The City of Los Angeles IPA: (from Spanish Los ngeles ) also known simply as L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States in terms of population, as well as one of the world's most important economic, cultural, and entertainment centers. It was incorporated as a city in California on April 4, 1850, and is the county seat of Los Angeles County.
As of the 2000 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 3.69 million (though a July 1, 2004 estimate placed the city's population at 3.84 million, and the metropolitan area at 17,545,623 in 2005). Many residents are speaking of the greater metropolitan area when they refer to the city, as it is informally considered to be one large place rather than the combination of several smaller ones. The city is also large by geographic standards since it sprawls over more than 465 square miles (1,200 square kilometers), making it larger than either New York City or Chicago in area.
In addition, Los Angeles has hosted two Olympic Games (in 1932 and 1984) and is home to world-renowned scientific and cultural institutions. The city is also one of the most cosmopolitan places in the world, as well as a vanguard of creativity, since it is home to individuals from virtually every nation on Earth. People have always been attracted to the city for its balmy weather, its vibrant lifestyle, its unique, high-velocity energy, and the opportunity to realize the "American Dream." Los Angeles is the center of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 498.3 mi2 (1,290.6 km2). 469.1 mi2 (1,214.9 km2) of it is land and 29.2 mi2 (75.7 km2) of it is water. The total area is 5.86% water.
The extreme north-south distance is 44 miles (71 km), the extreme east-west distance is 29 miles (47 km), and the length of the city boundary is 342 miles (550 km). The land area is the 9th largest in the Continental United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii).
The highest point in Los Angeles is Sister Elsie Peak (5,080 feet) at the far reaches of the northeastern San Fernando Valley, part of Mt. Lukens. The Los Angeles River is a short, largely seasonal river flowing through the city, with headwaters in San Fernando Valley. Its length is almost entirely lined in concrete.
The Los Angeles area is remarkably rich in native plant species. With its beaches, dunes, wetlands, hills, mountains, and rivers, the area contains a number of important biological communities. The largest area is coastal sage scrub, which covers the hillsides in combustible chaparral. Native plants include: California poppy, matilija poppy, toyon, coast live oak, giant wild rye grass, and hundreds of others. Unfortunately, many native species are so rare as to be endangered, such as the Los Angeles sunflower.
There are many exotic flowers and flowering trees that are blooming year-round, with subtle colors, including the jacaranda, hibiscus, phlox, bougainvillea, coral tree blossoms and bird of paradise. If there were no city here, flower-growing could still flourish as an industry, as it does in Lompoc. Wisteria has been known to grow to house-lot size, and in Descanso Gardens there are forests of camellia trees. Orchids require special attention in this Mediterranean climate.
The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures, and recorded music), aerospace, agriculture, petroleum, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the largest manufacturing center in the United States. The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together compose the most significant port in North America and one of the most important ports in the world. They are vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Los Angeles is the world center for the entertainment industry, including adult entertainment. Other significant industries include media production, finance, aerospace, telecommunications, law, tourism, health and medicine, and transportation.
The city is home to three major Fortune 500 companies, including aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman, energy company Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and homebuilding company KB Home.
Other companies headquartered in Los Angeles include Twentieth Century Fox, Herbalife, Univision, Metro Interactive, LLC, Premier America, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Guess, Inc., O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, TOKYOPOP, The Jim Henson Company, Paramount Pictures, Robinsons-May, Sunkist, Fox Sports Net, Health Net, Inc., 21st Century Insurance, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
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 most neighboring cities charge only small flat fees. The companies below clearly benefit from their proximity to Los Angeles, while at the same time they also avoid the city's taxes (and other problems). Some of the major companies headquartered in cities adjacent to Los Angeles include Shakey's Pizza (Alhambra), Academy of Motion Pictures 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 Brothers (Burbank), Countrywide Financial Corporation (Fortune 500 - Calabasas), THQ (Calabasas), Belkin (Compton), National Public Radio West (Culver City), 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).
There are many other well-known companies with headquarters located in the County of Los Angeles or the greater Los Angeles area, but they are far beyond the City of Los Angeles (and the scope of this article).
The Los Angeles coastal area was occupied by the Tongva (or Gabrielinos), Chumash, and even earlier Native American peoples for thousands of years. The Spanish arrived in 1542, when Juan Cabrillo visited the area.
In 1769, Gaspar de Portola led an expedition across southern California with Franciscan Padres Junipero Serra and Juan Crespi. Portola named a "beautiful river" they discovered "El Ro de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles de Porcincula", "The River of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of the Porciuncula". Fr. Crespi had picked out a site along the river for a mission, but in 1771 Fr. Serra had the Mission San Gabriel built near Whittier Narrows. After a 1776 flood, the mission was moved to its present site in San Gabriel.
On September 4, 1781, 44 Mexican settlers set out from the San Gabriel Mission to establish a town at Fr. Crespi's Porciuncula River site. The town was duly named El Pueblo de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles sobre El Ro Porciuncula, ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciuncula"). It remained a small ranch town for decades. Today the outline of the Pueblo is preserved in a Historic Monument familiarly called Olvera Street.
Mexico's independence from Spain was achieved in the 1820s, but the greatest change took place in present-day Montebello after the Battle of Rio San Gabriel in 1847, which decided the fate of Los Angeles. Yankees gained control after they flooded into California during the Gold Rush and secured the subsequent admission of California into the United States.
Los Angeles was incorporated as a city in 1850. 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 supplying one-quarter of the world's petroleum.
Even more important to the city's growth was water. In 1913, William Mulholland completed the aqueduct that assured the city's growth and led to the annexation by the City of Los Angeles, starting in 1915, of dozens of neighboring communities without water supplies of their own. A somewhat fictionalized account of the Owens Valley Water War can be found in the motion picture Chinatown.
In the 1920s the motion picture and aviation industries both flocked to Los Angeles and helped to further develop it. The city was the proud host of the 1932 Summer Olympics. 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. This period also saw the arrival of the German exiles, which included such notables as Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht and Lion Feuchtwanger. The postwar years saw an even greater boom as urban sprawl expanded into the San Fernando Valley.
The Watts riots in 1965 showed the nation the deep racial divisions that the city faced. The XXIII Olympiad was successfully hosted in Los Angeles in 1984. The city was once again tested by the 1992 Los Angeles riots and the 1994 Northridge earthquake and a city-wide vote on San Fernando Valley and Hollywood secession was defeated in 2002. Now, urban redevelopment and gentrification has been taking place at a furious pace in various parts of the city, most notably Downtown, which is poised to be the home of many more spectacular cultural and entertainment institutions than ever.
Source:
LosAngelesUSA.com
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