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"Los Angeles" and "L.A." redirect here. For other uses, see Los Angeles (disambiguation) and L.A. (disambiguation).
| City of Los Angeles | |||
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| Nickname: L.A., the City of Angels | |||
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| Coordinates: | |||
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| State | California | ||
| County | Los Angeles County | ||
| Settled | September 4 1781 | ||
| Incorporated | April 4 1850 | ||
| Government | |||
| - Type | Mayor-Council | ||
| - Mayor | Antonio Villaraigosa | ||
| - City Attorney | Rocky Delgadillo | ||
| - Governing body | City Council | ||
| Area | |||
| - City | 498.3 sq mi (1,290.6 km²) | ||
| - Land | 469.1 sq mi (1,214.9 km²) | ||
| - Water | 29.2 sq mi (75.7 km²) 5.8% | ||
| - Urban | 1,667.9 sq mi (4,319.9 km²) | ||
| Elevation | 233 (city hall) ft (71 m) | ||
| Population (2006) | |||
| - City | 3,849,378 | ||
| - Density | 8,205/sq mi (3,168/km²) | ||
| - Metro | 12,950,129 | ||
| - Demonym | Angeleno | ||
| Time zone | PST (UTC-8) | ||
| - Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC-7) | ||
| Website: www.lacity.org/ | |||
Los Angeles (IPA: /lɑˈsændʒələs/;or /los ˈanxeles/ in Spanish) is the largest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States.Table 1: Annual Estimates of the Population for Incorporated Places Over 100,000, Ranked by July 1, 2005 Population: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2005 (CSV). 2005 Population Estimates. United States Census Bureau, Population Division (2006-06-20). Retrieved on 2007-01-26. Often abbreviated as L.A., it is rated an alpha world city, having an estimated population of 3.8 million[1] and spanning over 469.1 square miles (1,214.9 square kilometers) in Southern California. Additionally, the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area is home to nearly 17,776,000 people who hail from all over the globe and speak more than a hundred different languages. Los Angeles is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populous and most diverse countyCensus 2000 Fact SheetPDF in the United States. Its inhabitants are known as "Angelenos" (IPA: /ændʒəˈlinoʊz/).
Los Angeles was founded in the year 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its independence from Spain. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus becoming part of the United States; Mexico retained the territory of Baja California. It was incorporated as a municipality on April 4 1850 — five months before California achieved statehood.
Los Angeles is one of the world\'s most prominent centers of culture, technology, and international trade. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields. The city and its immediate vicinity lead the world in producing popular entertainment — such as motion picture, television, video games and recorded music — which forms the base of Los Angeles\' international fame and global status. The Los Angeles Consular Corps is one of the largest and most important consular communities in the world.
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Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 under João Cabrilho, a Portuguese explorer who claimed the area as the City of God for the Spanish Empire; he continued with his voyage and did not establish a settlement.Willard, C. D., The Herald\'s History of Los Angeles (Los Angeles: Kingsley-Barnes, 1901): 22. The next contact would not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portola, together with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2 1769. Crespi noted that the site had the potential to be developed into a large settlement.Father Crespi in Los Angeles
In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra built the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near Whittier Narrows, in what is now called San Gabriel Valley. After a 1776 flood, the mission was moved to its present site in San Gabriel In 1777, the new governor of California, Felipe de Neve, recommended to the viceroy of New Spain that the site noted by Juan Crespi be developed into a pueblo. The town was founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of 44 settlers and was named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula" ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula").The History of Los Angeles County These settlers were of Filipino, Native American, African, and Spanish ancestry, with two-thirds being mestizo or mulatto. A majority of the settlers had some African ancestry."Colonial records indicate that twenty-six of the forty-six original settlers of Los Angeles were of African or part-African ancestry." Mulroy, Kevin, et. al, eds, Seeking El Dorado:African Americans in California (Los Angeles: Autry Museum of Western Heritage, 2001): 79. The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820 the population had increased to about 650 residents.Los Angeles Historical Chronology Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles.Acuna, Rodolfo, Anything But Mexican: Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles (New York: Version, 1996): 22.
New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican-American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating on on January 13, 1847, with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga. Later, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the Mexican government formally ceded Alta California and other territories to the United States.
