COCOA BEACH

city, Brevard county, east-central Florida, U.S., on a beach ridge between the Banana River (lagoon) and the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Cape Canaveral, and near Patrick Air Force Base. Originally a small resort linked to Cocoa on the mainland across Merritt Island by a bridge (1923) and later by a causeway, Cocoa Beach developed rapidly after 1950 with the emergence of the programs centred on Cape Canaveral and the John F. Kennedy Space Center. A city charter was adopted in 1957. Because of its beach and favourable climate and proximity to the cape, an active tourist trade has developed. Pop. (1990) 12,123.