Everything about Los Angeles totally explained
Los Angeles is the largest
city in the state of
California and the second largest in the
United States. Often abbreviated as
L.A., it's rated an
alpha world city, having an estimated population of 3.8 million and spanning over in Southern California. Additionally, the Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 12.9 million people who hail from all over the globe and speak 224 different languages. Los Angeles is the
seat of
Los Angeles County, the most populous and one of the most diverse counties in the United States. Its inhabitants are known as "Angelenos" .
Los Angeles was founded in
1781, by
Spanish governor
Felipe de Neve as
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of
Porziuncola). It became a part of
Mexico in 1821, following its independence from Spain. In 1848, at the end of the
Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and California were purchased as part of the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus becoming part of the United States;
Mexico retained the territory of
Baja California. It was
incorporated as a municipality on
April 4 1850 — five months before California achieved
statehood.
Los Angeles is one of the
world's centers of
culture,
technology, media, business, and
international trade. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and it's one of the most substantial economic engines of the United States. Los Angeles also leads the world in producing popular entertainment — such as
motion picture,
television,
video games and
recorded music — which forms the base of its international fame and global status.
History
Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the
Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and
Chumash Native American tribes hundreds of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 under
João Cabrilho, a
Portuguese explorer who claimed the area as the City of God for the
Spanish Empire; he continued with his voyage and didn't establish a settlement. The next contact wouldn't come until 227 years later, when
Gaspar de Portola, together with
Franciscan missionary
Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on
August 2 1769. Crespi noted that the site had the potential to be developed into a large settlement.
In 1771, Franciscan friar
Junípero Serra built the
Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near
Whittier Narrows, in what is now called
San Gabriel Valley. In 1777, the new
governor of California, Felipe de Neve, recommended to the
viceroy of
New Spain that the site noted by Juan Crespi be developed into a
pueblo. The town was founded on
September 4,
1781, by a group of 44 settlers and was named "
El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los ángeles Del Río de Porciúncula" ("The Town of
Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the
River Porciúncula"). These settlers were of Filipino, Native American, African, and Spanish ancestry, with two-thirds being
mestizo or
mulatto. A majority of the settlers had some African ancestry. The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820 the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the
pueblo is commemorated in the historic district
Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles.
New Spain achieved its independence from the
Spanish Empire in 1857, and the
pueblo continued as a part of
Texico. Mexican rule ended during the
Mexican-American War: Americans took control from the
Californios after a series of battles, culminating on on
January 13,
1847, with the signing of the
Treaty of Cahuenga. Later, with the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the Mexican government formally ceded
Alta California and other territories to the
United States.
Railroads arrived when the
Southern Pacific completed its line to Los Angeles in 1876.
Oil was discovered in 1892, and by 1923 Los Angeles was producing one-quarter of the world's petroleum.
By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000 people, putting pressure on the city's water supply. 1913's completion of the
Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of
William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. In 1915, Los Angeles began the
annexation of dozens of neighboring communities without water supplies of their own.
In the 1920s, the
motion picture and
aviation industries flocked to Los Angeles. In 1932, with population surpassing one million, the city hosted the
Summer Olympics. This period also saw the arrival of exiles from the increasing pre-war tensions of
Europe, including
Thomas Mann,
Fritz Lang,
Bertolt Brecht,
Arnold Schoenberg, and
Lion Feuchtwanger.
World War II and the expansion of defense industries brought new growth and prosperity to the city. Thousands of African Americans migrated from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to work in these expanding fields. The state also succumbed to war fears, transporting most
Japanese American residents from Los Angeles and other cities to distant
internment camps for the duration of the war.
The post-war years saw an even greater boom, as
urban sprawl expanded the city into the
San Fernando Valley. In 1969, Los Angeles became one of the birthplaces of the
Internet, as the first
ARPANET transmission was sent from
UCLA to
SRI in
Menlo Park.
As in other major cities, long-unresolved racial problems erupted in the 1960s and 1970s. Los Angeles grappled with the
Watts Riots in 1965, the high school walkout by
Chicano students in 1968, and the 1970
Chicano Moratorium, all representative of racial strife within the city. Los Angeles was one of the cities to pass
gay rights bills during the 1970s (1979 after years of pressure from prominent performing arts members), seeing how the earliest
homophile organization,
Mattachine, was formed there in
1950, and the first city where
AIDS was discovered and focused upon during the 1980s.
