Los Angeles

Name	Los Angeles
Official name	City of Los Angeles
Settlement type	City
Nickname	L.A., the City of Angels, the Entertainment Capital of the World
Website	lacity.org
Image seal	Seal of Los Angeles, California.svg
Map caption	Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California
Pushpin map	USA
Pushpin map caption	Location in the United States
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	US-CA
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name	United States
Subdivision type1	State
Subdivision name1	California
Subdivision type2	County
Subdivision name2	Los Angeles County
Government type	Mayor-Council
Governing body	Los Angeles City Council
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Antonio Villaraigosa
Leader title1	City Attorney
Leader name1	Carmen Trutanich
Leader title2	City Controller
Leader name2	Wendy Greuel
Area magnitude	1 E8
Unit pref	Imperial
Area total sq mi	498.3
Area total km2	1290.6
Area land sq mi	469.1
Area land km2	1214.9
Area water sq mi	29.2
Area water km2	75.7
Area water percent	5.8
Population as of	July 1, 2009
Population total	3,833,995
Population note	(2nd US, 45th World)
Population urban	14775000
Area urban km2	4319.9
Area urban sq mi	1667.9
Population metro	15,250,000
Population blank1 title	CSA
Population blank1	17786419
Population blank2 title	Demonym
Population blank2	Angeleno
Population density km2	3168
Population density sq mi	8205
Timezone	PST
Utc offset	-8
Timezone dst	PDT
Utc offset dst	−7
Latns	N
Longew	W
Elevation m	71
Elevation ft	233 (city hall)
Postal code type	ZIP code
Postal code	90001–90068, 90070–90084, 90086–90089, 90091, 90093–90097, 90099, 90101–90103, 90174, 90185, 90189, 90291-90293, 91040–91043, 91303–91308, 91342–91349, 91352–91353, 91356–91357, 91364–91367, 91401–91499, 91601–91609
Area code	213, 310/424, 323, 661, 747/818
Established title	Settled
Established date	September 4, 1781
Established title2	Incorporated
Established date2	April 4, 1850

Los Angeles ( ; , Spanish for "The Angels") is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States, with a population of 3.83 million on a land area of . It is the focal point of the larger Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside combined statistical area, which contains nearly 17.8 million people. Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated and one of the most multicultural counties in the United States. The city's inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos" ().

Los Angeles was founded on September 4, 1781 by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood.

Often known by its initials, LA, and nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is a world center of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, technology, and education. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. Los Angeles has been ranked the fifth most powerful and influential city in the world, behind only New York City in the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area (CSA) has a gross metropolitan product (GMP) of $831 billion (as of 2008), making it the third largest economic center in the world, after the Greater Tokyo Area and the New York metropolitan area. As the home base of Hollywood, it is known as the "Entertainment Capital of the World", leading the world in the creation of motion pictures, television production, video games, and recorded music. The importance of the entertainment business to the city has led many celebrities to call Los Angeles and its surrounding suburbs home. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics. Los Angeles is also home to renowned universities such as the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Los Angeles enjoys a Mediterranean climate, with an average of 35 days with measurable precipitation annually. The next contact would not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portolà, along with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. Crespí 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 Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, viceroy of New Spain, that the site noted by Juan Crespí be developed into a pueblo. The town was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores". Tradition has it that on this day they were escorted by four Spanish colonial soldiers, two priests from the Mission and Governor de Neve. The town 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 Porciúncula River). These pueblo settlers came from the common Hispanic culture that had emerged in northern Mexico among a racially mixed society. Two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto, and therefore, had African, Amerindian, and European ancestry. More importantly, they were intermarrying. 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 of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles.

New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico. During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico, made Los Angeles Alta California's regional capital. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847.

Railroads arrived with the completion of the Southern Pacific 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 the 1920s, the movie and aviation industries flocked to Los Angeles, with continuing growth ensuring that the city suffered less during the Great Depression. In 1932, with population surpassing one million, the city hosted the Summer Olympics.

