| Los Angeles | |
| City in the United States | |
| Location | |
| State | California |
| County | Los Angeles County |
| Coordinates | 34°3’N, 118°17’W |
| General | |
| Surface | 1,302.15 km² |
| – country | 1,214.03 km² |
| – water | 88.12 km² |
| Residents (2020) |
3,979,576 (3278 inhabitant/km²) |
| – agglomeration | 17,786,419 (2012, CSA) |
| Politics | |
| Mayor | Eric Garcetti (D) |
| Website | lacity.org |
| Skyline and photos | |
According to act-test-centers.com, Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and commonly abbreviated to LA, is a large and sprawling city on the west coast of the United States. It is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. According to the 2019 census, 3,979,576 people lived within the city limits. Los Angeles is the center of the Greater Los Angeles Area, a metropolitan area in Southern California that has nearly 18 million residents. In addition, Los Angeles is the capital of Los Angeles CountyCalifornia ‘s most populous and ethnically diverse county.
The city was founded on September 4, 1781 by the Spanish governor of Las Californias, Felipe de Neve (1724-1784). In 1821 the settlement became part of Mexico and 27 years later, after the Mexican-American War and the Peace of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the city came into American hands. Los Angeles was incorporated as a city on April 4, 1850, five months before California was admitted to the Union as a state. With the advent of transcontinental railroads and the discovery of oil, the city grew rapidly.
Today Los Angeles is a metropolis with a large port and busy airport. Los Angeles, and more specifically Hollywood, is the center of the American and by extension Western film and television industry. Many of the city’s landmarks, such as the Getty Center, Hollywood Boulevard, TCL Chinese Theater, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, are related to the entertainment industry. In addition, Los Angeles is strong as a production center for, among other things, aerospace technology.
History
The area where Los Angeles is now was originally inhabited by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash peoples. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, a Portuguese who claimed the area as the City of God for the Spanish Empire. He continued his journey without doing anything further with the area. The next contact did not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portolá reached this region with the missionary Juan Crespí on August 2, 1769. Crespí wrote that this area could become a large settlement.
Los Angeles between 1890 and 1905
In 1771 the Spanish Franciscan friar Junípero Serra built the Misión San Gabriel Arcángel near the San Gabriel Valley. In 1777, the new governor of California, Felipe de Neve, was advised by Antonio María de Bucareli y Ursúa, viceroy of Spain, to turn the area described by Juan Crespí into a village. The village was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of forty-four founders known as “Los Pobladores”. It was named El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula(“The Village of Our Lady the Queen of Angels of the Porciúncula River”). The founders came from Spain. Three quarters of them were mulatto or mestizo and had an African or Amerindian background.
During World War II, on the night of February 24-25, 1942, there was widespread panic in Los Angeles when rumors spread that Japanese planes were attacking the city. It turned out to be a false alarm, but the events were later cited as the Battle of Los Angeles.
Climate
The climate is Mediterranean: hot dry summers (April to October) with temperatures up to 35°C and mild winters (November to March) with maximums around 15°C.
| Weather Averages for Los Angeles | |||||||||||||
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | April | May | jun | july | aug | sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average maximum (°C) | 20 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 29 | 30 | 29 | 26 | 22 | 20 | 24.1 |
| Average minimum (°C) | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 12.7 |
| Source: Climate info | |||||||||||||
Population
Los Angeles ‘ Chinatown
Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and it is the second largest city in the United States; only New York is bigger. The city has approximately 4 million inhabitants, the agglomeration of Los Angeles has approximately 17 million inhabitants. 44% of the population is Hispanic or Latino. They come mainly from Mexico and Cuba. 25% of the population is white. Among them are also many retired people from the northern states of America. 15% of the population is of Asian descent. These are mainly people from Korea, which has led to ‘Koreatown’. Also China, Japan, Vietnam and Laosare well represented. 11% of the population is African American. 3% of the population is of other origin. 2% of the population is of mixed descent. [source?]
17% of the population is older than 65 years. 26% of the population is single. 13% of the population lives below the poverty line. 6% of the population is unemployed. [source?]
Religion
Because Los Angeles is a fusion of cultures, adherents of all world religions can be found in this city.
