Nathaniel “Nat” Trives, the first African American mayor of Santa Monica, California, was born in 1934 or 1935 in Birmingham, Alabama. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Indiana, and later, Ohio. In 1949 the family relocated to Santa Monica, California where his father worked in real estate.
After graduating from Santa Monica High School, Trives attended community college but later transferred to California State University, Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice. In 1974 he was awarded a master’s degree in public administration from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).
In 1958 Trives joined the Santa Monica Police Department, rising to the rank of sergeant. He became the first Black officer to serve as a “generalist,” meaning to be allowed to patrol non-Black areas of the city. He was also very active in the police officers’ union and served as president of the union for five years.
In 1969 Trives left the police department and accepted a position as Assistant Professor in the Criminal Justice Department of California State University, Los Angeles. He held the position for 23 years, retiring in 1997 as an Emeritus Professor. He also worked as a special master and auditor monitor for the San Francisco Police Department Federal Consent Decree and the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.
Trives was very involved in community and voluntary activities in Santa Monica. In 1971 he was elected to the Santa Monica City Council and re-elected in 1975. Trives served as mayor pro-tem from 1973 to 1975. He was elected mayor in 1975 and served in that post until 1977. At the time of his election, he became the first African American mayor of the city which was then 95% white. During his administration he appointed people of color to all major city boards and commissions, and he actively worked to save the landmark Santa Monica Pier from demolition.
Because of his years of public service to the community, Trives became popularly known as “Mr. Santa Monica.” Besides serving as Mayor and on the City Council, he also served on the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, the Santa Monica Travel and Tourism Bureau, the boards of the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District, the National Association of Independent Schools, and the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center.
In 1955 Nathaniel married his wife, Ida, who he had met while attending college. They have a daughter, Toni, and two grandsons.
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Santa Monica Spotlight, “Nat and Ida Trives, Leadership Runs in the Family,” Nov. 2021, http://santamonicamovie.com/wp-content/TrivesFamily-SantaMonicaSpotlight-Nov2.pdf; “Santa Monica’s Black History with Nat Trives,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB1uR9iWOEo; Upfront with Nat Trives: ‘Mr. Santa Monica’, Santa Monica Mirror, Nov. 20, 2024, https://smmirror.com/2012/08/up-front-with-nat-trives-mr-santa-monica/.
