Silicon Beach

The influx of technology companies has had major impacts on the type and availability of office space and on home prices in Playa Vista, Playa Del Rey, Westchester, Santa Monica, and Venice, already high previously due to beachfront location, has exacerbated the situation and the region suffers from many of the same high cost issues that led companies to flee the San Francisco Bay Area. The effects are also spilling over into Marina del Rey, and Hermosa Beach and continues to attract technology firms, venture capital, and startups.[6]

One of the amenities of the area is relatively easy access to LAX, the biggest and most connected airport in Western North America.[7]

Start-up pockets have also emerged in nearby Culver City, West L.A., and El Segundo.[8] Other pockets include Downtown Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and the San Fernando Valley, which were pricey areas even before the influx.[9][10] The tendency of companies to congregate in these centrally-located, high income areas has raised concerns[11] about the feasibility of racial minorities joining the workforce, as they tend to live in further outlying areas.[12]

In 1983, PC Magazine reported that "some people are starting to call" Boca Raton, Florida—where IBM had developed its Personal Computer, and other technology companies had facilities—"Silicon Beach, in deference to the great valley of the West".[13] In 1984 Silicon Beach Software was formed in San Diego, California.[14] Silicon Beach Australia was used to describe that country's internet technology community in 2008.[15] There are four significant areas in Australia that are nurturing start-ups: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth.[16]

Silicon Beach is also home to a number of start-up incubators and accelerators, such as Amplify.LA, Science, Disney Accelerator, and TechStars Cedars Sinai.[17] Higher education institutions headquartered in Silicon Beach include Loyola Marymount University and Otis College of Art and Design.[18] Other higher education institutions in the nearby Southern California region or with satellite campuses in/nearby Silicon Beach include: Art Center College of Design, California Institute of Technology, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and the Claremont Colleges. In the first six months of 2013, start-ups in Silicon Beach raised over $500 million in funding, and there were 94 new start-ups and nine acquisitions.[19]