The city is home to America’s second largest Jewish community (after New York). Los Angeles has its own Roman Catholic Archbishop, and is the largest archdiocese in the country. Cardinal Roger Mahony is Los Angeles’ Archbishop.
There is a large community of Mormons in Los Angeles: their third largest temple is located in this city. Los Angeles can be called the cradle of modern Christian fundamentalism. Between 1908 and 1959, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA) was located in Los Angeles. BIOLA published the book The Fundamentals in 1913, the extremely conservative interpretation of the Bible that would give fundamentalism its name. Various fundamentalist groups and television pastors have their home base in Los Angeles. Fundamentalist cartoonist Jack Chick was also born and raised in Los Angeles.
Asian immigrants brought Buddhism to Los Angeles; the city has more than 300 Buddhist temples, making it one of the largest Buddhist centers in the world. Various gurus, alternative religions and sects find their home in Los Angeles, including Theosophy, Kabbalah, the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi movement and the Church of Scientology.
Culture
Architecture
Los Angeles from the air, with Downtown LA in the distance . Relatively few high-rise buildings in this sprawling metropolis
It is mainly the vastness of the metropolis that stands out in Los Angeles. Although the center has relatively many high-rise buildings, Los Angeles is mainly a low-rise city. Stevenson Ranch is a good example of such a ‘family-oriented neighbourhood’. Notable buildings include the 310-foot US Bank Tower (Los Angeles’ tallest building), the distinctively styled Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and the modern Walt Disney Concert Hall. These buildings showcase the diverse architecture of Los Angeles, from modern to classic to rural.
The more hidden architecture, the residential architecture, also has a rich history in Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Modernist and postmodernist architecture in particular has found a foothold in the city, and has been represented by many of the big names in the post-war architecture scene. Persons like Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler, Pierre Koenig, and John Lautner have made Los Angeles one of the world’s largest and most important architectural cities. Also figures such as the brothers Greene & Greene contributed by – mainly in the nearby city of Pasadena (California)- display their craftsmanship in the arts and crafts movement.
Some major residential buildings in Los Angeles:
- Bailey House (1948), Richard Neutra
- Schindler House (1922), Rudolph Schindler
- Hollyhock House ( Barnsdall Art Park) (1925), Richard Neutra, Frank Lloyd Wright, Rudolph Schindler
- Lovell House (1929), Richard Neutra
- Ennis House (1924), Frank Lloyd Wright
- Howe House (1925), Rudolph Schindler
- Chemosphere (1960), John Lautner
- Sheats Residence (1963), John Lautner
Sights
The Hollywood Sign
There is a lot of film industry: Beverly Hills, Hollywood with its Hollywood Walk of Fame and TCL Chinese Theater. However, the real media industry is spread across four districts adjacent to Los Angeles: Burbank (NBC, Warner Bros., Disney), Century City (20th Century Fox, MGM), Universal City (Universal Studios, NBC Universal), and Culver City (Sony Pictures Entertainment). Also the beaches of Santa Monica, Malibu, Venice and Huntington Beach, are popular.
The original Disneyland is located in Anaheim, south of Los Angeles.
North of downtown Los Angeles is Griffith Park. This includes the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum, a museum about life in the western United States. It is a merger of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of the American West, and the Women of the West Museum.
Museums
The Hammer Museum
Los Angeles County has 841 museums. Below a number of large and important museums, including many art museums.
Founded in 1910, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has a collection of more than 100,000 works of art. Another important art museum is the Hammer Museum, which has Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art and work by Rembrandt and Titian in its collection. The Museum of Contemporary Art focuses on contemporary art. Also worth mentioning are the Getty Center, the Craft and Folk Art Museum, and the California African American Museum. As a musical center it also houses one of the Grammy Museums, namely theGrammy Museum at L.A. Live.
One of the most famous American sculpture parks is the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden on the UCLA campus.
Sports
Los Angeles has hosted the Summer Olympics twice: the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics. It will also host the 2028 Summer Games.
Los Angeles was host to the 1994 World Cup with the Rose Bowl stadium. For example, Brazil played the final against Italy after penalties.
