"L.A." redirects here. For the U.S. state shortened to LA, see
Louisiana
.
Los Angeles
(
L.A.
), officially the
City of Los Angeles
, is the largest city in
California
, in the
United States
. There are 3,847,400 people living in the city, and over 18 million people in the L.A. region. The city has an area of 1,200 square kilometres (460?sq?mi). Los Angeles is the city with the second biggest population in the
United States
after
New York
, overtaking
Chicago
in the 1970s.
Los Angeles, California
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Flag
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Nickname(s):?
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Map of Los Angeles County, California, with Los Angeles highlighted
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Location within California
Show map of California
Location within the United States
Show map of the United States
Location within North America
Show map of North America
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Coordinates:
34°03′N
118°15′W
? / ?
34.050°N 118.250°W
? /
34.050; -118.250
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Country
| United States
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State
| California
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County
| Los Angeles
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Region
| Southern California
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CSA
| Los Angeles-Long Beach
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MSA
| Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim
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Pueblo
| September 4, 1781
[2]
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City status
| May 23, 1835
[3]
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Incorporated
| April 4, 1850
[4]
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Named for
| Our Lady, Queen of the Angels
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???Type
| Mayor-Council
[5]
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???Body
| Los Angeles City Council
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???
Mayor
| Karen Bass
(
D
)
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???
City Attorney
| Hydee Feldstein Soto
(D)
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???
City Controller
| Kenneth Mejia
(D)
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???Total
| 501.55?sq?mi (1,299.01?km
2
)
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???Land
| 469.49?sq?mi (1,215.97?km
2
)
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???Water
| 32.06?sq?mi (83.04?km
2
)
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Elevation
| 305?ft (93?m)
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Highest?elevation
| 5,074?ft (1,547?m)
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Lowest?elevation
| 0?ft (0?m)
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Population
| 3,898,747
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???Rank
| 2nd
in the United States
1st
in California
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???Density
| 8,304.22/sq?mi (3,206.29/km
2
)
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???
Metro
| 13,200,998 (
2nd
)
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Demonym(s)
| Los Angeleno, Angeleno
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Time zone
| UTC?08:00
(
Pacific
)
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???Summer (
DST
)
| UTC?07:00
(
PDT
)
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ZIP Codes
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- 90001?90084, 90086?90089, 90091, 90093?90097, 90099, 90101?90103, 90174, 90185, 90189, 90291?90293, 91040?91043, 91303?91308, 91311, 91316, 91324?91328, 91330, 91331, 91335, 91340, 91342?91349, 91352?91353, 91356?91357, 91364?91367, 91401?91499, 91504?91505, 91601?91609
[11]
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Area codes
| 213/323
,
310/424
,
747/818
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FIPS
code
| 06-44000
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GNIS
feature IDs
| 1662328
,
2410877
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Major Airport
| Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX)
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Rapid Transit
| Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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Website
| lacity.gov
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It is a car-centric city requiring much parking, and one of the most spread out cities in the world. Greater Los Angeles is home to many movie stars and many of the biggest rock bands in the history of the United States. Los Angeles is surrounded by East Los Angeles, Huntington Park, Maywood, Walnut Park, Commerce, Bell, Glendale, South Pasadena, Monterey Park, South Gate, Carson, Cudahy, West Hollywood, Alhambra, Bell Gardena and Westmont.
[12]
Los Angeles has Spanish and Mexican influences due to being a former colony of
Mexico
and
Spain
. Los Angeles is a diverse city with many ethnic groups such as Mexican, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Italian, Salvadoran, Greek and Armenian. Mexican and Spanish architecture can be seen in Los Angeles.
Many
celebrities
live in Los Angeles. Los Angeles is known to be the entertainment capital of the world. Many movies, television shows and fashion shows are made in
Hollywood
and are often set in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles has the second largest Hispanic and Latino population in the United States, only behind New York City. Many are of Mexican and Central American descent.
[13]
Los Angeles is one of the most expensive cities to live in.
The area comprising present-day
Los Angeles County
was first settled by small groups of
Native Americans
for centuries before the first European contact in 1769 when Gaspar de Portola and a group of missionaries camped on what is now the banks of the Los Angeles River. The name Los Angeles comes from the
Spanish language
,and it means "The Angels". The name is an
abbreviation
from the original name of the place. The original name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles del Rio Porciuncula" (in
English
, "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the River Porciuncula"), giving it both one of the longest and shortest (referring to its shortening of "LA") place names in the world.
[14]
Los Angeles was founded in
1781
while the area was within the borders of the
Viceroyalty of New Spain
. The area had earlier been explored by two
Franciscan
priests
named
Junipero Serra
and
Juan Crespi
and following the
Mexican War of Independence
the region passed into the hands of
Mexico
which subsequently ceded control of California to the U.S. in 1848. On
April 4
,
1850
California became a State of the USA. Los Angeles began half a century of rapid growth after
railroads
arrived in the city in the 1870s. Los Angeles was home to the
Olympic Games
in 1932 and 1984. It will host the Olympic Games in 2028. Three times the city broke out in riots, in
1943
, in
1965
, and in
1992
, all due to
racism
.
[15]
[16]
In 1994, an
earthquake
killed 72 people and damaged many buildings.
Demographics
change
Los Angeles has the second largest Mexican, Armenian, Salvadoran, Filipino and Guatemalan population by city in the world, the third largest Canadian population in the world, and has the largest Japanese, Iranian/Persian, Cambodian and Roma (Gypsy) population in the country.
[17]
Christianity
is the most practiced religion in Los Angeles.
[18]
Spanish is the most spoken foreign language in Los Angeles. Korean, Filipino, Armenian, Chinese, and Persian are also spoken in the city.
