Cocoa Beach, Florida

Cocoa Beach is a coastal town in Brevard County, Florida, on the Atlantic ocean.

Cocoa Beach started its major growth during the 1960s (1000% population increase from 1950 to 1960) due to America's space program. NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center is located approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of the town. Many people moved to Cocoa Beach due to their jobs involving the space program. Today, Cocoa Beach is a retirement area, with the average age being 54.

Many of the homes in Cocoa Beach are built on dredged mud and sand from the Banana River.

One of the city's highlights is Ron Jon's, a surf shop, that receives 2 million visitors a year.

The beach sand is darker in color (as opposed to the sugary white sand of some of the Gulf Coast beaches), but I am not sure if this relates to the "cocoa" in the city name.

Road A1A stretches along the barrier islands on the Atlantic Coast and is also named "Atlantic Avenue". There are popular t-shirts with the sign "I''ll never live west of A1A". A1A parallels the coast and provides access from the north and south.


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References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoa_Beach,_Florida
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cocoa_Beach