Santa Monica Mayor Pam O'connor speaks during the  Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce's State of the City event under the Cirque du Soleil's Grand Chapiteau on Monday, January 27. 2014.

The 2014 State of the City brings together the Santa Monica business and resident community with city government leaders to hear the annual economic report and learn about new initiatives impacting the city. This year's event focused on "Global Visionaries and Local Leaders Building 21st Century Cities," and gave attendees an inside look at Cirque du Soleil's Big Top Tent in Santa Monica.

President and CEO of the Santa Monica Chamber, Laurel Rosen, presented the welcome address, Mayor Pam O'Connor spoke about the current state of Santa Monica and gave insight into the future and talked about how businesses and the community will continue to build a 21st Century City in Santa Monica. In a world of cultural and technological trendsetters, Santa Monica is making waves, which will be exemplified at the State of the City.

"State of The City is one of the most important events for businesses like ours, giving us the opportunity to mix and mingle with fellow business leaders and hear from the mayor and city manager, if you haven't attended in the past it's the best time to find out what is really happening in Santa Monica and how it impacts your business," said Brad Cox, Trammell Crow, 2013-2014 Chairman of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce.

Each year, a committee of business and community leaders honors individuals and organizations that have contributed to the economic success of the city while demonstrating commitment to community well-being through social, humanitarian or environmental leadership. This year's Economic Excellence Award was presented to Cirque du Soleil, which is making its mark in Santa Monica with the new spectacular, Totem.

State of the City attendees had an opportunity to engage with the City Departments and partners on their premiere developments including the Expo Line and Colorado Esplanade and network among members of the business community, city leaders, and residents. 

Performance artist Tim Youd types Raymond Chandler's, "Farewell, My lovely" on a vintage Underwood Noiseless typewriter at the Santa Monica Pier on Friday, January 24, 2014.

Artist Tim Youd performs the re-typing of entire novels on a single piece of paper, utilizing the same make and model typewriter used by the original author. In his process, Youd covers a piece of paper with a top sheet, so that the underlying page receives the indentation from the keys but not the ink, except where the typewriter keys break through the top sheet. When Youd gets to the bottom of a page, he reinserts the same page back into the typewriter. The result is a highly formal yet very surprising diptych - the top sheet densely covered in ink, mirrored against a heavily indented but mostly un-inked page.

Geography is integral to the performance. Youd looks to conduct his retyping in a location germane to the author's life, or to some facet of the novel itself. He plans to type 100 novels in the next five years.

Lead and title character of the FOX situation comedy, New Girl Zooey Deschanel, with cast, films a scene at Santa Monica Muscle Beach on Thursday, January 23. 2014. Taking a modern look at friendship and romance, hit comedy NEW GIRL, currently in its third season, follows a group of six friends, their somewhat interconnected romantic exploits and their often hilariously misguided attempts to find their respective places in the world.

The SGI-USA Taiko Youth perform during the 28th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration at the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Auditorium on Monday, January 20, 2014. The multiethnic, interfaith program included inspirational readings, music and presentations of scholarships. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday in 1986 under a law signed by then-President Ronald Reagan. King and George Washington are the only Americans with federal holidays celebrating their birth. King was the chief spokesman for nonviolent activism in the civil rights movement, which successfully protested racial discrimination in federal and state law. He was assassinated in 1968.

(Top) Santa Monica Councilmember Tony Vasquez holds a California Mountain King Snake during Heal the Bay's Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Dorothy Green Room Grand Opening on Saturday, January 18, 2014. (Center) Heal the Bay Associate Director Alix Hobb looks at a Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii). (above) Dorothy Green's granddaughter, with Heal the Bay Chief Executive Officer Ruskin Hartley and Aquarium Director Heather Doyle, cuts the ribbon during Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Dorothy Green Room Grand Opening celebration. 

The newly renovated Dorothy Green Room brings a holistic approach to water and a fresh focus on the watersheds of the Santa Monica Bay while celebrating Heal the Bay’s founder – and founding – through interactive displays and two new exhibits of live animals.

One side of the revamped space, which doubles as a classroom, illustrates an urban watershed and explores how human behavior impacts the ocean; the opposite wall is converted into a more natural watershed exhibit, including tanks featuring riparian and estuarine organisms.

Dorothy, an L.A. mother and budding environmental activist, found out that the city of Los Angeles' Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant was a disaster, dumping incompletely treated sewage into the bay and breaking the law in several different ways. Outraged, Dorothy gathered a group of like-minded citizens in her living room, in concert with local activist Howard Bennett, and Heal the Bay was born. Attorney Doug Spruance and Secretary Maxine Brickman would later facilitate the formal incorporation of the organization in 1987.

Heal the Bay sold T-shirts in Venice Beach, talked to the media, packed hearing rooms and held rallies, and ultimately Hyperion’s waiver was denied. Today, Hyperion is a world-class treatment facility, fish and dolphins no longer have fin rot and tumors, and plant and animal life has returned to the dead zones.

THE HUNDREDS walk along the Santa Monica Pier on Saturday, January 18, 2014. The Hundreds is a multi-faceted project that houses an apparel and accessories brand, footwear range, eyewear, online-magazine, print magazine and retail stores. All ends of The Hundreds incorporate our trademark lifestyle, attitude, and personal perspective on street subculture.

Santa Monica Police Chief Jacqueline Seabrooks and Santa Monica Fire Chief Scott Ferguson pray during the 9th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Interfaith Prayer Breakfast for Unity in the Community  at the First United Methodist Church on Friday, January 17, 2014. The inspirational community gathering, featuring speakers, reflection and prayer was presented by The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition 

TOTEM from Cirque du Soleil - Images by Fabian Lewkowicz

Amphibians of TOTEM from Cirque du Soleil explore Santa Monica Pier Aquarium’s new Watershed Exhibit and meet marine life during a press conference on Tuesday, January 14, 2014. Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium and Cirque du Soleil announced a community education partnership that will allow free admission to the Aquarium on Saturday, January 18, and free admission every Friday in February. Cirque du Soleil will also sponsor five field trip education programs to the Aquarium.

To celebrate and kick off the partnership, characters of TOTEM from Cirque du Soleil, all-new big-top production opening on January 17, 2014 at the Santa Monica Pier for a limited engagement, visited the Aquarium’s new Watershed Exhibit and met marine life.

Visitors become better stewards of the ocean by seeing and interacting with the animals that live in the Santa Monica Bay first-hand.  Students who benefit from the classes funded through Cirque du Soleil come from low-income, disadvantaged neighborhoods –most live only miles from the ocean will have their first experience with the beach environment and marine life.