Railroads arrived when the Southern Pacific completed its line to Los Angeles in 1876.Mulholland, Catherine, William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000): 15. Oil was discovered in 1892, and by 1923 Los Angeles was producing one-quarter of the world\'s petroleum.The Story of Oil in California
By 1900, the population had grown to more than 100,000 people,Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1900 putting pressure on the city\'s water supply.The Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Owens and Mono Lakes (MONO Case) 1913\'s completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. In 1915, Los Angeles began the annexation of dozens of neighboring communities without water supplies of their own.
In the 1920s, the motion picture and aviation industries flocked to Los Angeles. In 1932, with population surpassing one million,Population of the 100 Largest Urban Places: 1930 the city hosted the Summer Olympics. This period also saw the arrival of exiles from the increasing pre-war tensions of Europe, including Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht, Arnold Schoenberg, and Lion Feuchtwanger.
World War II and the expansion of defense industries brought new growth and prosperity to the city. Thousands of African Americans migrated from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to work in these expanding fields. The state also succumbed to war fears, transporting most Japanese American residents from Los Angeles and other cities to distant internment camps for the duration of the war.
The post-war years saw an even greater boom, as urban sprawl expanded the city into the San Fernando Valley.Bruegmann, Robert, Sprawl: A Compact History (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005): 133. In 1969, Los Angeles became one of the birthplaces of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from UCLA to SRI in Menlo Park.Was L.A. really Internet\'s ground zero?
As in other major cities, long-unresolved racial problems erupted in the 1960s and 1970s. Los Angeles grappled with the Watts Riots in 1965, the high school walkout by Chicano students in 1968, and the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, all representative of racial strife within the city. Los Angeles was one of the cities to pass gay rights bills during the 1970s (in 1979 after years of pressure from prominent performing arts members), and the first city where AIDS was discovered and focused upon during the 1980s.
Also in the 1980s, Los Angeles became the center of the heavy metal music scene, especially glam metal bands. In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time. It become the most financially successful Olympics in history, and only the second Olympics to turn a profits — the other being the 1932 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles.
During the remainder of the 1980s, Los Angeles was plagued by increasing gang violence and police corruption. Racial tensions erupted again in 1991 with the Rodney King controversy and the large-scale riots that followed the acquittal of his police attackers. In 1994, the 6.7 Northridge earthquake shook the city, causing $12.5 billion in damage and 72 deaths. Reich, Kenneth, "Study Raises Northridge Quake Death Toll to 72," Los Angeles Times 20 December 1995: B1.
Voters defeated efforts by the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to secede from the city in 2002.City of Los Angeles Secession Votes - 2002 In the early 2000\'s, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the idea of smart growth, in part to combat both growing traffic problems and the lack of open land for development. Restrictions on parking for new development, residential conversions, and the hotel bed tax have been greatly eased to encourage development. This has lead to thousands of residential unit conversions in downtown Los Angeles, and major new construction such as the Hollywood and Highland complex, LA Live Entertainment District, the Grand Avenue Project, the NBC Universal West Coast headquarters complex, and many new high-rise buildings throughout the city, in what is being termed as "Manhattanization."
Gentrification and urban redevelopment have occurred in many parts of the city, most notably Hollywood, Koreatown, Silverlake, Echo Park and Downtown.Welcome to Gentrification City Gentrification has recently spilled into the eastern and southern portions of Los Angeles, with announcements of several billion-dollar residential high-rise and commercial center projects.
Los Angeles is irregularly shaped and covers a total area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km²), comprising 469.1 square miles (1,214.9 km²) of land and 29.2 square miles (75.7 km²) of water. This makes it the 14th largest city in land area in the United States.Top 100 Cities with Largest Land Area The city extends for 44 miles (71 km) longitudinally and for 29 miles (47 km) latitudinally. The perimeter of the city is 342 miles (550 km). It is the only major city in the United States bisected by a mountain range.
The highest point in Los Angeles is Mount Lukens, also called Sister Elsie Peak. Located at the far reaches of the northeastern San Fernando Valley, it reaches a height of 5,080 ft (1,548 m). The major river is the Los Angeles River, which begins in the Canoga Park district of the city and is largely seasonal. The river is lined in concrete for almost its entire length as it flows through the city into nearby Vernon on its way to the Pacific Ocean.
