Marina del Rey, California

Port Ballona is an archaic place name for an area near the center of Santa Monica Bay in coastal Los Angeles County, where Playa Del Rey and Del Rey Lagoon are located today. Port Ballona was a planned harbor and town site from circa 1859 to 1903. The name comes from the Rancho La Ballona Mexican land grant. Port Ballona consisted of the current Del Rey Lagoon Park but conceptually also included the current Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve alongside the estuarine river Ballona Creek, which flowed into and alongside the marsh within earthen levees built of soft-bottomed wetland soil. While these plans never came to fruition, and the area remains a primarily residential neighborhood, the wetlands immediately to the north were eventually developed into Marina del Rey, North America's largest man-made small-craft harbor.

Silicon Beach is the Westside region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area that is home to more than 500 technology companies, including startups. It is particularly applied to the coastal strip from Los Angeles International Airport north to the Santa Monica Mountains, but the term may be applied loosely or colloquially to most anywhere in the Los Angeles Basin. Startups seeded here include Snapchat and Tinder. Major technology companies that opened offices in the region including Google, Yahoo!, YouTube, BuzzFeed, Facebook, Salesforce, AOL, Electronic Arts, Sony, EdgeCast Networks, MySpace, Amazon.com, Apple, Inc., and Netflix. By some 2012 metrics, the region was the second or third-most prominent technology hub in the world. In the first six months of 2013, 94 new start-ups in Silicon Beach raised over $500 million in funding, and there were nine acquisitions.The area offers relatively easy access to LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), the biggest and most connected airport in western North America.As in the San Francisco Bay Area, the influx of technology companies has boosted home and office rents and real estate prices in Playa Vista, Playa Del Rey, Westchester, Santa Monica, and Venice, already high previously due to beachfront location. The effects are also spilling over into Marina del Rey and Hermosa Beach.Start-up pockets have also emerged in nearby Culver City, West L.A., and El Segundo. Other pockets include Downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Glendale, and the San Fernando Valley, which were pricey areas even before the influx. The tendency of companies to congregate in these centrally-located, high income areas has raised concerns about the feasibility of racial minorities joining the workforce, as they tend to live in further outlying areas.Silicon Beach is also home to start-up incubators and accelerators, such as Amplify.LA, Science, Disney Accelerator, and TechStars Cedars Sinai.The Los Angeles metro area was home to 88,000 engineers in 2021, the highest number of any metro area in the United States. Higher education institutions in Los Angeles County graduate 6,600 engineering majors a year, the highest of any county in the United States.Higher education institutions headquartered in Silicon Beach include Loyola Marymount University and Otis College of Art and Design. Other higher education institutions in the nearby Southern California region or with satellite campuses in/nearby Silicon Beach include: Pepperdine University, Santa Monica College, Art Center College of Design, California Institute of Technology, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, Occidental College, CalState LA, CalState Northridge, CalState Long Beach, CalState Dominguez Hills, CalPoly Pomona, and the Claremont Colleges.

Oxford Basin (also known as Oxford Lagoon or Marina Sanctuary) is a 10.7-acre (43,000 m2) constructed wetland and wildlife conservation area in the northwest corner of Marina del Rey, California, located between Washington Boulevard and Admiralty Way.The basin is a remnant of the historic Ballona Valley ecosystem and one of the last remaining intertidal mud flat habitats in Los Angeles County.Oxford Basin collects urban runoff from a 600-acre (2.4 km2) watershed and remediates it in part through the use of bioswales, low-flow storm drain diversions, native landscaping and a circulation berm. Other inputs to the lagoon are groundwater and tidal inflows from Marina del Rey Harbor.Oxford Basin is ringed by a 0.7 mi (1.1 km) nature walk loop that runs parallel to the Coastal Bike Trail on the Oxford Avenue side. Observation decks offer opportunities for wildlife viewing; the lagoon is host to between 50 and 100 species of birds. The Basin is “currently favored” for wading bird roosting and nesting because it “does not have significant human-bird conflicts.”

