One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Santa Monica Named The Drunkest City in California
Congratulations are, we guess, in order for the City of Santa Monica for being declared the "Drunkest City in California." This "honor", bestowed upon the city by the website RoadSnacks, was apparently won in a landslide. "It wasn't even close," writes the post's author Bud Tapman, who is definitely not using a pseudonym. "Wow, Santa Monica, you are tore up from the floor up!"
According to CBS L.A., the results were based on several factors, including the number of bars and wineries per capita, and the number liquor stores per capita. But the real juicy data comes from trolling the city's social media; the statisticians at RoadSnacks searched geotagged tweets with the hashtags #Drunk, #Party, #Beer, #Wine and #Cocktails. As Santa Monica resident Nate Smith mused to KCAL, "Maybe it's the tech-savvy crowd tending to tweet or share on Facebook their experiences more than your average crowd somewhere else?"
RoadSnacks also analyzed the city's divorce rate, correlating alcoholism with divorce. "Plus, we thought why not add in a stereotype? [ed: uhhh...] Studies have indicated that when one or both partners in a marriage are alcoholics, that couple is three times more likely to divorce." Ookay. Well, based on that criteria, Santa Monica's up there: the city's divorce rate of 12.6% ranks it the 7th highest out of California cities.
Here's the list in full:
1. Santa Monica
2. Santa Barbara
3. Napa
4. Pasadena
5. Sacramento
6. Newport Beach
7. Oakland
8. Livermore
9. San Mateo
10. El Cajon