LA, city, seat of Los Angeles county, southern California, U.S. It’s the second most populous city and metropolitan area (after NEW YORK) in the United States. The city sprawls across a wide coastal plain situated between mountains and the Pacific Ocean; the much larger LA county, which encompasses the town, includes some 90 other contained cities, including Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and Long Beach. The county also encompasses two of the Channel Islands, Santa Catalina and San Clemente; Mount San Antonio, familiarly known as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy, 10,046 feet (3,062 metres) high; more than 900 square miles (2,330 square km) of desert; and 75 miles (120 km) of seacoast.
Since metropolis and the county are interwoven geographically, culturally, and economically, any consideration of LA must, to some degree, involve both entities. Population density throughout the metropolitan area varies greatly-as low as you person per square mile in mountainous areas so that as high as 50,000 per square mile near downtown LA. Area city, 466 square miles (1,207 square km); county, 4,070 square miles (10,540 square km). Pop. (2000) 3,694,820; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metro Division, 9,519,338; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metro Area, 12,365,627; (2010) 3,792,621; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale Metro Division, 9,818,605; Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metro Area,12,828,837.
What is the history of Los Angeles
Historically, the regions of present day Los Angeles was home to the Chumash and Tongva Native American tribes. On September 4, 1781 a group of settlers consisting of 14 families numbering 44 individuals of Native American, African and European heritage journeyed more than one-thousand miles over the desert from present-day northern Mexico and established a farming community in the area naming it “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula” which in English translated to “THE CITY of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula”. Over time this community would expand under the flags of Spain, Mexico and finally america to become one of the major metropolitan cities in the world, the City of Los Angeles.
Today, the initial pueblo is commemorated as a Los Angeles Historical Monument. The El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is a full time income museum that proceeds to fulfill its unique role as the historic and symbolic center of the City, reflecting the Native American, BLACK, Spanish, Anglo, Mexican, Chinese, Italian and French cultures that added to its early on history. With the monument’s twenty-seven ancient structures, eleven are available to the general public as businesses or have been restored as museums.
Character of the city
Los Angeles, the center of southern California, became a world-class city very recently. In the beginning of the 20th century it was considered just “a big village.” This ascendancy is all the more remarkable due to the fact the city formerly lacked a few of the essential blocks associated with cityhood, like a natural harbour. Yet it overcame natural deficiencies and proven itself as an important centre of commerce, agriculture, tourism, and industry. For greater than a century it’s been indelibly associated with a benign local climate, comprehensive leisure, and outdoor entertainment, as well as the special aura of star associated with Hollywood. The approach to life of LA residents (who are called Angelenos) relies on the auto, idealizes the single-family dwelling, and favours informality. With distinctive exceptions, the skyline is generally horizontal somewhat than vertical. LA is a place of extraordinary cultural and racial variety, owing essentially to immigration, and, like other world cities, it reflects an evergrowing gap between abundant and poor.
LA has endured the barbs of many detractors. Critics refer to it either as a laid-back “la-la land” or, conversely, as a location reeling from earthquakes, flame, smog, gang warfare, and riots. The city’s defenders admire its light local climate and geographic variety. They claim that its major communal problems are similar to those of all big cities and are maybe even less severe there than in other places. In fact, some observers regard it as the utmost modern and quintessential North american city.