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General Information

Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state of California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City and the largest city on the West Coast. Often abbreviated as L.A., it is an alpha world city having an estimated 2006 population of 3,849,368 and spanning over 469.1 square miles (1,214.9 square kilometers) in Southern California. The Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana metropolitan area, or Greater Los Angeles, is home to nearly 13 million people who hail from all over the globe and speak over a hundred different languages. Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, and its inhabitants are referred to as "Angelenos". The city's most popular nickname is the "City of Angels".
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 Porciúncula). It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following independence from Spain and then a part of the United States in 1848 at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War. It was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850—five months before California achieved statehood.
Los Angeles is one of the world's most prominent centers of culture, technology, and international trade, and is home to world-renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields. The city and its immediate vicinity lead the world in producing popular entertainment—such as motion picture, television, and recorded music—which forms the base of Los Angeles' international fame and global status.

History

Facts about the Travel
location Los Angeles
date 09.09.2002 - 12.09.2002
country California, USA flag
traveled by car
average temperature about 35°C
currency Dollar (USD)
Inhabitants 3,849,368
language english
Picturegallery go to the gallery
in combination with California 2002
The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 under Joao Cabrilho, a Portuguese explorer who claimed the area as the City of God for the Spanish Empire but continued with his voyage and did not establish a settlement. The next contact would not come until 227 years later when Gaspar de Portola, together with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, 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 Junipero Serra had the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel built 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 previously recommended 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 at least partial 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 1821, and the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican-American War, when Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating in the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. 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 100,000 people, which began to put pressure on the city's water supply. The 1913 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 tension in Europe, including Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht, Arnold Schoenberg, and Lion Feuchtwanger. World War II brought new growth and prosperity to the city, although many of its Japanese-American residents were transported to 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.
Much like the rest of the United States, Los Angeles in the 1960s and early 1970s had to come to terms with changing race relations; the Watts riots in 1965, the high school walkout by Chicano students in 1968, and the 1970 Chicano Moratorium were representative of the racial strife present within the city. 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.
In 1984, it hosted the Summer Olympics for the second time. The rest of the 1980s was plagued by an increase in gang violence, when crack cocaine became wildly available, and police corruption. Racial tensions surfaced again in 1991 with the Rodney King controversy and the large-scale riots that followed. In 1994, the Northridge earthquake shook the city, causing 72 deaths. Also that year, O.J. Simpson led police on a slow-speed chase before surrendering to face murder charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend. Despite propositions for the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood sections to secede from the city in 2002, residents voted down secession. The 2000s has seen a rise in urban redevelopment and gentrification in various parts of the city, most notably Echo Park and Downtown.
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Downtown Los Angeles

Geography

Topography

Los Angeles has a total area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km²), comprising 469.1 square miles (1,214.9 km²) of land and 29.2 square miles (75.7 km²) of water. This makes it the 14th largest city in land area in the United States. 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).
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 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. Parts of the city are also vulnerable to Pacific Ocean tsunamis; harbor areas were damaged by waves from the Great Chilean Earthquake in 1960.

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Los Angeles Street

Climate


The city is situated in a Mediterranean climate zone (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), experiencing mild, somewhat wet winters and warm to hot summers. 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. 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 is called June Gloom.
Temperatures in the summer can get well over 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 will get up to 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 Los Angeles' proximity to 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 24.0 °F (−5.0 °C) on January 9, 1937.
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 (38 cm) of precipitation per year. 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.
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Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Cityscape & Landsmakrs

The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were towns that were annexed by the growing city. There are also several independent cities in and 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, East Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, the Harbor Area, Hollywood, Wilshire, West Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys.
Some well-known communities of Los Angeles include Watts, Venice Beach, the Downtown Financial District, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Koreatown, Westwood and the more affluent areas of Bel-Air, Benedict Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Pacific Palisades, and Brentwood.

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

Economy

The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures, recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the largest manufacturing center in the United States. The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together comprise the most significant port in North America and one of the most important ports in the world, and they are vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Other significant industries include media production, finance, telecommunications, law, health and medicine, and transportation.
For many years, up until the mid-1990s, Los Angeles was home to many major financial institutions in the western United States, including First Interstate Bank, which merged with Wells-Fargo in 1996, Great Western Bank, merged with Washington Mutual in 1998, and Security Pacific National Bank, which merged with Bank of America in 1992. Los Angeles was also home to the Pacific Stock Exchange until it closed in 2001.
The city is home to five major Fortune 500 companies, including aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman, energy company Occidental Petroleum, healthcare provider Health Net, homebuilding company KB Home, and metals distributor Reliance Steel & Aluminum. The University of Southern California (USC) is the city's largest private sector employer.
Other companies headquartered in Los Angeles include Twentieth Century Fox, Latham & Watkins, Univision, Metro Interactive, LLC, Premier America, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Guess?, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Tokyopop, The Jim Henson Company, Paramount Pictures, Robinsons-May, Sunkist, Fox Sports Net, Capital Group, 21st century Insurance, L.E.K. Consulting, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
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(click on the image)


The metropolitan area contains the headquarters of even more companies, many of whom wish to escape the city's high taxes. For example, Los Angeles charges a gross receipts tax based on a percentage of business revenue, while many neighboring cities charge only small flat fees. The companies below benefit from their proximity to Los Angeles, while at the same time avoiding the city's taxes (and other problems). Some of the major companies headquartered in the cities of Los Angeles county are Shakey's Pizza (Alhambra), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Beverly Hills), City National Bank (Beverly Hills), Hilton Hotels (Beverly Hills), DiC Entertainment (Burbank), The Walt Disney Company (Fortune 500 – Burbank), Warner Bros. (Burbank), Countrywide Financial Corporation (Fortune 500 – Calabasas), THQ (Calabasas), Belkin (Compton), Sony Pictures Entertainment (parent of Columbia Pictures, located in Culver City), Computer Sciences Corporation (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), DirecTV (El Segundo), Mattel (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), Unocal (Fortune 500 – El Segundo), DreamWorks SKG (Glendale), Sea Launch (Long Beach), ICANN (Marina Del Rey), Cunard Line (Santa Clarita), Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita), Activision (Santa Monica), and RAND (Santa Monica). The L.A. area is also home to the U.S. headquarters of all but two of the major Asian automobile manufacturers. Further, virtually all the world's automakers have design and/or tech centers in the L.A. region. Downtown Los Angeles also is the home of the Los Angeles Convention Center which hosts many popular events.