The post-war years saw an even greater boom, as urban sprawl expanded the city into the San Fernando Valley. In 1960, non-Hispanic whites made up 82% of the population of Los Angeles County. In 1969, Los Angeles became one of the birthplaces of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to SRI in Menlo Park.

In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time. Despite being boycotted by 14 Communist countries, the 1984 Olympics became the most financially successful 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 remaining decades of the 20th century, the city was plagued by increasing gang warfare, drug trades, 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.

Gentrification and urban redevelopment have occurred in many parts of the city, most notably Hollywood, Koreatown, Silver Lake, Echo Park and Downtown.

Cityscape

is).]]

The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were incorporated places or communities that were annexed by the city. There are also several independent cities around Los Angeles, but they are popularly grouped with the city of Los Angeles, either due to being completely engulfed as enclaves by Los Angeles, or lying within its immediate vicinity. Generally, the city is divided into the following areas: Downtown Los Angeles, The Eastside and Northeast Los Angeles, South Los Angeles (still often colloquially referred to as South Central by locals), the Harbor Area, Greater Hollywood, Wilshire, the Westside and the San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys.

Some well-known communities within Los Angeles include West Adams, Watts, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Venice Beach, the Downtown Financial District, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Koreatown, Westwood and the more affluent areas of Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Hancock Park, Pacific Palisades, Century City, and Brentwood.

Landmarks

Important landmarks in Los Angeles include Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kodak Theatre, Griffith Observatory, Getty Center, Getty Villa, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Capitol Records Tower, Los Angeles City Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Theme Building, Watts Towers, Staples Center, Dodger Stadium, and La Placita Olvera/Olvera Street.

Geography

Los Angeles is irregularly shaped and covers a total area of , comprising of land and of water. The city extends for longitudinally and for latitudinally. The perimeter of the city is . 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 . Los Angeles is both flat and hilly. The hilliest parts of Los Angeles are the entire Santa Monica hills north of Downtown, areas immediately north of Downtown around Silver Lake, the entire eastern parts of L.A., the Crenshaw area, the San Pedro area, and areas around the San Fernando Valley. 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 on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The geologic instability has produced numerous faults, which cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes annually. One of the major faults is the San Andreas Fault. Located at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, it is 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. The Los Angeles basin and metropolitan area are also at risk from blind thrust earthquakes.

Climate

as seen with palm trees]]

Los Angeles has a Subtropical-Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), and receives just enough annual precipitation to avoid Köppen's BSh (semi-arid climate) classification. Los Angeles enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually.

The average annual temperature in downtown is : during the day and at night. In the coldest month, January, the temperature typically ranges from during the day and at night. In the warmest month – August – the temperature typically ranges from during the day and around at night. Temperatures exceed on a dozen or so days in the year, from one day a month in April, May, June and November to three days a month in July, August, October and to five days in September. Average annual temperature of sea is , from in January to in August. Sunshine hours is above 3,000 per year, from average 7 hours of sunshine / day in December to average 12 hours of sunshine / day in July.

The Los Angeles area is also subject to phenomena typical of a microclimate. As such, the temperatures can vary as much as 36 °F (20 °C) between inland areas and the coast. California also has a weather phenomenon called "June Gloom or May Grey", which sometimes gives overcast or foggy skies in the morning at the coast, but usually gives sunny skies by noon, during late spring and early summer.

Los Angeles averages of precipitation annually, which mainly occurs during the winter and spring (November through April) with generally moderate rain showers, but usually as heavy rainfall and thunderstorms during Winter storms. The coast gets slightly less rainfall, while the mountains get slightly more. However the San Fernando Valley Region of Los Angeles can get between 16 and 20 inches of rain per year. Years of average rainfall are rare; the usual pattern is bimodal, with a short string of dry years (perhaps ) followed by one or two wet years that make up the average. Snowfall is extremely rare in the city basin, but the mountains within city limits typically receive snowfall every winter. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was in 1932.

