Angeles and the unincorporated areas of the County of Los Angeles District 2 and 4.
Major employers
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. When combined with the Port of Long Beach, it is 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. The massive increase in cargo volume has created significant air pollution (especially of particulate matter in neighboring communities, resulting from the combustion of low-grade marine diesel fuel).
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. Northrop Grumman has a major facility in El Segundo where the F/A-18 Hornet fuselage is manufactured, as well as the headquarters of the Space Technology division in Redondo Beach and a facility at the Hawthorne Municipal Airport. Howmet Fastening Systems, a subsidiary of Howmet Aerospace, has their corporate headquarters located in Torrance with manufacturing facilities in both Torrance and Carson. Boeing and Lockheed Martin also maintain extensive production facilities throughout the South Bay and Raytheon maintains a facility in El Segundo. The Los Angeles Air Force Base and neighboring Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo are a main focus of aerospace research activity and serve as the primary development facilities for military satellites and other space programs. DirecTV, a former subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft, is also headquartered in El Segundo for the same reason. SpaceX is also headquartered in the South Bay in Hawthorne.
Oil refining
Petroleum refining is another important component of the South Bay's economy. Major South Bay refiners include Tesoro (ARCO facility in Carson), Chevron (El Segundo), Phillips 66 (Wilmington), PBF Energy (Torrance), Tesoro (Wilmington), and Valero (Wilmington). These refiners supply a large share of petroleum products for Southern California as well as for Nevada and Arizona.
Automotive
Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda maintains its North American headquarters in the South Bay, in the city of Torrance. (Nissan was also headquartered in the South Bay until late 2005, but relocated to Tennessee, citing the high cost of running a business in California. Toyota relocated to Plano, Texas in 2017 for many of the same reasons.) While these locations are largely the legacy of the region's historical importance as a Japanese-American population center, it has proven fortuitous for two reasons; first, it enables closer oversight of vehicle import operations at the nearby ports; and second, it gives them proximity to the automobile customization culture that is prominent in nearby South Los Angeles. Tesla is stationed near the headquarters of SpaceX in Hawthorne.
The South Bay has a rich history in music, and has produced a number of significant rock bands, like Hawthorne natives The Beach Boys in the early 1960s, and continuing particularly in punk music. Other notable South Bay-based artists include: