Los Angeles, California

[The U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest of the skyscrapers in Downtown Los Angeles]
Picture of the U.S. Bank Tower, the tallest of the skyscrapers in Downtown
Los Angeles

The City of Los Angeles is a large coastal metropolis in Southern California
in the western United States. The city is the county seat of Los Angeles County.

Los Angeles is the largest city in California, and the second most populous
in the United States, with a population of 3,694,820 as of the 2000 census.
The Los Angeles metropolitan area, sometimes called Southern California (Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Orange Counties) is home to
over 16 million people of diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Arts and Culture

Los Angeles is still the most important site in the United States for movie
and television production. It faces increasing competition, however, from
other parts of the United States and from Toronto and Vancouver.

Los Angeles had a vibrant African-American musical community even when it
was relatively small: a number of musical artists congregated around Central
Avenue, and the community produced a number of great talents, including
Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette Gerald Wilson and others in the 1930?s and
1940?s. While that scene disappeared in the 1950s, Los Angeles continues as
an important center for music.

The greater LA metro area has several notable museums including the Los
Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the J. Paul Getty Center, the Museum
of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the UCLA Hammer Museum and the Norton Simon Museum.

Religion

Los Angeles is home to adherents of every religion. The cathedral of the
Roman Catholic archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels (located at the north end of downtown) was completed in 2002. A major
temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is located in West
Los Angeles.

Los Angeles' large ethnic population has allowed less common religions in
North America to thrive. Recent immigrants from Asia, for example, have
caused a number of significant Buddhist congreations to form. One of the
major temples, the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple, is located in nearby La Habra, California.

Los Angeles is also home to a sizable number of Neopagans and other mystical religions.

Los Angeles has also been the home of some very colorful religious leaders
and icons. In the 1920s Aimee Semple McPherson established a thriving
evangelic ministry, open to both black and white congregants, but her career
was eventually brought down by her personal misadventures. More recently,
televangelists like Dr. Gene Scott and the Trinity Broadcasting Network
(based in the Los Angeles suburb of Costa Mesa, California) and Rev. Robert
H. Schuller (at the Crystal Cathedral in nearby Garden Grove, California)
have taken their ministries to the airwaves. The somewhat controversial
Church of Scientology also has a major presence in the city. Focus on the
Family, a major parachurch organization concentrating on family issues and
headed by James Dobson, was started in the Los Angeles area and thrived
there for many years before moving to its current home of Colorado Springs,
Colorado.

Stereotypes

Los Angeles has been derided by the rest of the United States for most of
the last century: to quote one dyspeptic observer, it simply "oozed up
through the unstable earth like some noxious tropical plant growing and
spreading over the plain and sending forth strange fruit to contaminate the
rest of the country." H.L. Mencken complained about the stink of oranges,
while Bertolt Brecht compared Los Angeles to hell with "endless processions
of cars/Lighter than their own shadows, faster than/Mad thoughts, gleaming
vehicles in which/Jolly-looking people come from nowhere and are nowhere
bound." The current stereotype appears to be Los Angeles as dystopia, as
portrayed in movies such as Blade Runner.

Other perceptions of Los Angeles suggest a town full of surfers, gang
members and vacuous show biz types.

Movers and Shakers

Like most areas of California, Los Angeles' history is punctuated with major
earthquakes, most recently the 1994 Northridge earthquake, centered in the
northern San Fernando Valley. Coming less than two years after the civil
unrest, the Northridge earthquake resulted in an additional shock to
Southern Californians, in addition to the billions of dollars in damage.
Other major earthquakes include the 1997 Whittier Narrows earthquake and the
1973 Sylmar earthquake.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of
1,290.6 km² (498.3 mi²). 1,214.9 km² (469.1 mi²) of it
is land and 75.7 km² (29.2 mi²) of it is water. The total area is
5.86% water.

Urban Layout

Greater Los Angeles (also referred to locally as Southern California or The
Southland) is such a sprawling area that residents refer to broad general
sub-regions. It is not always meaningful to refer to Los Angeles as a
distinct city, but people outside of Southern California commonly refer to
the entire region as "L.A.," even though there are five counties, over 100
distinct municipalities, hundreds of neighborhoods and districts, and more
people than any individual state except for Texas, New York, and Florida.