According to the 2006–08 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Los Angeles was as follows:

White: 49.5% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 29.4%)

Black or African American: 9.9%

Native American: 0.6%

Asian: 10.4%

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.2%

Some other race: 26.5%

Two or more races: 2.9%

Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 48.4%

African Americans make up 9.9% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 370,718 African Americans residing in Los Angeles.

Native Americans make up 0.6% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 21,696 Native Americans residing in Los Angeles. Of 21,696 Native Americans, 1,686 were of the Cherokee tribal grouping. In addition, 913 individuals identified themselves as Navajo. Approximately 110 people identified themselves as Chippewa, and 97 people identified themselves as Sioux.

Asian Americans make up 10.4% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 391,377 Asian Americans residing in Los Angeles. The seven largest Asian American groups were the following:

Filipino: 3.1% (115,729)

Korean: 2.5% (93,856)

Chinese: 1.7% (62,881)

Other Asian (Cambodian, Laotian, Thai, Hmong, etc.): 1.0% (36,580)

Japanese: 0.9% (32,555)

Indian: 0.8% (29,131)

Vietnamese: 0.6% (20,645)

Pacific Islander Americans make up 0.2% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 7,475 Pacific Islander Americans residing in Los Angeles. The four Pacific Islander American groups were the following:

Native Hawaiian: 1,575 (<0.1%)

Guamanian or Chamorro: 1,231 (<0.1%)

Samoan: 2,263 (0.1%)

Other Pacific Islander (Fijian, Tongan, etc.): 2,406 (0.1%)

Multiracial Americans make up 2.9% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 108,940 multiracial Americans residing in Los Angeles. The four main multiracial groups were the following:

White & Black: 0.4% (13,307)

White & Native American: 0.3% (11,327)

White & Asian: 0.6% (20,640)

Black & Native American: 0.1% (2,813)

Hispanics and Latinos make up 48.4% of Los Angeles' population. According to the survey, there were 1,815,005 Hispanics and Latinos residing in Los Angeles. The four main Hispanic/Latino groups were the following:

Mexican: 33.4% (1,253,410)

Puerto Rican: 0.4% (14,646)

Cuban: 0.4% (13,390)

Other Hispanic or Latino (Colombian, Panamanian, Uruguayan, etc.): 14.2% (533,539)

White Americans make up 49.5% of Los Angeles's population. According to the survey, there were 1,857,130 White Americans residing in Los Angeles. Much of the European American population is of German, Irish, English, Italian, Russian, Polish, and French descent.

Source:

According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, the top ten European ancestries were the following:

German: 4.5% (170,483)

Irish: 3.9% (146,658)

English: 3.5% (129,684)

Italian: 2.8% (100,145)

Russian: 2.6% (98,737)

Polish: 1.6% (59,774)

French: 1.2% (45,127)

Scottish: 0.8% (28,931)

Swedish: 0.6% (23,227)

Scotch-Irish: 0.6% (22,651)

Source:

Current estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau put the city's population at 3,833,995. The California Department of Finance estimates the population at 4,094,764 as of January 1, 2009. The 2000 census recorded 3,694,820 people, 1,275,412 households, and 798,719 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 and multicultural city, with major new groups of Latino and Asian immigrants in recent decades. From a metropolitan area that in 1960 was over 80% non-Hispanic white, Los Angeles has been transformed into a city that now has a "majority-minority" population. As of the 2000 US Census, the racial distribution in Los Angeles was 46.9% White American, 11.2% African American, 10.5% Asian American, 0.8% Native American, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 25.7% from other races, and 5.2% from two or more races. 46.5% of the population was Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

The census indicated that 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.

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 median household income of the wealthiest neighborhood was $207,938, while in the poorest it was $15,003.

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 Tokyo, Little Italy, 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 Carmen Trutanich and the City Controller Wendy Greuel. 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 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).

Neighborhood councils

in L.A.]] 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 that 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 $45,000 each per year for administration, outreach and approved neighborhood projects.

Crime and safety

during May Day 2006 in front of the new Caltrans District 7 Headquarters]] Los Angeles has been experiencing significant decline in crime since the mid-1990s, and reached a 50-year low in 2009 with 314 homicides. Antonio Villaraigosa is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition.

In 2009, Los Angeles reported 314 homicides, which corresponds to a rate of 7.85 (per 100,000 population)—a major decrease from 1993, when the all time homicide rate of over 21.1 (per 100,000 population) was reported for the year. This included 15 officer-involved shootings. One shooting led to the death of a SWAT team member, Randal Simmons, the first in LAPD's history.

Organized crime

The Los Angeles crime family dominated organized crime in the city during the Prohibition era and reached its peak during the 1940s and 1950s as part of the American Mafia but has gradually declined since then with the rise of various black and Hispanic gangs.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the city is home to 26,000 gang members, organized into 250 gangs. Among them are the Crips, Bloods, Hoovers, Sureños, Maravilla, 18th Street, Mara Salvatrucha, and Asian street gangs. This has led to the city being referred to as the "Gang Capital of America".

Sister cities

points to the sister cities of Los Angeles]] Los Angeles has 25 sister cities, listed chronologically by year joined: Eilat, Israel (1959) Nagoya, Japan (1959) Salvador, Brazil (1962) Bordeaux, France (1964) Berlin, Germany (1967) Lusaka, Zambia (1968) Mexico City, Mexico (1969) Auckland City, New Zealand (1971) Busan, South Korea (1971) Mumbai, India (1972) Tehran, Iran (1972) Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China (1979) Guangzhou, People's Republic of China (1981) Athens, Greece (1984) Saint Petersburg, Russia (1984) Vancouver, Canada (1986) Giza, Egypt (1989) Jakarta, Indonesia (1990) Kaunas, Lithuania (1991) Makati, Philippines (1992) Split, Croatia (1993) San Salvador, El Salvador (2005) Beirut, Lebanon (2006) Ischia, Italy (2006) Yerevan, Armenia (2007)

Los Angeles also has a cultural exchange partnership with Tel Aviv, Israel.

London and Manchester, United Kingdom, and Łódź, Poland are "friendship cities".

See also

1992 Los Angeles riots

East Los Angeles (region)

Largest cities in the Americas

Largest cities in Southern California

List of people from Los Angeles

List of tallest buildings in Los Angeles

Los Angeles in popular culture

References

Further reading

Allen J. Scott and Edward W Soja (1996) "The City: Los Angeles and Urban Tjheory at the End of the Twentieth Century," Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press

Reyner Banham, Los Angeles: The Architecture of the Four Ecologies, University of California Press, 1971.

Mike Davis, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, Vintage Books, 1992

Robert M. Fogelson, The Fragmented Metropolis: Los Angeles 1850–1930, University of California Press, 1967

Lynell George, No Crystal Stair: African Americans in the City of Angels, Verso, 1992

Paul Glover, "Los Angeles: A History of the Future", Eco-Home Press, 1989

Norman M. Klein, The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory, Verso, 1997

Torin Monahan, , City & Society XIV (2): 155–184, 2002

Leonard Pitt & Dale Pitt, Los Angeles A to Z: An Encyclopedia of the City and County, University of California Press, 2000

Marc Reisner, Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water, Penguin Books, 1986.

Peter Theroux, Translating LA: A Tour of the Rainbow City, Norton, 1994

David L. Ulin (ed), Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology, Library of America, 2002

Richard White, It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A New History of the American West, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991

External links

City of Los Angeles Official Website

ExperienceLA.com

Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce

Los Angeles Convention & Visitors Bureau

Los Angeles magazine

Los Angeles website

Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils

Los Angeles Online Magazine LA2day

Historic Bridges of Los Angeles County

Los Angeles Then and Now – slideshow by Life magazine

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Category:Cities in Los Angeles County, California Category:Communities on U.S. Route 66 Category:County seats in California Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Port settlements in the United States Category:Populated places established in 1781 Category:Cities in California