Los Angeles is subject to earthquakes due to its location in the Pacific Ring of Fire. The geologic instability produces numerous fault lines both above and below ground, which altogether cause approximately 10,000 earthquakes every year.Earthquake Facts One of the major fault lines is the San Andreas Fault. Located at the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, it is predicted to be the source of Southern California\'s next big earthquake.San Andreas Fault Set for the Big One Major earthquakes to have hit the Los Angeles area include the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake, the 1971 San Fernando earthquake near Sylmar, and the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. Nevertheless, all but a few quakes are of low intensity and are not felt.Earthquake Facts Parts of the city are also vulnerable to Pacific Ocean tsunamis; harbor areas were damaged by waves from the Valdivia earthquake in 1960.May 22, 1960 Tsunami from NOAA
The city is situated in a Mediterranean climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical zone (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), USDA Zones 8-11, experiencing mild, somewhat wet winters and warm to hot summers. The prevalent warm southerly airflow and the blocking effect of mountains to the north give the city a much warmer climate than would be expected. The average annual temperature is 18.86°C (around 66 °F)GISS average temperature data, GHCN Climate averages 1971 - 2000, much higher than comparable coastal locations at the same distance from the equator elsewhere such as Sydney or Cape Town. Breezes from the Pacific Ocean tend to keep the beach communities of the Los Angeles area cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland; summer temperatures can sometimes be as much as 18 °F (10°C) warmer in the inland communities compared to that of the coastal communities. A few coastal "micro-climates" have never recorded a temperature below freezing. Coastal areas also see a phenomenon known as the "marine layer," a dense cloud cover caused by the proximity of the ocean that helps keep the temperatures cooler throughout the year. When the marine layer becomes more common and pervades farther inland during the months of May and June, it is called May Gray or June Gloom.May Gray / June Gloom
Echo Park, as seen with Lotus Plants and Palm Trees.
Temperatures in the summer can exceed 90 °F (32 °C), but average summer daytime highs in downtown are 82 °F (27 °C), with overnight lows of 63 °F (17 °C). Winter daytime high temperatures reach around 65 °F (18 °C), on average, with overnight lows of 48 °F (10 °C) and during this season rain is common. The warmest month is August, followed by July and then September. This somewhat large case of seasonal lag is caused by the influence of the ocean and its latitude of 34° north.
The median temperature in January is 57 °F (13 °C) and 73 °F (22 °C) in August. The highest temperature recorded within city borders was 119.0 °F (48.33 °C) in Woodland Hills on July 22, 2006;Pool, Bob. "In Woodland Hills, It\'s Just Too Darn Hot." Los Angeles Times July 26, 2006, B1. the lowest temperature recorded was 18.0 °F (−7.8 °C) in 1989, in Canoga Park. The highest temperature recorded for Downtown Los Angeles was 112.0 °F (44.4 °C) on June 26 1990, and the lowest temperature recorded was 28.0 °F (−2.0 °C) on January 4 1949.National Weather Service website
Rain occurs mainly in the winter and spring months (February being the wettest month), with great annual variations in storm severity. Los Angeles averages 15 inches (385 mm) of precipitation per year. Tornado warnings are also issued, which are extraordinarily rare downtown, though waterspouts are seen during severe storms at beaches. Snow is extraordinarily rare in the city basin, but the mountainous slopes within city limits typically receive snow every year. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was 2.0 inches (5 cm) on January 15, 1932.Burt, Christopher. Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book. New York: Norton, 2004: 100.