[19]
Most tourists in Los Angeles come from Mexico, Canada, China, Australia, Japan, UK, South Korea, Germany, France, Scandinavia, the Middle East and India.
[20]
Los Angeles is a very large city, and the edges of the city are very far from the center, going from the beaches to the mountains. The
Santa Monica Mountains
run through the city, separating it into the
San Fernando Valley
to the north and the
Los Angeles Basin
to the south. The
Los Angeles River
also runs through the city some 51 miles (82?km). Los Angeles moves about one-quarter of an inch (6.3?millimeters) to the east every year.
[21]
It is caused by the city's tectonic plates and rough ground geography and since Los Angeles is at a close distance with the
San Andreas Fault
. This brings Los Angeles and
San Francisco
2.5 inches (64?mm) closer together each year.
The
climate
in Los Angeles is a
Mediterranean climate
. The weather is usually warm and dry during the summer, and it is mild and more rainy in the winter. The weather is different depending on how far away from the ocean you are, so places near the beach usually do not get as hot in the summer. It is very rare for temperatures to go below freezing near the coast, but can occur further inland. The city receives about 15 inches (380?mm) of rain each year, although the amount can change a lot from year to year. Snow is very rare except on the mountain tops where some occasional light snow might fall.
Los Angeles is known for its large
movie
and
television
industry
. Much of this is located in Hollywood. Some
military
aircraft
are also made there, as well as spacecraft. The
music
industry is also concentrated in the area. The city is also a
banking
center. The San Pedro area has a busy
port
.
Neighborhoods
change
Los Angeles has dozens of neighborhoods and named areas, including:
- Hollywood
, home of many well-known
movie
studios.
- Downtown Los Angeles, the financial centre of the city. Home to Los Angeles' and California's two tallest buildings, the
Wilshire Grand Center
and the
U.S. Bank Tower
- Elysian Park, home of
Dodger Stadium
and previously Chavez Ravine.
- Venice Beach
.
- Santa Monica
, beachfront district (officially a separate city).
- Inglewood
, home of
SoFi Stadium
and
The Forum
(officially a separate city).
- Brentwood, a very wealthy area in
West Los Angeles
.
- South L.A. the center of LA's
African-American
jazz
scene
- Leimert Park, home to LA’s historic
African-American
museums.
- Crenshaw, a well-known district in
South Los Angeles
.
- University Park, home to the
University of Southern California
.
- Westwood, home to the
University of California
.
- Boyle Heights, where many
Mexican Americans
reside.
As of December 2022, the mayor of Los Angeles is
Karen Bass
.
Los Angeles has a rich history and culture of popular music. Many of the most notable recording artists in the history of the United States either started or flourished in Los Angeles or Greater Los Angeles. The surf music scene is largely associated with Los Angeles and suburbs like Malibu. Motown Records moved from Detroit, Michigan to Los Angeles in the 1970s. The West Coast Hip-hop scene and genres such as G-funk are largely centered in Greater Los Angeles.
Notable bands include:
- ↑
1.0
1.1
1.2
Gollust, Shelley (April 18, 2013).
"Nicknames for Los Angeles"
.
Voice of America
. Retrieved
June 26,
2014
.
- ↑
Barrows, H.D. (1899).
"Felepe de Neve"
.
Historical Society of Southern California Quarterly
. Vol.?4. p.?151ff
. Retrieved
September 28,
2011
.
- ↑
"This 1835 Decree Made the Pueblo of Los Angeles a Ciudad ? And California's Capital"
.
KCET
. April 2016
. Retrieved
January 27,
2018
.
- ↑
"California Cities by Incorporation Date"
. California Association of
Local Agency Formation Commissions
. Archived from
the original
(DOC)
on February 21, 2013
. Retrieved
August 25,
2014
.
- ↑
"About the City Government"
. City of Los Angeles. Archived from
the original
on February 8, 2015
. Retrieved
February 8,
2015
.
- ↑
"2021 U.S. Gazetteer Files"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
September 7,
2021
.
- ↑
"Los Angeles City Hall"
.
Geographic Names Information System
.
United States Geological Survey
. Retrieved
October 16,
2014
.
- ↑
8.0
8.1
"Elevations and Distances"
. US Geological Survey. April 29, 2005. Archived from
the original
on November 9, 2013
. Retrieved
February 10,
2015
.
- ↑
"QuickFacts: Los Angeles city, California"
. U.S. Census Bureau
. Retrieved
September 9,
2021
.
- ↑
"2020 Population and Housing State Data"
. United States Census Bureau
. Retrieved
22 August
2021
.
- ↑
Zip Codes Within the City of Los Angeles
? LAHD
- ↑
"Cities Near Me - Los Angeles, California | Travelmath"
.
- ↑
11 Cities With the Most Hispanics
- ↑
"City of Angels' First Name Still Bedevils Historians"
.
The Los Angeles Times
. March 26, 2005
. Retrieved
June 26,
2020
.
- ↑
"Zoot Suit Riots | Summary, Causes, Significance, & Facts"
.
Encyclopedia Britannica
. Retrieved
2020-11-18
.
- ↑
Szymanski, Michael (1990-08-05).
"How Legacy of the Watts Riot Consumed, Ruined Man's Life"
.
Orlando Sentinel
. Retrieved
2020-11-18
.
- ↑
The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History
. p.?83.
- ↑
Demographics of Los Angeles - Rex Hamilton, MD
- ↑
Top Languages Spoken in Los Angeles
- ↑
https://www.discoverlosangeles.com/media/facts-about-la
- ↑
21.0
21.1
"Frey crafts a new view of modern-day Los Angeles"
. Today.com
. Retrieved
November 27,
2013
.