South Bay, Los Angeles

The South Bay is a region in the southwest peninsula of Los Angeles County, California. 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, and the Los Angeles River on the east. (The cities of Compton, Inglewood,Hawthorne, Downey and Lynwood lie within these boundaries, but are generally considered extensions of South Central Los Angeles and not part 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.

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 (and, when combined with the Port of Long Beach, the third-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.

Related Topics:
Port of Los Angeles - Port of Long Beach - Inland Empire - Air pollution - Particulate - Diesel

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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 and Lockheed Martin 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.

Related Topics:
Aerospace - Cold War - Engineering - Boeing - Lockheed Martin - Raytheon's - Los Angeles Air Force Base - Satellite

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Refining

Petroleum refining is another important component of the South Bay's economy. Major South Bay refiners include British Petroleum (ARCO facility in Carson), Chevron (El Segundo), ConocoPhillips (Wilmington), Exxon Mobil (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.

Related Topics:
Petroleum - British Petroleum - ARCO - Chevron - ConocoPhillips - Exxon Mobil - Shell - Valero - Nevada - Arizona

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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.

Related Topics:
Residue flaring - Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

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Automotive

Japanese automobile manufacturers Nissan, Toyota, and Honda 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 Central Los Angeles.

Related Topics:
Nissan - Toyota - Honda - South Central Los Angeles

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