| Weather averages for Los Angeles, California (downtown) | |||||||||||||
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| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °F (°C) | 90 (32) | 92 (33) | 93 (33) | 96 (35) | 99 (37) | 104 (40) | 103 (39) | 102 (39) | 110 (43) | 104 (40) | 96 (35) | 92 (33) | 110 (43) |
| Average high °F (°C) | 65 (18) | 66 (18) | 68 (20) | 70 (21) | 73 (22) | 76 (24) | 84 (29) | 82 (27) | 81 (27) | 77 (25) | 73 (22) | 68 (20) | 73 (22) |
| Average low °F (°C) | 48 (8) | 49 (9) | 50 (10) | 53 (11) | 56 (13) | 58 (14) | 63 (16) | 63 (17) | 61 (16) | 58 (14) | 53 (11) | 50 (10) | 55 (12) |
| Record low °F (°C) | 28 (-2) | 34 (1) | 38 (3) | 41 (5) | 43 (6) | 50 (10) | 54 (12) | 51 (10) | 50 (10) | 46 (8) | 40 (4) | 30 (-1) | 28 (-2) |
| Precipitation inch (cm) | 2.7 (6) | 3.1 (7) | 2.2 (5) | 1.3 (3.3) | 0.3 (0.8) | 0.1 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0.2 (0.5) | 0.4 (1) | 1.1 (2) | 2.5 (6) | 14 (35) |
| Source: weatherbase.comWeatherbase: Historical Weather for Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Retrieved on Jun 19, 2007. Jun 2007 | |||||||||||||
The Los Angeles area is rich in native plant species due in part to a diversity in habitats, including beaches, wetlands, and mountains. The most prevalent botanical environment is coastal sage scrub, which covers the hillsides in combustible chaparral. Native plants include: California poppy, matilija poppy, toyon, Coast Live Oak, and giant wild rye grass. Many of these native species, such as the Los Angeles sunflower, have become so rare as to be considered endangered. Though they are not native to the area, the official tree of Los Angeles is the tropical Coral Tree and the official flower of Los Angeles is the Bird of Paradise, Strelitzia reginae.San Diego Zoo
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| A view of Los Angeles covered in smog from the Hollywood Hills. | Smog in Pasadena Highway, downtown Los Angeles. |
Owing to geography, heavy reliance on automobiles, and the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, Los Angeles suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, shipping, manufacturing, and other sources.How Smog Forms in Los Angeles Unlike other large cities that rely on rain to clear smog, Los Angeles gets only 15 inches (381 mm) of rain each year. Pollution accumulates over multiple consecutive days. Issues of air quality in Los Angeles and other major cities led to the passage of early national environmental legislation, including the Clean Air Act. More recently, the state of California has led the nation in working to limit pollution by mandating low emissions vehicles. Driveclean from the California Government web site
As a result, pollution levels have dropped in recent decades. The number of Stage 1 smog alerts has declined from over 100 per year in the 1970s to almost zero in the new millennium. Despite improvement, the 2006 annual report of the American Lung Association ranks the city as the most polluted in the country with short-term particle pollution and year-round particle pollution.People at Risk In 25 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Short-Term Particle Pollution. American Lung Association. Retrieved on January 5, 2007.People at Risk In 25 U.S. Cities Most Polluted by Year-Round Particle Pollution. American Lung Association. Retrieved on January 5, 2007. In addition, the groundwater is increasingly threatened by MTBE from gas stations and perchlorate from rocket fuel. With pollution still a significant problem, the city continues to take steps to improve air and water conditions.Lopez, Theresa Adams. "Air Quality Programs at the Port of Los Angeles saw Refinement in 2005 with Focus on Ramping up in 2006PDF." Port of Los Angeles (News Release). February 17, 2006.Staff Writer. "Air Quality Protections Take Off." Environmental Defense. December 6, 2004.
Hollywood, a well-known district of Los Angeles, often mistaken as an independent city.
The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were towns that were annexed by the growing city. There are also several independent cities in and around Los Angeles, but they are popularly grouped with the city of Los Angeles, either due to being completely engulfed as enclaves by Los Angeles, or lying within its immediate vicinity. Generally, the city is divided into the following areas: Downtown Los Angeles, Northeast - including Highland Park and Eagle Rock areas, the Eastside, South Los Angeles (still often colloquially referred to as South Central by locals), the Harbor Area, Hollywood, Wilshire, the Westside, and the San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys.
Some well-known communities of Los Angeles include West Adams, Watts, Venice Beach, the Downtown Financial District, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Koreatown, Westwood and the more affluent areas of Bel Air, Benedict Canyon, Hollywood Hills, Pacific Palisades, and Brentwood.
Important landmarks in Los Angeles include Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Tokyo, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Kodak Theatre, Griffith Observatory, Getty Center, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Grauman\'s Chinese Theatre, Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, Capitol Records Tower, Los Angeles City Hall, Hollywood Bowl, Watts Towers, Staples Center, Dodger Stadium and La Placita Olvera/Olvera Street.
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The people of Los Angeles are known as Angelenos. Nighttime hot spots include places such as Downtown Los Angeles, Silver Lake, Hollywood, and West Hollywood, which is the home of the world-famous Sunset Strip.