Some areas are defined by natural features such as mountains or the ocean;
others are marked by city boundaries, freeways, or other constructed
landmarks. For example, Downtown Los Angeles (or simply "Downtown L.A.") is
the area of Los Angeles roughly enclosed by the freeways that ring the area:
The Harbor Freeway to the west, the Hollywood Freeway to the north, the
Santa Ana Freeway to the east , and the San Bernardino Freeway to the south.
Or, consider the San Fernando Valley: Lying north-northwest of Downtown
L.A., "The Valley" is a 15 mile-wide basin ringed by mountains including the
Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica Mountains to the south, the San Gabriel
Mountains to the east, the Santa Susana Mountains to the north, and the
Coastal Range to the west.

Some other areas of Los Angeles include the Westside; South L.A. (formerly
South-Central L.A.); and San Pedro/the Harbor area. Adjoining areas that are
outside of L.A. city include the South Bay, the San Gabriel Valley, Malibu,
and the Foothills. Many more exist beyond and in the adjacent counties.

Transportation

Known for freeway gridlock of legendary proportions, the city is developing
a more sophisticated subway and bus system, although many a wag has
suggested that L.A. built a subway solely for the purpose of shooting movie
chase scenes in it. Major freeways of Los Angeles include the 405 freeway,
the 101 freeway and the 5 freeway. The primary public transportation agency
is MTA

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there are 3,694,820 people, 1,275,412 households,
and 798,407 families residing in the city. The population density is
3,041.3/km² (7,876.8/mi²). There are 1,337,706 housing units at an
average density of 1,101.1/km² (2,851.8/mi²). The racial makeup of
the city is 46.93% White, 11.24% African American, 0.80% Native American,
9.99% Asian American, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 25.70% from other races, and
5.18% from two or more races. 46.53% of the population are Hispanic or
Latino of any race.

There are 1,275,412 households out of which 33.5% have children under the
age of 18 living with them, 41.9% are married couples living together, 14.5%
have a female householder with no husband present, and 37.4% are
non-families. 28.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 7.4%
have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average
household size is 2.83 and the average family size is 3.56.

In the city the population is spread out with 26.6% under the age of 18,
11.1% from 18 to 24, 34.1% from 25 to 44, 18.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who
are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100
females there are 99.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there
are 97.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $36,687, and the median
income for a family is $39,942. Males have a median income of $31,880 versus
$30,197 for females. The per capita income for the city is $20,671. 22.1% of
the population and 18.3% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the
total people living in poverty, 30.3% are under the age of 18 and 12.6% are
65 or older.

Sports Teams

Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, the Los
Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers men's basketball teams, the Los
Angeles Sparks women's basketball team, the Los Angeles Kings hockey team,
and the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team. To the Southeast, suburban Orange
County is home to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim hockey team and the Anaheim
Angels baseball team.

The city has also hosted the Olympic Games twice, for the 1932 and 1984
Summer Olympics.

Los Angeles is served by the Los Angeles Times as well as smaller regional
newspapers.

Places / Things of Interest in and near the city

   * Hollywood
   * University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
   * University of Southern California (USC)
   * JPL (in Pasadena)
   * Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
   * Griffith Park
   * The La Brea Tar Pits
   * Santa Anita Racetrack
   * Hollywood Park Racetrack (in Inglewood)
   * Knott's Berry Farm (in Buena Park)
   * Disneyland (in Anaheim)
   * Occidental College
   * Loyola Marymount University
   * Pepperdine University (in Malibu)
   * Universal Studios (In Studio City)
   * U.S. Bank Tower, tallest building in L.A.

Communities and Neighborhoods within the city of Los Angeles

   * Arleta
   * Bel Air
   * Brentwood
   * Canoga Park
   * Chatsworth
   * Encino
   * Granada Hills
   * Hancock Park
   * Hollywood
   * Koreatown
   * Mission Hills
   * North Hills
   * North Hollywood
   * Northridge
   * Olive View
   * Pacific Palisades
   * Playa del Rey
   * Porter Ranch
   * Reseda
   * San Pedro
   * Sepulveda
   * Sherman Oaks
   * Silverlake
   * Studio City
   * Sunland
   * Sun Valley
   * Sylmar
   * Tarzana
   * Tujunga
   * Van Nuys
   * Venice
   * Watts
   * West Hills
   * Westchester
   * Westwood
   * Wilmington
   * Winnetka
   * Woodland Hills

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