Los Angeles is also home to the NBA Lakers and LA Clippers basketball teams, as well as the NHL ‘s LA Kings ice hockey team. All of these teams are home to the Staples Center in Los Angeles . The LA Dodgers and Anaheim Angels baseball clubs, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles FC football clubs, and LA Rams and LA Chargers football clubs, which play in the MLB, are also from Los Angeles.
Board
Los Angeles City Hall
Government
The current mayor, since July 1, 2013, is Democrat Eric Garcetti.
In addition, various government officials are directly elected, such as the attorney general (city attorney) and the so-called city controller, who controls the expenditure of the municipality and functions as a municipal ombudsman.
Administrative division
Los Angeles is divided into fifteen city council districts. A representative is elected from each district for four years; together they form the municipal council. This system was introduced in 1889, at the time with nine district members. Six districts were added in 1925.
Education
Los Angeles has a number of good universities. The best known of these is UCLA, the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles. Other universities include the University of Southern California, California State University, Loyola Marymount University, Caltech, and Pepperdine University.
Traffic and transport
Nighttime view of Los Angeles
Road transport
The Los Angeles region has one of the largest highway systems in the world. In California, these highways are called “freeways.” There are twenty-seven intertwined freeways in the region, used by millions of motorists for commuting, covering approximately 160 million kilometers each day. Los Angeles is the metropolis with the highest density of cars in the world, with 1.8 vehicles for every resident with a driver’s license.
Because there is little public transport, and drivers often have to travel long distances to get to their destination, there are many traffic jams. During peak periods, on weekdays between 6 am and 9 am and between 3 pm and 7 pm, the roads are overcrowded and there are long traffic jams. Also at other times there is often a lot of traffic.
As a result, Angelinos are used to spending a lot of time in their car every day. Many radio stations attract listeners by regularly broadcasting traffic reports.
Major intercity express links are Interstate 5 (north to Sacramento and south to San Diego), Interstate 15 (north to Las Vegas and south to San Diego), U.S. Route 101 (north to Santa Barbara), and Interstate 10 (east to Phoenix).
Public transport
The primary regional public transportation agency is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly referred to as the Subway or the MTA. The organization, which provides bus, light rail and subway services, averages 1.6 million transit trips per weekday, making it the third largest transportation company in the United States. Other municipal transportation organizations in Los Angeles County (LADOT, Long Beach Transit, Montebello Bus Lines, Norwalk Transit, Redondo Beach, Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus, Santa Clarita Transit, Torrance Transit andTransit Foothill) provide an average of 405,000 trips on a weekday.
Metro Rail
The Metro Rail is a public transport system consisting of two metro lines and four light rail lines. The total length of the system is 139.7 km, with 93 stations. The number of passengers is 316,000 per day on weekdays (as of February 2012). The first connection was opened in 1990, the last in 2016.
Rail transport
Los Angeles’ main station is Union Station. Amtrak, the American national rail company, offers several train services from this station. There is the regional Pacific Surfliner (San Diego-Los Angeles-San Luis Obispo) and long-distance trains such as the Texas Eagle to the east (Houston, New Orleans, Chicago).
Air transport
Encounter Restaurant, with LAX. control tower in the background
Los Angeles’ main airport is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the fifth busiest commercial airport in the world and the third busiest in the United States.
LAX handled 61 million passengers and 2 million tons of cargo in 2006. LAX is a hub for United Airlines and American Airlines.
Other nearby major commercial airports are:
- (ONT) LA/Ontario International Airport
- (BUR) Bob Hope Airport
- (LGB) Long Beach Airport
- (SNA) John Wayne Airport
- (CPM) Compton/Woodley Airport
- (PMD) Palmdale Regional Airport
One of the busiest general aviation airports in the world is also located in Los Angeles: the Van Nuys Airport (VNY).
Town twinning
Los Angeles maintains 25 city ties with:
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In addition, there are also four friendship cities:
- ódź (Poland)
- London (United Kingdom)
- Manchester (United Kingdom)
- Tel Aviv (Israel)
Nearby places
The figure below shows nearby places within 10 miles of downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles
Beverly Hills (2 miles)
Burbank (11 km)
Culver City (9 km)
Glendale (15km)
Inglewood (15 km)
Ladera Heights (11 km)
Marina del Rey (14 km)
Santa Monica (12 km)
View Park – Windsor Hills (11 km)
West Hollywood (0 km)