Burton Chace Park is the largest public park in Marina del Rey, California. It is named after Burton W. Chace, a former Mayor of Long Beach and Los Angeles County Supervisor.Comprising approximately 10 acres (4.0 ha), the park is located on Mindanao Way near Admiralty Way. The park is surrounded on three sides by water, and a green knoll rises in its center, from which the entire community can be viewed. Public services include picnic grounds, shelters, barbecue grills, restrooms, community rooms, transient and guest docks, showers and facilities for boaters, and a seasonal cafe. Burton Chace Park is the location of many of the community's local fairs and festivals, including the Marina del Rey Holiday Boat Parade, MarinaFest, Discover Marina del Rey, and the Marina Summer Concerts.

Machado refers to three locations in Los Angeles, California, all named for the rancho-era Machado family. Machado is a name derived from Portuguese meaning "hatchet", the stop was probably more directly named for the Machado family of the Rancho era. The family, however, may have used a hatchet to mark their lands. An 1855 real estate description mentions a "cottonwood tree marked with cuts of a hatchet."(1) Machado is a former rail stop in Los Angeles County, California. It laid at an elevation of 13 feet (4 m). Machado was a stop on the Venice–Inglewood Line just north of Alla Junction; the line, which dated to the late 19th century, was lightly used for both passengers and freight. Machado still appeared on USGS maps as of 1934.(2) Machado post office was organized circa 1878 an application was made to the Post Office Department. The new Machado post office station was located northwest quarter section 12 township 2W range 15 west, half a mile north of Ballona Creek and one mile west of La Ballona station.(3) Machado Lake was a 19th century name for Bixby Slough, now Harbor Regional Park lake.

Fisherman's Village is a waterfront mall, commercial boat anchorage and tourist attraction located in the world's largest man-made small boat harbor in Los Angeles County at Marina del Rey, California. The Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve is just east of Fisherman's Village and immediately to the south is the federally-owned riverine estuary of Ballona Creek. The historical Fisherman's Village, built in 1967, is nestled on the eastern bank of main harbor entrance channel between Whiskey Reds restaurant to the south and the Windward boatyard to the north. Fisherman's Village was developed and built by the Sheldon L. Pollack Corporation. The company also developed and/or built several other similar projects in Southern California including San Diego Seaport Village, Port Hueneme Fisherman's Village (now called Fisherman's Wharf Channel Islands Harbor) and Oceanside Harbor Village. Constructed in the style of a New England fishing village, Fisherman's Village consists of five brightly painted wooden buildings, a waterfront promenade, a lighthouse, a water fountain and commercial boat docks. Tourist attractions include live music concerts, restaurant and café dining, harbor and fishing cruises, boat and bicycle rentals, a Catalina Island ferry service, souvenir shops, a nightclub and a public water shuttle (harbor ferry) service. The waterfront promenade offers panoramic views of the harbor, where approximately 5,300 pleasure boats, yachts, and commercial vessels are berthed across 21 individual marinas, including yacht clubs. Various types of ocean-going vessels can be seen as they pass Fisherman's Village en route to, or returning from, voyages into Santa Monica Bay, Catalina Island, the Pacific Ocean and beyond. On Wednesday evenings during March to September from 5 pm to 7 pm, up to 100 sailboats from 22 to 70 feet in length can be seen, sails unfurled, racing toward the finishing line in California Yacht Club's (CYC) Sunset Series regatta. The address of Fisherman's Village is 13755 Fiji Way, Marina del Rey, California, 90292-6909. It is situated on Los Angeles County land (public land) and designated as parcel #56 by the DBH (Department of Beaches and Harbors). DBH lease the parcels on the public's behalf. The adjoining public parking lot #1 is managed by Parking Concepts International (PCI) on behalf of DBH. The lessee of Fisherman's Village is 'Gold Coast Village, LLC' who have appointed their property management company, 'Pacific Ocean Management'. The leasee also holds other parcels in Marina Del Rey such as Admiralty Apartments on Admiralty Way, Marina Beach strip mall on Washington Boulevard and Pier 44/Dock 77 marinas. Shoreline Village in Long Beach is another lease held. Other entities of note adjoining Fisherman's Village are: US Coast Guard station, MDR LA Sheriff's Department station, the LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors (DBH) executive offices, Whiskey Red's restaurant, Villa Venetia apartment complex, UCLA rowing sheds to the south and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) rowing sheds, The Boatyard and DBH trailer offices to the North-east. Since the late 1970s, Fisherman's Village has faced a decline of stores closing due to the leasing issues. A seal cage was emptied and various arcades for pinball machines and video games closed, including an eponymous arcade owned by actor Gary Coleman in the early 1990s. At times, the boat tours were shut down as well. There has been an effort to rebuild Fisherman's Village with a parking complex, however, due to the millions of dollars involved in order to add new shops and stores, as well as the influx of heavy traffic, it had to go through several environmental impact reports before any demolition could take place. No decision has been made at this time. The parking lot had to start charging fees in order to pay for the maintenance of Fisherman's Village.

