Cocoa Beach is a city in

Brevard County, Florida Brevard County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. It is on the Atlantic coast of eastern Central Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 606,612, making it the 10th-most populated county in Florida. The official county s ...

, United States. The population was 11,354 at the 2020

United States census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...

, up from 11,231 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay–

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

–

Titusville, Florida Titusville is a city in and the county seat of Brevard County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 48,789, up from 43,761 at the 2010 census. Titusville is located along the ...

Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The first non-native settlement in the area was by a family of freed

slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

following the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. In 1888, a group of men from Cocoa bought the entire tract of land, which went undeveloped until it was bought out in 1923 by a member of the group—Gus Edwards, Cocoa's city attorney. At that time, Edwards' total holdings included approximately . He stopped practicing law to devote all his efforts to developing the area.City History
City of Cocoa Beach - Official Site. Retrieved on June 26, 2009.
City of Cocoa Beach - Official Site. Retrieved on June 26, 2009. Prior to incorporation, the area was known as Oceanus. The Town of Cocoa Beach was established on June 5, 1925. Cocoa Beach's first official meeting was held at the Cocoa Beach Casino on July 27, 1925, and adopted the City Seal.Meeting Minutes for July 27, 1925
City of Cocoa Beach - Official Site. Retrieved on June 26, 2009. Gus C. Edwards was elected as mayor and served as a commissioner along with J.A. Haisten, and R.Z. Grabel. A little less than a month later, plans for a pier became official. In 1935, the

FDOT The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the U.S. state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the power ...

opened up what is now State Road A1A as a one-lane dirt road to Eau Gallie. In 1938, a Deputy Marshal was appointed "to act in emergencies at night or at other times" for $.25/hour. By 1939, the town had 49 residents. In 1940, the town requested that State Road 140 (now A1A) be routed on Orlando Avenue instead of Atlantic Avenue. In 1942, the town prepared to receive men assigned to the newly opened Naval Air Station Banana River. Establishing regular

garbage collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes the curbside collection of recyclable ...

was discussed when the town discovered that the Air Station was having theirs collected. On May 1, 1942, the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

submarine torpedoed the ''La Paz'' off the shore of Cocoa Beach. The crew was able to beach it with the help of tugs. Eventually it was returned to shipping. On May 3, the same

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

sank the SS ''Laertes'' near the same spot. Local boys were recruited for salvaging efforts and to rid the beach of subsequent debris. Shortly thereafter, the federal government realized the danger of back-lighting from the coast making easy targets of passing ships and ordered a blackout for the remainder of the war. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Cocoa Beach experienced money shortages to pay employees or to fix roads. In 1944, the town successfully fought a bill introduced in the Florida legislature which would have dissolved the city government. In 1947 a single police officer was hired for $1/hour. The same year, the city constructed works for the distribution of potable water. In 1950, a volunteer fire department was created which used a second-hand vehicle. In 1950, a proposal to prevent people from driving on the beach was defeated. In 1951, the city sought to place a stoplight, the city's first, at the intersection of what is now A1A and Minutemen Causeway. In 1953, the city decided to mark the names of all streets. That same year, the city planned to pave A1A south from 520 down Orlando Avenue. The city intended to bear 1/3 of the costs, the adjacent property owners, 2/3. In 1954, the Women's Club opened a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

in the building used by the Fire Department. In 1955, the speed limit in most of the town was raised to . In 1955, the city prepared to house the people who were going to be launching missiles from what is now

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

. In 1956, the city attorney warned the council that

blacks Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ch ...

might attempt to use the beach. If they did, he recommended clearing the beach of all persons, both white and black. The 1954 decision, ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

'', had, in theory at least, integrated all general public facilities. Actual

integration Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

came later. The city proposed selling the town dump to the school board for a junior high school, in order to keep students from being bused to

Merritt Island Merritt Island is a peninsula, commonly referred to as an island, in Brevard County, Florida, United States, located on the eastern Florida coast, along the Atlantic Ocean. It is also the name of an unincorporated town in the central and sout ...