Some well-known shopping areas are the Hollywood and Highland complex, the Beverly Center, Melrose Avenue, Robertson Boulevard, Rodeo Drive, 3rd St. Promenade in Santa Monica, The Grove, Westside Pavilion, The Promenade at Howard Hughes Center and Venice Boardwalk.
The Fox Plaza in Century City, headquarters for 20th Century Fox, is a major financial district for West Los Angeles.
The major daily newspaper in the area is The Los Angeles Times; La Opinión is the city\'s major Spanish-language paper. Investor\'s Business Daily is distributed from its L.A. corporate offices, which are headquartered in Playa Del Rey. There are also a number of smaller regional newspapers, alternative weeklies and magazines, including the Daily News (which focuses coverage on the San Fernando Valley), LA Weekly, Los Angeles CityBeat, L.A. Record (which focuses coverage on the music scene in the Greater Los Angeles area), Los Angeles magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Daily Journal (legal industry paper), The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (entertainment industry papers), and Los Angeles Downtown News. In addition to the English- and Spanish-language papers, numerous local periodicals serve immigrant communities in their native languages, including Armenian, Korean, Persian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Many cities adjacent to Los Angeles also have their own daily newspapers whose coverage and availability overlaps into certain Los Angeles neighborhoods. Examples include The Daily Breeze (serving the South Bay), and The Long Beach Press-Telegram.
The Los Angeles metropolitan area is served by a variety of local television stations and is the second-largest media market in North America (behind New York City.
Los Angeles and New York City are the only two media markets to have all seven VHF allocations possible assigned to them.Allocation information, The Museum of Broadcast Communications
The city\'s first television station (and the first in California) was KTLA, which began broadcasting on January 22, 1947. The major network-affiliated television stations in this city are KABC-TV 7 (ABC), KCBS 2 (CBS), KNBC 4 (NBC), KTTV 11 (FOX), KTLA 5 (The CW), and KCOP-TV 13 (MyNetworkTV), and KPXN 30 (i). There are also three PBS stations in the area, including KCET 28, KOCE-TV 50, and KLCS 58. World TV operates on two channels, KNET-LP 25 and KSFV-LP 6. There are also several Spanish-language television networks, including KMEX-TV 34 (Univision), KFTR 46 (TeleFutura), KVEA 52 (Telemundo), and KAZA 54 (Azteca América). KTBN 40 (Trinity Broadcasting Network), is a religious station in the area.
Several independent television stations also operate in the area, including KCAL-TV 9 (owned by CBS Corporation), KSCI 18 (focuses primarily on Asian language programming), KWHY-TV 22 (Spanish-language), KNLA-LP 27 (Spanish-language), KSMV-LP 33 (variety)—a low power relay of Ventura-based KJLA 57—KPAL-LP 38, KXLA 44, KDOC-TV 56 (classic programming and local sports), KJLA 57 (variety), and KRCA 62 (Spanish-language).
The city\'s first radio station was KNX, which began as an experimental station in 1920 and then became a commercially licensed station in December 1921.
Los Angeles is home to adherents of many religions, with Roman Catholicism the largest due to the high numbers of Hispanics.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles leads the largest archdiocese in the country.Pomfret, John. Cardinal Puts Church in Fight for Immigration Rights. Washington Post. April 2, 2006, accessed May 28, 2007 Roger Cardinal Mahony oversaw construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, completed in 2002 at the north end of downtown. Construction of the cathedral marked a coming of age of the Catholic, heavily Latino community. There are numerous Catholic churches and parishes throughout the city.
Built in 1956 the Los Angeles California Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the second largest Mormon temple in the world.
The Los Angeles California Temple, the second largest temple operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is on Santa Monica Boulevard in the Westwood district of Los Angeles. Dedicated in 1956, it was the first Mormon temple built in California and it was the largest in the world when completed.LDS - Los Angeles California Temple The grounds includes a visitors\' center open to the public, the Los Angeles Regional Family History Center, also open to the public, and the headquarters for the Los Angeles mission.