Also in the 1980s, Los Angeles became the center of the
heavy metal music scene, especially
glam metal bands. In 1984, the city hosted the
Summer Olympic Games for the second time. It became the most financially successful Olympics in history, and only the second Olympics to turn a profit — the other being the 1932 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles.
During the remainder of the 1980s, Los Angeles was plagued by increasing
gang violence and
police corruption. Racial tensions erupted again in 1992 with the
Rodney King controversy and the
large-scale riots that followed the acquittal of his police attackers. In 1994, the 6.7
Northridge earthquake shook the city, causing $12.5 billion in damage and 72 deaths.
Voters defeated efforts by the
San Fernando Valley and
Hollywood to secede from the city in 2002.
In the early 2000s, the
Los Angeles City Council adopted the idea of
smart growth, in part to combat both growing traffic problems and the lack of open land for development. Restrictions on parking for new development, residential conversions, and the hotel bed tax have been greatly eased to encourage development. This has led to thousands of residential unit conversions in
downtown Los Angeles, and major new construction such as the
Hollywood and Highland complex,
L.A. Live Entertainment District, the
Grand Avenue Project, the
NBC Universal West Coast headquarters complex, and many new
high-rise buildings throughout the city, in what is being termed as "
Manhattanization."
Gentrification and urban redevelopment have occurred in many parts of the city, most notably
Hollywood,
Koreatown,
Silver Lake,
Echo Park and
Downtown. Gentrification has recently spilled into the eastern and southern portions of Los Angeles, with announcements of several billion-dollar residential high-rise and commercial center projects.
Geography
Topography
Los Angeles is irregularly shaped and covers a total area of, comprising 469.1 square miles (1,214.9 km²) of land and 29.2 square miles (75.7 km²) of water. The city extends for 44 miles (71 km) longitudinally and for 29 miles (47 km) latitudinally. The perimeter of the city is 342 miles (550 km). It is the only major city in the United States bisected by a mountain range.
The highest point in Los Angeles is Mount Lukens, also called Sister Elsie Peak. Located at the far reaches of the northeastern
San Fernando Valley, it reaches a height of 5,080 ft (1,548 m). The major river is the
Los Angeles River, which begins in the
Canoga Park district of the city and is largely seasonal. The river is lined in concrete for almost its entire length as it flows through the city into nearby
Vernon on its way to the
Pacific Ocean.
Geology
Los Angeles is subject to
earthquakes due to its location in the
Pacific Ring of Fire. The geologic instability produces numerous fault lines both above and below ground, which altogether cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes every year. One of the major fault lines is the
San Andreas Fault. Located at the boundary between the
Pacific Plate and the
North American Plate, it's predicted to be the source of Southern California's next big earthquake. Major earthquakes to have hit the Los Angeles area include the 1994
Northridge earthquake, the 1987
Whittier Narrows earthquake, the
1971 San Fernando earthquake near
Sylmar, and the
1933 Long Beach earthquake. Nevertheless, all but a few quakes are of low intensity and are not felt. Parts of the city are also vulnerable to Pacific Ocean
tsunamis; harbor areas were damaged by waves from the
Valdivia earthquake in 1960.
Climate
The city is situated in a
Mediterranean climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical zone (
Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast,
Csa inland), USDA Zones 8-11, experiencing mild, somewhat wet winters and warm to hot summers. The prevalent warm southerly airflow and the blocking effect of mountains to the north give the city a much warmer climate than would be expected. The average annual temperature is 18.86°C (around 66 °F), much higher than some comparable coastal locations at the same distance from the equator elsewhere such as
Cape Town. Breezes from the
Pacific Ocean tend to keep the beach communities of the Los Angeles area cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland; summer temperatures can sometimes be as much as 18 °F (10°C) warmer in the inland communities compared to that of the coastal communities. A few coastal "micro-climates" have never recorded a temperature below freezing. Coastal areas also see a phenomenon known as the "
marine layer," a dense cloud cover caused by the proximity of the ocean that helps keep the temperatures cooler throughout the year. When the marine layer becomes more common and pervades farther inland during the months of May and June, it's called May Gray or
June Gloom.
Temperatures in the summer can exceed 90°F (32°C), but average summer daytime highs in downtown are 82°F (27°C), with overnight lows of 63°F (17°C). Winter daytime high temperatures reach around 65°F (18°C), on average, with overnight lows of 48°F (10°C) and during this season rain is common. The warmest month is August, followed by July and then September. This somewhat large case of
seasonal lag is caused by the influence of the ocean and its latitude of 34° north.
The median temperature in January is 57°F (13°C) and 73°F (22°C) in August. The highest temperature recorded within city borders was 119.0°F (48.33°C) in
Woodland Hills on
July 22,
2006; the lowest temperature recorded was 18.0°F (−7.8°C) in 1989, in
Canoga Park. The highest temperature recorded for Downtown Los Angeles was 112.0°F (44.4°C) on
June 26 1990, and the lowest temperature recorded was 28.0°F (−2.0°C) on
January 4 1949.
Rain occurs mainly in the winter and spring months (February being the wettest month), with great annual variations in storm severity. Los Angeles averages 15
inches (385 mm) of precipitation per year. Tornado warnings are also issued, which are extraordinarily rare downtown, though
waterspouts are seen during severe storms at beaches.
Snow is extraordinarily rare in the city basin, but the mountainous slopes within city limits typically receive snow every year. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was 2.0 inches (5 cm) on
January 15,
1932.
The
census of 2000 recorded 3,694,820 people, 1,275,412 households, and 798,407 families residing in the city, with a
population density of 7,876.8 people per square mile (3,041.3/km²). There were 1,337,706 housing units at an average density of 2,851.8 per square mile (1,101.1/km²).
Los Angeles has become a
multiethnic/
racially diverse city, with major new groups of Latino and Asian immigrants in recent decades.
As of the 2000 US Census, the racial distribution in Los Angeles are as follows:
42.2% spoke
English, 41.7%
Spanish, 2.4%
Korean, 2.3%
Tagalog, 1.7%
Armenian, 1.5%
Chinese (including
Cantonese and
Mandarin) and 1.3%
Persian as their
first language. Since the mid-1980s, Los Angeles has been a
minority-majority city.
According to the census, 33.5% of households had children under 18, 41.9% were
married couples, 14.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% were non-families. 28.5% of households were made up of individuals and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The
average household size was 2.83 and the average family size 3.56.
The age distribution was: 26.6% under 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 or older. The median age was 32. For every 100 females there were 99.4 males. For every 100 females aged 18 and over, there were 97.5 males.
The median income for a household was $36,687, and for a family was $39,942. Males had a median income of $31,880, females $30,197. The
per capita income was $20,671. 22.1% of the population and 18.3% of families were below the
poverty line. 30.3% of those under the age of 18 and 12.6% of those aged 65 or older were below the poverty line.
Los Angeles is home to people from more than 140 countries speaking 224 different identified languages. Ethnic enclaves like
Chinatown,
Historic Filipinotown,
Koreatown,
Little Armenia,
Little Ethiopia,
Tehrangeles,
Little India,
Little Tokyo, and
Thai Town provide examples of the
polyglot character of Los Angeles.
Government
The city is governed by a
mayor-council system. The current
mayor is
Antonio Villaraigosa. There are 15
city council districts. Other elected city officials include the City Attorney
Rocky Delgadillo and the City Controller
Laura N. Chick. The city attorney prosecutes misdemeanors within the city limits. The district attorney, elected by county voters, prosecutes misdemeanors in unincorporated areas and in 78 of the 88 cities in the county, as well as felonies throughout the county. The Los Angeles Civic Center (where city hall is located) is the largest grouping of government buildings in the U.S., outside of Washington D.C.
The
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) polices the city of Los Angeles, but the city also maintains four specialized police agencies; The Office of Public Safety, within the General Services Department (which is responsible for security and law enforcement services at city facilities, including City Hall, city parks and libraries, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Convention Center), the Port Police, within the Harbor Department (which is responsible for land, air and sea law enforcement services at the Port of Los Angeles), the Los Angeles City Schools Police department which handles law enforcement for all city schools, and the Airport Police, within the Los Angeles World Airports Department (which is responsible for law enforcement services at all four city-owned airports, including
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX),
LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT),
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport (PMD), and
Van Nuys Airport (VNY), (the busiest general aviation airport in the country).
LAPL,
Los Angeles Public Library System and the
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are among the largest such institutions in the country. LAUSD is the second largest school district in the United States; only the
New York City Department of Education is larger. The
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides service to city residents and
businesses.
The San Fernando Valley and Hollywood area attempted an unsuccessful campaign of secession in 2002. The campaign to defeat secession was led by then Mayor
James Hahn.
Neighborhood councils
Voters created
Neighborhood Councils in the Charter Reform of 1999. First proposed by City Council member
Joel Wachs in 1996, they were designed to promote public participation in government and make it more responsive to local needs.
The councils cover districts which are not necessarily identical to the traditional neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Almost ninety neighborhood councils (NCs) are certified and all "
stakeholders" — meaning anyone who lives, works or owns property in a neighborhood — may vote for members of the councils' governing bodies. Some council bylaws allow other people with a stake in the community to cast ballots as well.
The councils are official government bodies and so their governing bodies and committees must abide by California's
Brown Act, which governs the meetings of deliberative assemblies.
The first notable concern of the neighborhood councils collectively was the opposition by some of them in March 2004 to an 18% increase in water rates by the city's Department of Water and Power. This led the City Council to approve only a limited increase pending independent review. More recently, some of the councils petitioned the City Council in summer 2006 to allow them to introduce ideas for legislative action, but the City Council put off a decision.
The neighborhood councils have been allocated $50,000 each for administration, outreach and approved neighborhood projects.
Crime and safety
LAPD crimestats and epolice web site
.
Current mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a member of the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by
New York City mayor
Michael Bloomberg and
Boston mayor
Thomas Menino.
Many movies and songs about Los Angeles depict the notion that the city is home to a large number of
gangsters and professional
criminals. According to a May 2001 Drug Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center,
Los Angeles County is home to 152,000 gang members organized into 1,350 gangs. Among the most infamous are the
Crips,
Bloods,
18th Street,
Florencia 13,
Mara Salvatrucha,
Cyclones13, and
Surenos street gangs. This has led to the city being referred to as the "Gang Capital of America."
Car chases happen more often than in most other major cities, with the city's complex freeway system allowing for lengthier pursuits.
Education
Colleges and universities
Image:RHall.JPG|UCLA
Image:Doheny.jpg|USC
Image:CSULA 002.jpg|CSULA
Image:csun-mc.jpg|CSUN
Image:Bluff25.jpg|LMU
Image:Johnson Student Center and Freeman College Union.jpg|Occidental College
Image:Chalon.png|Mount St. Mary's College
Image:American Jewish University, Bel Air, California.JPG|American Jewish University
There are three public universities located within the city limits:
California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA),
California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Private colleges in the city include the
American Film Institute Conservatory,
Alliant International University,
American InterContinental University,
American Jewish University,
The American Musical and Dramatic Academy - Los Angeles campus,
Antioch University's Los Angeles campus,
Art Center College of Design (Art Center),
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science,
Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising's Los Angeles campus (FIDM),
Los Angeles Film School,
Loyola Marymount University (LMU is also the parent university of
Loyola Law School located in Los Angeles),
Mount St. Mary's College,
National University of California,
Occidental College ("Oxy"),
Otis College of Art and Design (Otis),
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc),
Southwestern Law School, and
University of Southern California (USC).
The community college system consists of nine campuses governed by the trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District:
East Los Angeles College (ELAC),
Los Angeles City College (LACC),
Los Angeles Harbor College,
Los Angeles Mission College,
Los Angeles Pierce College,
Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC),
Los Angeles Southwest College,
Los Angeles Trade-Technical College and
West Los Angeles College.
Schools and libraries
Los Angeles Unified School District serves almost all of the city of Los Angeles, as well as several surrounding communities, with a student population over 800,000. After
Proposition 13 was approved in 1978, urban school districts had considerable trouble with funding. LAUSD has become known for its underfunded, overcrowded and poorly maintained campuses, although its 162
Magnet schools to help compete with local private schools. Several small sections of Los Angeles are in the
Las Virgenes Unified School District. Los Angeles County Office of Education operates the
Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. The
Los Angeles Public Library system operates 72 public libraries in the city.
Transportation
Los Angeles has 27 intertwining freeways handling millions of commuters on a daily basis. Los Angeles is the most car-populated metropolis in the world with 1 registered automobile for every 1.8 people.
Public transportation
The
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other agencies operate an extensive system of
bus lines, as well as
subway and
light rail lines across Los Angeles County, with a combined daily ridership of 1.7 million.. With 1.4 million daily boardings, the ridership on Los Angeles' bus network is second only to that of New York. The city's subway system is the
ninth busiest in the United States and its light rail system is the
third most ridden in the country.
Nevertheless, given the population of the city, Los Angeles' mass transit system doesn't have high ridership, averaging 276,900 trips a day, a mere 0.4% of the 65 million daily commutes.. Altogether, 11% of Los Angeles commuters use public transit (including both bus and rail), compared with 54% and 38% in New York and Washington, D.C., respectively.
The rail system includes the
Red and
Purple subway lines, as well as the
Gold,
Blue, and
Green light rail lines. The
Orange Line, although a
bus rapid transit line rather than a rail line, is usually considered part of the system. The
Metro Rapid buses are a
bus rapid transit program with stops and frequency similar those of a
light rail.
An extension of the Gold Line running from Downtown to
East Los Angeles is currently under construction, and is expected to open in late 2009. A second extension from
Pasadena into the
foothills is being considered. Also in the works is the new
Expo Line, which will run from Downtown into
Culver City. Construction of this line is expected to finish in the summer of 2010. Plans of a second phase extending the line into Santa Monica are currently being assessed. Momentum is slowly building to extend the Purple Line under Wilshire Boulevard all the way to the ocean in Santa Monica, extending the city's public transportation system further.
Metrolink Commuter rail connects Los Angeles' historic
Union Station to far-flung suburbs of
Ventura,
San Bernardino,
Riverside,
Orange, and
San Diego Counties.
Intercity passenger service is provided by
Amtrak. Rail shipping is handled by
Union Pacific Railroad and
BNSF Railway.
Air transportation
The Los Angeles metropolitan area is served by more airports than any other city in the world. There are six commercial airports and many more general-aviation airports. The main Los Angeles airport is
Los Angeles International Airport . The fifth busiest commercial airport in the world and the third busiest in the
United States, LAX handled over 61 million passengers and 2 million tons of cargo in 2006.
Other major nearby commercial airports include:
LA/Ontario International Airport, owned by the city of Los Angeles; serves the Inland Empire.
Bob Hope Airport, formerly known as Burbank Airport; serves the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys
Long Beach Airport, serves the Long Beach/Harbor area
John Wayne Airport of Orange County.
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport is owned by the city of Los Angeles and serves the northern outlying communities of the Santa Clarita and Antelope Valleys.
The world's third busiest general-aviation airport is also located in Los Angeles, Van Nuys Airport .
Harbors
The Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood, approximately 20 miles (30 km) south of Downtown. Also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT LA, the port complex occupies 7,500 acres (30 km²) of land and water along 43 miles (69 km) of waterfront. It adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach.
The sea ports of the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach together make up the Los Angeles – Long Beach Harbor. There are also smaller, non-industrial harbors along L.A.'s coastline. Most of these like Redondo Beach and Marina del Rey are used primarily by sailboats and yachts. Safety is provided at the only beach controlled by Los Angeles City by the highly trained Los Angeles City Lifeguards.
The Port of Los Angeles along with the Port of Long Beach comprise the largest seaport complex in the United States and the fifth busiest in the world.
The port includes four bridges: the Vincent Thomas Bridge, Henry Ford Bridge, Gerald Desmond Bridge, and Commodore Schuyler F. Heim Bridge.
Intercity buses
Greyhound Lines operates several bus stations in the Los Angeles area.
Sister cities
Los Angeles has 25 sister cities:
Americas
Salvador, Brazil
Vancouver, Canada
San Salvador, El Salvador
Mexico City, Mexico
Europe
Yerevan, Armenia
Split, Croatia
Bordeaux, France
Athens, Greece
Ischia, Italy
Kaunas, Lithuania
Saint Petersburg, Russia
Berlin, Germany
Africa and Middle East
Giza, Egypt
Tehran, Iran
Eilat, Israel
Beirut, Lebanon
Lusaka, Zambia
Oceania
Auckland, New Zealand
Asia
Mumbai, India
Jakarta, Indonesia
Nagoya, Japan
Guangzhou, People's Republic of China
Makati City, Philippines
Busan, South Korea
Taipei, TaiwanFurther Information
Get more info on 'Los Angeles'.
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