The Ballona Lagoon is a soft-bottomed channel and 16-acre (65,000 m2) tidal marsh in the Marina Peninsula neighborhood of Los Angeles that feeds the Venice Canals with water from the Pacific Ocean via a tide gate.

The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors is responsible for 20 beaches and the Marina Del Rey small-craft harbor in Los Angeles County, California.

The USC Information Sciences Institute (ISI) is a component of the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering, and specializes in research and development in information processing, computing, and communications technologies. It is located in Marina del Rey, California.ISI actively participated in the information revolution, and it played a leading role in developing and managing the early Internet and its predecessor ARPAnet. The Institute conducts basic and applied research supported by more than 20 U.S. government agencies involved in defense, science, health, homeland security, energy and other areas. Annual funding is about $100 million.ISI employs about 400 research scientists, research programmers, graduate students and administrative staff at its Marina del Rey, California headquarters, in Arlington, Virginia, and in Boston, Massachusetts. About half of the research staff hold PhD degrees, and about 40 are research faculty who teach at USC and advise graduate students. Several senior researchers are tenured USC faculty in the Viterbi School.

The USC-Lockheed Martin Quantum Computing Center (QCC) is a joint scientific research effort between Lockheed Martin Corporation and the University of Southern California (USC). The QCC is housed at the Information Sciences Institute (ISI), a computer science and engineering research unit of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and is jointly operated by ISI and Lockheed Martin. USC faculty, ISI researchers and students are performing basic and applied research into quantum computing, and are collaborating with researchers around the world. The QCC uses a D-Wave Two quantum annealing system, manufactured by D-Wave Systems, Inc. The QCC is the first organization outside of D-Wave to operate the system. The second system is installed at NASA Ames Research Center, and is operated jointly by NASA and Google. The systems must be kept extremely cold and electromagnetically shielded to operate with the longest possible coherence time.

Marina Peninsula is a neighborhood in western Los Angeles, California. It is often considered a subsection of the adjacent neighborhood of Venice. Because of its name it is sometimes erroneously thought to be part of the adjacent community of Marina del Rey, California, but it was annexed to Los Angeles along with the rest of Venice in 1925.Marina Peninsula lies directly west of Marina del Rey and west of the main Venice Canal, south and southeast of Venice Beach, and north of Ballona Creek. Its northern border is marked by Washington Boulevard. It houses about 3,000 mostly affluent residents.Neighborhood organizations include the Marina Peninsula Community Council (an elected advisory board) and the Marina Peninsula Property Owners Association. It is part of the Venice Neighborhood Council.All of the street names are alphabetical and nautical, starting with Anchorage Street and ending with Yawl Street. The Silver Strand is a subsection of Marina Peninsula.

Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center is a literary arts center located at 681 Venice Boulevard, Venice, Los Angeles, California, founded in 1968. The center is based near the beach in Los Angeles's old Venice City Hall, built in 1906. It offers an extensive program of public readings, workshops, a project room, bookstore, publications, and chapbook/small press archive.