. On June 29, 1957, the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Cocoa Beach incorporated into a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

. It sold its water system to

Cocoa, Florida Cocoa is a city in Brevard County, Florida. Its population was 19,041 at the 2020 United States census, up from 17,140 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–Titusville, Flori ...

and contracted with them to furnish water. In September 1959, the city voted to add more sidewalks, improve the streets in residential areas as well as the main streets, and to pave more roads. In 1961, Ron-Jon opened their first store locally. In 1965, Cocoa Beach High School requested that Cocoa Avenue, the street that the school was located on, be renamed Minutemen Boulevard, in honor of the school's mascot, the

Minuteman Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Min ...

. Cocoa Beach started its major growth during the 1960s. There was a 1000% population increase from 1950 to 1960, mainly as a result of the U.S. space program.

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

John F. Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

is located approximately north of town. Many people moved to Cocoa Beach due to jobs connected to the space program and in search of new opportunities. After crewed space flights, the town held parades in honor of the astronauts. After NASA's

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

came to an end, and before the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

program was in full swing, the town's economy reflected the resulting layoffs. At one point, in 1975, unemployment was 14.3%. Many families lost their jobs or simply moved away. The housing market plummeted and some people unable to sell their homes simply abandoned them. Cocoa Beach was the setting for the 1960s sitcom ''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy sitcom television series created by Sidney Sheldon and starring Barbara Eden as a beautiful but guileless 2,000-year-old Jinn, genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut with whom s ...

'', although no episodes were actually filmed there, and star

Barbara Eden Barbara Eden (born Barbara Jean Morehead; August 23, 1931) is an American actress and singer, who starred as the title character in the sitcom ''I Dream of Jeannie'' (1965–1970). Her other roles included Roslyn Pierce opposite Elvis Presley in ...

only made two visits during the show's production—both in 1969, for publicity. Cocoa Beach High School was used as the school in the 2002 movie ''

Race to Space ''Race to Space'' is a 2001 fictional American family drama film. The film was shot on location at Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach and Edwards AFB in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force. Plot During the 1960s space race between the U ...

''. In 2002, 69% of the voters capped building height to . Prior construction and later

variance In probability theory and statistics, variance is the expected value of the squared deviation from the mean of a random variable. The standard deviation (SD) is obtained as the square root of the variance. Variance is a measure of dispersion ...

s, resulted in about 80 buildings between high, as of 2018. The 2010

Nebula Award The Nebula Awards annually recognize the best works of science fiction or fantasy published in the United States. The awards are organized and awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA), a nonprofit association of pr ...

s were held in the city. In 2016, the largest mansion in the city was destroyed by fire. It had been built on the beach by

Al Neuharth Allen Harold "Al" Neuharth (March 22, 1924 – April 19, 2013) was an American businessman, author, and columnist born in Eureka, South Dakota. He was the founder of ''USA Today'', The Freedom Forum, and its Newseum. Early life Al Neuharth was ...

in 1975. It contained of living space, 11 bedrooms and 12 bathrooms. It was valued at several million dollars.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of . of it is land and of it (67.49%) is water. Bordering the city on the north is

Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral () is a cape (geography), cape in Brevard County, Florida, in the United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. Officially Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated ...

; on the south is Crescent Beach; on the east is the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

( of oceanfront); on the west is the

Banana River The Banana River is a lagoon that lies between the outer barrier islands and Merritt Island in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is part of the Indian River Lagoon system, and connects at its south end to the Indian River; it ...

. Propelled by a powerful hurricane, the ocean pushed its way through the barrier islands centuries ago and formed the

Thousand Islands The Thousand Islands (, ) constitute a North American archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddles the Canada–US border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario. They stretch for about downstream fr ...

in the

. There are a number of boating channels dredged in the area: the 0–99 Channel, the 100 Channel, the 200 Channel for houseboats, the 300 Channel, the 400 Channel near housing for private boats, the 500 Channel and the 600 Channel. Dredged material is placed on one of the Thousand Islands, but is now controlled. Many of the homes in Cocoa Beach are built on dredged mud and sand from the Banana River.

Surrounding areas

* Crescent Beach

Climate

Cocoa Beach's has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

of Cfa. This climate features hot and humid summers with frequent tropical downpours and daily thundershowers, and warm, dry, and sunny winters. The average high temperature in the warmest month (July) in Cocoa Beach is and the average high in the coolest month (January) is .

Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 11,354 people, 6,064 households, and 3,003 families residing in the city. The ancestry in 2020 (excluding Latino groups), was 19.5%

, 19.4% Irish, 18.1% English, 6.4%

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

, 5.2%

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

, 4.6%

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, 2.0%

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

, 1.1% Norwegian, and 0.1%

Sub-saharan African Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

. In 2020, the median age was 57.9 years old. 33.1% were older than 65, with 18.1% between the ages of 65 and 74, 8.5% between the ages of 75 and 84, and 6.4% 85 or older. 10.8% of the population were under 18, with 1.9% under 5 years. The gender makeup was 49.6% female and 50.4% male. In 2020, the median household income was $73,901, with families having $104,449, married couples having $114,468, and non-families having $44,792. 9.8% of the population were in poverty, with 9.8% of people under 18, 12.0% of people between the ages of 18 and 64, and 6.2% of people 65 or older in poverty. The per capita income was $55,754. As of the 2010 United States census, there were 11,231 people, 6,052 households, and 3,263 families residing in the city.

Government

Cocoa Beach is run by a Commission-Manager government, agreed to by its citizens in 1958. The City Commission acts as the legislative branch of the city government, guided by the provisions of the Charter of the City of Cocoa Beach. The City Commission enacts ordinances and resolutions that the

City Manager A city manager is an official appointed as the administrative manager of a city in the council–manager form of city government. Local officials serving in this position are referred to as the chief executive officer (CEO) or chief administ ...

administers as the appointed executive officer of the city government.Elected Officials
City of Cocoa Beach - Official Site. Retrieved on June 26, 2009. The city owns and runs the Cocoa Beach Country Club, a golf course on the

. In 2007, the city had a taxable real estate base of $2.09 billion. In 2011, the city photographed more than 20,000 instances of vehicles running red lights by the use of automatic cameras. A total of 6,595 violations were prosecuted. In 2012, the police force consisted of 36 officers. In 2014, the city grossed $1.1 million for over 9.000 red light violations. Over 24,000 violations were captured on film. All could not be prosecuted for various reasons. The city netted over $249,000. The remainder went for licensing fees to the installing vendor; over half was remitted to the state. Cameras were sited at four locations on state road A1A, including the intersection with state road 520. Intersection crashes dropped from 88 in 2009 to 30 in 2014. The City Commission is made up of five members, one of whom is the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

. Historically, the commissioners were elected

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...

to three-year terms but with a successful referendum on the 2010 ballot to hold elections on even-numbered years, the terms were extended to four years. Following an election, a

Vice Mayor The deputy mayor (also known as vice mayor and assistant mayor) is an elective or appointive office of the second-ranking official that is present in many local governments. Duties and functions Many elected deputy mayors are members of the loca ...

is then selected from the commission members at an organizational meeting. The Mayor presides over all meetings and performs duties as delegated by the City Commission. Seats affected by the 2010 referendum included Seat #1, Seat #4 and Seat #5.

City Commission

*Mayor and Commissioner Keith Capizzi, Seat 1 (Term expires November 2028) *Commissioner Joshua Jackson, Seat 2 (Term expires November 2028) *Commissioner Tim Tumulty, Seat 3 (Term expires November 2028) *Commissioner Skip Williams, Seat 4 (Term expires November 2026) *Vice Mayor and Commissioner Jeremy Hutcherson, Seat 5 (Term expires November 2026)

City Manager

The City Manager is appointed by the City Commission and is responsible for the city's day-to-day operations. The city's charter has established a separation of powers and responsibility between the Commission and the Manager; the elected commission establishes policy that the manager and staff carry out. The City Manager conducts day-to-day operations through four city departments: Administrative, Public Safety, Utilities, and Recreation. Charles Billias was the City Manager from 1998 until October 2012. Bob Majka was the City Manager from 2012 until 2015. As of 2023, Robin R. Hayes is the current city manager.

