Santa Monica, California

Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of individuals to peaceably assemble and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their ideas. The right to freedom of assembly is recognized as a human right, a political right and a civil liberty.

The terms freedom of assembly and freedom of association may be used to distinguish between the freedom to assemble in public places and the freedom to join an association. Freedom of assembly is often used in the context of the right to protest, while freedom of association is used in the context of labor rights. The Constitution of the United States is interpreted to mean both the freedom to assemble and the freedom to join an association.

The right to protest may be a manifestation of the right to freedom of assembly, the right to freedom of association, and the right to freedom of speech. Additionally, protest and restrictions on protest have lasted as long as governments have.

Paramount Skydance Corporation (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It is headquartered at the Paramount Pictures lot in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, with offices at the previous Skydance Media headquarters in Santa Monica, California and the previous Paramount Global headquarters at One Astor Plaza in New York City.

The company was formed on August 7, 2025 by David Ellison, through the merger of Paramount Global, National Amusements, and Skydance Media. The company trades under the ticker symbol "PSKY" on the Nasdaq.

Skydance Media, LLC (formerly known as Skydance Productions from 2006 to 2016) was an American film production and finance company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by David Ellison on April 4, 2006, the company specialized in films, animation, television, video games, and sports.

In 2009, the company entered a five-year partnership to co-produce and co-finance films with Paramount Pictures. This agreement was renewed twice, extending to 2021. On July 7, 2024, Skydance announced its intent to merge with Paramount Global in an $8 billion transaction, under an agreement in which Skydance would acquire Paramount's controlling shareholder National Amusements, and then perform an all-stock merger with the company. On July 24, 2025, the merger was approved by the FCC, and the merger was closed on August 7, 2025, forming Paramount Skydance (which the Skydance Media library transferred to Paramount Pictures).

Hulu (/ˈhuːluː/, HOO-loo) is an American subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It is one of the most-subscribed video on demand streaming media services, with 64.1 million paid memberships. Its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California, with offices in Santa Monica, California (the former West Coast bureau for HBO), New York City, and Seattle, Washington. Hulu was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as a joint venture between News Corporation and NBC Universal; Providence Equity, Disney, and Time Warner later made investments in the service.

Hulu originally served as an aggregator, streaming recent episodes of programs from the companies' television networks (including ABC, NBC, and Fox). In 2010, Hulu launched a subscription service, initially branded as "Hulu Plus," which featured full seasons of programs from the companies and other partners, and access to new episodes immediately after their airing. In 2016, Hulu syndicated its free library to Yahoo in order to focus exclusively on Hulu Plus. In 2017, the company launched "Hulu + Live TV"—a superset of Hulu Plus also offering access to broadcast and cable television channels.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King.

Founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games, the company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision, including Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games. Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, Skylanders, Spyro, Tony Hawk's, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush Saga. Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably Overwatch and Call of Duty. Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records. As of March 2018, it was the largest game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization.

Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands, and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. The biggest music company in the world, it is one of the "Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG before its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The French Bolloré family still owns 28 percent of UMG (18 percent directly, and ten percent through Vivendi, the Bolloré family's investment company). The company went public on September 21, 2021, at a valuation of €46 billion.

As of April 2024, UMG's catalogue includes over three million recordings and four million compositions.

Starz Entertainment Corp. is a Canadian-American entertainment company currently headquartered in Santa Monica, California. Founded by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, it is/was domiciled and incorporated in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company was formerly known as Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, or simply Lionsgate.

Prior to 2024, the then-named Lionsgate owned film and television studios under its own umbrella. They have since been spun off into Lionsgate Studios on May 14, 2024, of which Starz owned 87% until its separation on May 7, 2025. The company trades on Nasdaq via the stock symbol STRZ.

Lionsgate Studios Corp. is a Canadian-American film and television production and distribution conglomerate, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, and primarily based in Santa Monica, California. It was formed on May 14, 2024, after Starz Entertainment, formerly known as Lionsgate, spun off its film and television businesses.