With 621,000 Jews in the metropolitan area (490,000 in city proper), the region has the second largest population of Jews in the United States.The Largest Jewish Communities. Retrieved on 2007-08-13.World Jewish Population from SimpleToRemember.com Many synagogues of the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Reconstructionist movements can be found throughout the city. Most are located in the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles. The area in West Los Angeles around Fairfax and Pico Boulevards contains a large number of Orthodox Jews. The Breed Street Shul in East Los Angeles, built in 1923, was the largest synagogue west of Chicago in its early decades."Washington Symposium and Exhibition Highlight Restoration and Adaptive Reuse of American Synagogues" Jewish Heritage Report Issue No. 1 / March 1997 (It is no longer a sacred space and is being converted to a museum and community center.)"Los Angeles’s Breed Street Shul Saved by Politicians" Jewish Heritage Report Vol. II, Nos. 1-2 / Spring-Summer 1998) The Kabbalah Centre, devoted to one line of Jewish mysticism, is also in the city.
The Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909) in Los Angeles was a key milestone in the history of the Pentecostal movement, not long after Christian Fundamentalism received its name and crucial promotion in Los Angeles. In 1909, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (B.I.O.L.A., now Biola University)
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
published and widely distributed a set of books called The Fundamentals, which presented a defense of the traditional conservative interpretation of the Bible. The term fundamentalism is derived from these books. Los Angeles is also a major hub of the house church Movement. Dr. Gabe Veas is one of the leaders of this group, pastoring the house church network known as Authentic LA.In the 1920s, Aimee Semple McPherson established a thriving evangelical ministry, with her Angelus Temple in Echo Park open to both black and white church members of the Foursquare Church. Billy Graham became a celebrity during a successful revival campaign in Los Angeles in 1949. Herbert W. Armstrong\'s Worldwide Church of God used to have its headquarters in nearby Pasadena, now in Glendale. Until his death in 2005, Dr. Eugene Scott was based near downtown.
The Metropolitan Community Church, a fellowship of Christian congregations with a focus on outreach to gays and lesbians, was started in Los Angeles in 1968 by Troy D. Perry. Jack Chick, of "Chick Tracts," was born in Boyle Heights and lived in the area most of his life.
Because of Los Angeles\' large multi-ethnic population, a wide variety of faiths are practiced, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Bahá\'í, various Eastern Orthodox Churches, Sufism and others.
Los Angeles has been a destination for Hindu Swamis and Gurus since as early as 1900, including Paramahansa Yogananda (1920). The Self-Realization Fellowship is headquartered in Hollywood and has a private park in Pacific Palisades. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi founded the Transcendental Meditation movement in Los Angeles in the late 1950s.
Los Angeles is the home to a number of Neopagans, as well as adherents of various other mystical religions. One wing of the Theosophist movement is centered in Los Angeles, and another is in neighboring Pasadena.
The Church of Scientology has had a presence in Los Angeles since it opened February 18, 1954. It has several churches and museums in the area, most notably the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood.
Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, the Los Angeles Riptide of Major League Lacrosse, and the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League. Los Angeles is also home to the USC Trojans and the UCLA Bruins in the NCAA, both of which are Division I teams in the Pacific-10 Conference. UCLA has more NCAA national championships, all sports combined, than any other university in America. USC has the third most NCAA national championships, all sports combined, in the United States. Several more teams are in the greater Los Angeles media market: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Major League Baseball and the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League are both based in nearby Anaheim; and the Los Angeles Galaxy and Club Deportivo Chivas USA of Major League Soccer are both based in neighboring Carson.
Dodger Stadium is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
There was a time when the Los Angeles media market boasted two NFL teams, the Rams and the Raiders. Both left the media market in 1995, with the Rams moving to St. Louis and the Raiders heading back to Oakland. Through the 2007-08 season there is no NFL franchise in the Los Angeles market, which is the second-largest city and television market in the United States.Wikipedia - List of TV Stations Prior to 1995, the Rams called Memorial Coliseum (1946-1979) and Anaheim Stadium (1980-1994) home;St. Louis Rams and the Raiders played their home games at Memorial Coliseum from 1982 to 1994.Hong, Peter. "Few Tears Here." Los Angeles Times 29 June 1995: B1.