Crime Rate

In 2016, the crime index for the Cocoa Beach is 14 in 100. Where 100 is safest and 0 is most unsafe. Cocoa beach is safer than 14% of cities in the United States. The crime rate of Cocoa Beach is higher than Florida where chances of becoming a victim is 1 in 264, while in Cocoa Beach it is 1 in 183 people. Below is the chart for the crime rate of violent nature in Cocoa beach. This is a single year and may not represent the municipality as a whole over a broader period of time.

Economy

Tourism

Ron Jon's, a surf shop, receives 2 million visitors a year (as of 2006)
Cocoa Beach
is home to the East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame. The Cocoa Beach Pier, formerly known as the Cape Canaveral Pier, was built in 1962. An annual Easter Surfing Festival began in 1964. An estimated 100,000 spectators attend annually. An air show in 2009 drew a crowd estimated at 30,000. The Ron Jon Easter Surfing Festival drew 50,000 visitors in 2009, while around 10,000 visitors attend the Surfing Santas festival each year at Christmas. The largest charity surfing festival,

National Kidney Foundation The National Kidney Foundation, Inc. (NKF) is a voluntary nonprofit health organization in the United States, headquartered in New York City. Its mission is to prevent kidney and urinary tract diseases, improve the health and well-being of indiv ...

Pro-Am Surfing Festival, has been held every

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

Weekend in Cocoa Beach since 1985. In 2015, businesses in the city collected $5.6 million in tourist tax, over half the tourist tax collected in the county and more than any other municipality, $1.4 million.

Workforce

In 2007, Cocoa Beach's median labor force was 6,344. Of that group, 6,006 were employed and 338 were unemployed, for an unemployment rate of 5.3%.Cocoa Beach Community Data Sheet
Economic Development Council of Florida's Space Coast. Retrieved on June 26, 2009. The median home price in 2007 was $409,000.

Health

The disability rate for the people under age of 65 is 7.6%. The number of people who do not have insurance policies on the Cocoa beach is 20.8%.

Language

As of 2018, the primary language spoken in Cocoa Beach is English, with 9.8% of the population speaking languages other than English at home.

Travel time to work

As of 2018, mean travel time to the work is 25.4 minutes from home to work.

Education

The city has three public schools: *Freedom 7 Elementary *Theodore Roosevelt Elementary * Cocoa Beach High School Freedom 7 Elementary school and Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr High School both are certified International Baccalaureate schools. Freedom 7 Elementary has a primary years program, and Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr High has both a middle years program and a diploma program. 96.1% of all residents 25 years or older are high school graduates. 42.3% have a

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

or higher.

Landmarks

*Cocoa Beach Pier *Alan Shepard Beachfront Park *Thousand Islands Conservation Area *Cocoa Beach Aquatic Center and Pool Complex *

Lane

Former Landmark

Cocoa Beach Glass Bank The Cocoa Beach Glass Bank, officially known as The First Federal Savings & Loan Association of Cocoa – Cocoa Beach Branch, was a five-story glass building in Cocoa Beach, Florida. It officially opened in April 1962, and fell into disrepair in ...

Infrastructure

Roads

The following roads are usually called by their numbers when spoken: * SR A1A – This is the main road through the city. From north to south, SR A1A enters Cocoa Beach from Cape Canaveral as Atlantic Avenue. After passing the downtown area and resort area, the road splits into a one-way pair of roads, southbound being named Orlando Avenue, with northbound keeping the name Atlantic Avenue. The route continues in this manner until the southbound town limits. Major intersections include SR 520, 4th Street, and Minutemen Causeway. * SR 520 – This is the main way to access the city from the mainland. It enters the city from the unincorporated community of

, and the route terminates at SR A1A. Major intersections include the Cape Canaveral Hospital entrance, Banana River Boulevard, and SR A1A. It is estimated that there are 2.4 million day trippers to the city annually. While businesses appreciate the tourism, it creates a parking problem for the city. There are 1,780 paved parking spaces and 607 spaces on the streets downtown, near the beach.

Public transportation

Public transportation in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral, and surrounding Brevard County is provided by

Space Coast Area Transit Space Coast Area Transit is the public transit system serving the communities in Brevard County, Florida. In 2021, Space Coast Area Transit will undergo a rebranding effort with the name of the system changing to 321Transit as an homage to the ...

