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Baseball players run on to the field during Santa Monica P.O.N.Y. League's Opening Day Ceremony at Los Amigos Park on Saturday, March 7, 2009.

PONY Baseball is designed to "Protect Our Nation's Youth" by providing experiences in youth baseball that will help young boys and girls grow into healthier and happier adults. Players are taught the importance of teamwork, discipline, sportsmanship, and responsibility. SMPL has provided generations of children the chance to learn the skills of baseball.

PONY baseball play is governed by the Official Rules of Major League Baseball and PONY Baseball rules and regulations. It also includes pick-offs, lead-offs, steals, dropped 3rd strike rule, and longer basepaths.

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http://www.santamonicaponybaseball.com/

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Four mannequins advertise Royal Elastic's sale at Main Street on Monday, February 2, 2009. Royal Elastics, showcases alternative sneakers and flats for men, women and children. Royal Elastics started with the radical idea that sneakers don't need laces. Instead, footwear fastens with elasticized shock cord or Velcro.Royal Elastics was founded in 1996 in Australia, and now has 10 retail stores in Asia. The success of the Asian stores inspired Royal Elastics to open in the United States. Royal on Main takes a rare approach to merchandising: It also sells items related to the themes that inspire Royal Elastics designs. Royal Elastics makes a licensed line with Andy Warhol's graphics, and the store stocks Andy Warhol by Levi's jeans, Andy Warhol watches by Seiko and even a Warhol fragrance by New York house Bond No. 9. Royal on Main also sells Royal Elastics' licensed footwear lines by Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers and L.A.M.B. The store also features a gallery space, which will exhibit everything from photography to furniture design. The 1200-square-foot shop is housed in the Edegmar complex, a contemporary architectural landmark designed by Frank Gehry. Ludo designed the store interior, including Lucite "thrones" (stereo speakers included) for the King and Queen.

A woman shops for leggings at Rui Motta in Venice on Sunday, January 11, 2009.

(top) Jesse Nathaniel, AKA 'Mr. Jesse' reads 'Knitty Kitty' at Ocean Park Branch Library during 'Story Time for Toddlers' on Tuesday, March 3, 2009. (above) Thomas Tourraine, 2, plays during 'Story Time for Toddlers' at Ocean Park Branch Library.

Santa Monica Police Officers Association Chair, Lieutenant Doug Theus, presents a $5,000.00 sponsorship check to Santa Monica Police Activities League Chair, Jean McNeil-Wyner, on Thursday, March 5, during the Monthly PAL board meeting. The $5,000.00 checkwill sponsor the Santa Monica Police Activities League (PAL) Charity Golf Classic being held on June 15, 2009, at the Mountain Gate Country Club.

(top) Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, 73, speaks about his involvement with the Special Olympics during the Santa Monica Kiwanis Club's weekly luncheon at the Santa Monica Family YMCA on Wednesday, March 4, 2009. "From the very start in 1969, I wanted to be a part of helping our Special Olympics athletes succeed. I'm another set of eyes, another set of hands and a heart working to be there for them, finding a way to help them be the best they can be." -- Rafer Johnson  (above) Santa Monica Kiwanis club president, Patty Logging presents a $500.00 contribution to Special Olympic athlete Eddie Mack, 43, and Rafer Johnson, 73, to benefit the Special Olympics.

Rafer Johnson, along with a small group of volunteers, founded California Special Olympics in 1969 by conducting a competition at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for 900 individuals with intellectual disabilities. Rafer’s involvement in Special Olympics began the year before, when he attended the first Special Olympics competition, conducted by Special Olympics founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver. That event inspired Rafer to become more involved.

After the first California games in 1969, Rafer became one of the original members of the Board of Directors. The Board worked together to raise funds and offer a modest program of swimming and track and field. In 1983, Rafer ran for President of the Board to increase Board participation, reorganize the staff to most effectively use each person’s talents and expand fundraising efforts. He was elected president and served in that capacity until July 1992, when he was named Chairman of the Board of Governors.

Over the years, Rafer has been involved with scores of charities. However, he is most passionate about Special Olympics Southern California. Rafer was the USA Team Captain and Flag bearer at the Rome Games and was selected to light the Olympic Cauldron to open the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He and his wife Betsy, reside in Southern California. His son, Josh, was a Javelin Thrower for UCLA and his daughter, Jenny, competed at the 2000 Sydney Games in Beach Volleyball.

Children and adults with intellectual disabilities who participate in Special Olympics develop improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence and a more positive self-image. The Special Olympics movement transforms communities by inspiring people throughout the world to open their minds, accept and include people with intellectual disabilities and thereby celebrate the similarities common to all people. Special Olympics athletes compete in categories based on gender, age, and ability level. All Special Olympics activities reflect the values, standards, traditions, ceremonies, and events embodied in the modern Olympic movement. These activities have been broadened and enriched to celebrate the moral and spiritual qualities of persons with intellectual disabilities to enhance their dignity and self-esteem. Special Olympics Programs are offered at no cost to the athletes and their families. Special Olympics is the world’s largest sports organization.

http://www.sosc.org/

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium volunteer, Caroline Gerstley, shows-off a Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita) at the Santa Monica Pier on Wednesday, February 4, 2009. The moon jelly range between 5-40 cm wide. They can be recognized by their delicate and exquisite coloration, often in patterns of spots and streaks. Their behavior depends on a number of external conditions, in particular, food supply. They swim by pulsations of the bell-shaped upper part of the animal. Swimming mostly functions to keep the animal at the surface of the water rather than to make progress through the water. They swim horizontally, keeping the bell near the surface at all times. This allows the tenticles to be spread over the largest possible area, in order to better catch food. The coronal muscle allows the animal to pulsate in order to move. Impulses to contract are sent by way of the subumbrellar nerve net and are nervous in origin. The moon jelly has rhopalial centers, which allow it to control the pulsations. As the oxygen rate in the water goes down, so too does the respiratory rate of the jellyfish.

A snail glides across the pavement during a rainy evening on Friday, Feb. 6, 2009,  in Santa Monica. According to Wikipedia, the word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. Snails lacking a shell or having only a very small one are usually called slugs. Snails can be found in a wide range of environments from ditches, deserts, and the abyssal depths of the sea. Although most people are familiar with terrestrial snails, land snails are in the minority. Marine snails have much greater diversity and a greater biomass. The great majority of snail species are marine.