Since the franchise\'s departures the NFL as an organization, and individual NFL owners, have attempted to relocate a team to the city. Immediately following the 1995 NFL season, Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring went as far as packing up moving vans to start play in the Rose Bowl under a new team name and logo for the 1996 season. The State of Washington filed a law suit to successfully prevent the move. Business Wire. "Seattle Seahawks owner Ken Behring announces move of NFL franchise" 2 Feb 1996. (Accessed 3 September 2007) In 2003, then NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue indicated L.A. would get a new expansion team, a thirty-third franchise, after the choice of Houston over L.A. in the 2002 league expansion round.Satzman, Darrell. Los Angeles Business Journal. "NFL\'s interest in returning to L.A. long on desire, far from reality - Up Front". 27 Jan 2003. (Accessed 3 September 2007) When the New Orleans Saints were displaced from the Superdome by Hurricane Katrina media outlets reported the NFL was planning to move the team to Los Angeles permanently.Joyner, James. Outside the Beltway. "NFL May Move Saints to Los Angeles". 27 Oct 2005. (Accessed 3 September 2007) Despite these efforts, and the failure to build a new stadium for an NFL team, L.A. is still expected to return to the league through expansion or relocation.
Los Angeles has twice played host to the summer Olympic Games, in 1932 and in 1984. When the tenth Olympic Games were hosted in 1932, the former 10th Street was renamed Olympic Blvd. The 1984 Summer Olympics inspired the creation of the Los Angeles Marathon, which has been held every year in March since 1986. Super Bowls I and VII were also held in the city as well as soccer\'s international World Cup in 1994. Los Angeles applied to represent the USOC in international bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics, but lost to Chicago.
Beach volleyball and windsurfing were both invented in the area (though predecessors of both were invented in some form by Duke Kahanamoku in Hawaii). Venice, also known as Dogtown, is credited with being the birthplace of skateboarding and the place where roller skating first became popular. Area beaches are popular with parties, sunbathers, surfers, swimmers and barefooters, who have created their own subcultures.
Staples Center, a premier venue for sports and entertainment, is home to five professional sports teams.
The Los Angeles area contains varied topography, notably the hills and mountains rising around the metropolis, making Los Angeles the only major city in the United States bisected by a mountain range; four mountain ranges extend into city boundaries. Thousands of miles of trails crisscross the city and neighboring areas, providing opportunities for exercise and wilderness access on foot, bike, or horse. Across the county a great variety of outdoor activities are available, such as skiing, rock climbing, placer mining, hang gliding, and windsurfing. Numerous outdoor clubs serve these sports, including the Angeles Chapter of the Sierra Club, which leads over 4,000 outings annually in the area.
Los Angeles also boasts a number of sports venues, including the Staples Center, a sports and entertainment complex that also hosts concerts and awards shows such as the Grammys. The Staples Center also serves as the home arena for the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL and the Avengers of the AFL.
Companies such as Ernst & Young, Aon, Manulife Financial, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker, City National Bank, and the Union Bank of California have offices in the Downtown Financial District.
The economy of Los Angeles is driven by international trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures, recorded music), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion, apparel, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the largest manufacturing center in the United States.City-data.com The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together comprise the most significant port in North America. They are one of the most important ports in the world, and vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Other significant industries include media production, finance, telecommunications, law, health medicine, and transportation.
Until the mid-1990s, Los Angeles was home to many major financial institutions in the western United States. Mergers meant reporting to headquarters in other cities. For instance, First Interstate Bancorp merged with Wells Fargo in 1996, Great Western Bank merged with Washington Mutual in 1998, and Security Pacific Bank merged with Bank of America in 1992. Los Angeles was also home to the Pacific Exchange, until it closed in 2001.
The city has five major Fortune 500 companies, including aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman, energy company Occidental Petroleum, healthcare provider Health Net, homebuilding company KB Home, and metals distributor Reliance Steel & Aluminum.
The University of Southern California (USC) is the city\'s largest private sector employer.Evan George, Trojan Dollars: Study Finds USC Worth $4 Billion Annually to L.A. County, Los Angeles Downtown News, December 11, 2006.
Companies such as Citigroup, Wells Fargo, KPMG, U.S. Bancorp, Bank of America, and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu have offices on Downtown\'s Bunker Hill.
Other companies headquartered in Los Angeles include 20th Century Fox, Latham & Watkins, Univision, Metro Interactive, LLC, Premier America, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Guess?, O\'Melveny & Myers; Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Tokyopop, The Jim Henson Company, Paramount Pictures, Robinsons-May, Sunkist Growers, Incorporated,