Utilities

The city contracted directly with

Florida Power & Light Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the principal subsidiary of NextEra Energy Inc. (formerly FPL Group, Inc.), is the largest power utility in Florida. It is a Juno Beach, Florida-based power utility company serving roughly 5 million customer ...

for electricity, paying 10.689 cents per

kilowatt hour A kilowatt-hour ( unit symbol: kW⋅h or kW h; commonly written as kWh) is a non-SI unit of energy equal to 3.6 megajoules (MJ) in SI units, which is the energy delivered by one kilowatt of power for one hour. Kilowatt-hours are a commo ...

in 2010.

Canals

The city has 37

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

s, totaling , serving residential homes, plus of

channels Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

. These are maintained by the city.

Notable people

* Kim Adler, professional bowler and USBC Hall of Famer, 5th Street *

Allison Anders Allison Anders (born November 16, 1954) is an American independent film director whose films include '' Gas Food Lodging'', '' Mi Vida Loca'' and '' Grace of My Heart''. Anders has collaborated with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Telev ...

, raised in the city. Filmed '' Things Behind the Sun'' in the county in 2001 *

Emanne Beasha Emanne Beasha (; Circassian: Иман Биша; born 18 September 2008) is a Jordanian-American classically-trained singer. She is the winner of the fifth season of the program '' Arabs Got Talent'' and finished in ninth place on the fourteent ...

, singer *

Willam Belli Willam Belli (, born June 30, 1982), mononymously known as Willam, is an American drag queen, actor, singer-songwriter, reality television personality, author, and YouTuber. Willam came to prominence as a contestant on the RuPaul's Drag Race sea ...

, a drag queen, actor, recording artist, and YouTuber raised in the city * Dana Brown, iconic surfing legend, 16th Street *

Cullen Douglas Douglas Cullen Baumbach (born November 6, 1967) better known by his stage name Cullen Douglas, is an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. His most notable television appearances have come from recurring roles on ''Pure Genius'', '' Priv ...

, television and movie actor, director, screenwriter * James Folston professional football player for the Oakland Raiders #55 *

Ashlyn Harris Ashlyn Michelle Harris (born October 19, 1985) is an American former Association football, soccer player. She represented the United States women's national soccer team, making her debut for the senior national team on March 11, 2013, and was ...

, professional soccer player * Jay F. Honeycutt, former director of the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

Zora Neale Hurston Zora Neale Hurston (January 7, 1891 – January 28, 1960) was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo ...

, author *

Rick Martel Richard Vigneault (born March 18, 1956) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler, trainer, and television presenter, better known by his ring name, "The Model" Rick Martel. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling As ...

, former professional wrestler * Bubba McDowell, professional football player with the Houston Oilers #25 *

, CEO of Gannett and columnist. Founder of ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'' *

Kelly Slater Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer who has been crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. He is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship T ...

, professional surfer, 11-time World Champion *

George Steele William James Myers (April 16, 1937 – February 16, 2017), better known by his ring name George "The Animal" Steele, was an American professional wrestler, school teacher, author, and actor. His career lasted from 1967 until 1988, though he mad ...

, professional wrestler a.k.a. George "The Animal" Steele *

Carrot Top Scott Thompson (born February 25, 1965), known professionally as Carrot Top, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is widely known for his use of prop comedy. Early life Thompson was born in Rockledge, Florida, and grew up in Coc ...

, comedian, actor, was born in the city * Lori Wilson, Florida state legislator and lawyer * Melissa Witek, Miss Florida USA 2005 and contestant on NBC's ''

Treasure Hunters Treasure hunting is the physical search for treasure. One of the most popular types of modern day treasure hunters are historic shipwreck salvors. These underwater treasure salvors try to find sunken shipwrecks and retrieve artifacts with both c ...

'' * Nancy Yasecko, filmmaker and videographer

References

External links

* {{authority control 1925 establishments in Florida Beaches of Brevard County, Florida Beaches of Florida Cities in Brevard County, Florida Cities in Florida Populated coastal places in Florida on the Atlantic Ocean Populated places established in 1925