Lionsgate Studios's portfolio includes Lionsgate Canada (formerly known as Entertainment One/eOne), 3 Arts Entertainment, Pilgrim Media Group, Lionsgate Films, Lionsgate Television, Lionsgate Alternative Television, Lionsgate Home Entertainment, a minority stake in 42, and a stake of joint venture Amblin Partners. Through Lionsgate Films, the company also releases films under the Summit Entertainment and eOne Films labels.

Rancho San Vicente y Santa Mónica was a 33,000-acre (130 km) Mexican land grant in present-day Los Angeles County, California, given by governor Juan Alvarado in 1839 to Francisco Sepúlveda II, a soldier and citizen of Los Angeles. The rancho included what are now Santa Monica, Brentwood, Mandeville Canyon, and parts of Bel-Air and West Los Angeles.

John Percival Jones (January 27, 1829 – November 27, 1912) was an American politician who served for 30 years as a Republican United States Senator from Nevada. He made a fortune in silver mining and was a co-founder of the town of Santa Monica, California.

Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker (1827–1912) was a wealthy Californio landowner and socialite of Los Angeles. She played an important role in the elite society of Los Angeles and, later, Santa Monica. She was married to two wealthy Anglo-American men over the course of her life, Abel Stearns and then Colonel Robert S. Baker. Like many californias of her time, Arcadia Bandini provided to her Anglo husbands opportunities for entrance into and alliances within the established californio elite society. She was a skilled businesswoman in her own right, as well as a renowned hostess and organizer of balls and other social functions.

Through her Bandini family wealth and the wealth of her husbands, she amassed an enormous estate and fortune, and upon her death was one of the wealthiest women in America. In her later life, she was considered "the great benefactress of Santa Monica" for her investments in and contributions to the development of the city. As she had no children and died intestate (without leaving a will), her death prompted an infamous court battle for control of her estate.

Palisades Park is a 26.4-acre (10.7 ha) park in Santa Monica, California. The park is located along a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) section of Ocean Avenue on top of an uplifted unconsolidated sedimentary coastal Quaternary terrace with exposed bluffs, offering views of both the Pacific Ocean and the coastal mountains. Originally named Linda Vista Park, it was established in 1892 following donations by city founders Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker and John Percival Jones.

The Santa Monica Pier is a large pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California, United States. It contains a small amusement park, concession stands, and areas for views and fishing. The pier is part of the greater Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Ocean Park is a Santa Monica neighborhood of Santa Monica in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, United States.

The Hotel Casa del Mar is a historic luxury hotel located on the beach in Santa Monica, California. It is owned and operated by the Edward Thomas Collection of Hotels (ETC Hotels).

Wilshire Boulevard (/ˈwɪlʃər/ WIL-shər) is a prominent 15.83 mi (25.48 km) boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal east–west arterial roads of Los Angeles, it is also one of the major city streets through the city of Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the west boundary of Beverly Hills. From the east boundary, it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus.

Wilshire Boulevard is densely developed throughout most of its span, connecting five of Los Angeles's major business districts and Beverly Hills. Many of the post-1956 skyscrapers in Los Angeles are located along Wilshire; for example, the Wilshire Grand Center, the tallest building in California, sits at the intersection of Figueroa Street. One Wilshire, built in 1966 at the junction of Wilshire and Grand, is said to be "the main hub of the internet for the entire Pacific Rim" because so many telecommunications companies rent space there. Aon Center, Los Angeles' third-largest tower, is at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles.

U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway ran from Chicago, Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before terminating in Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles (3,940 km).

It was recognized in popular culture by both the 1946 hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route 66 television series, which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It was also featured in the Disney/Pixar animated feature film franchise Cars, beginning in 2006. In John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939), the highway symbolizes escape, loss and the hope of a new beginning; Steinbeck dubbed it the Mother Road. Other designations and nicknames include the Will Rogers Highway and the Main Street of America, the latter nickname shared with U.S. Route 40.