Los Angeles

“Tip the globe over on its side, and everything loose will fall in Los Angeles,” Frank Lloyd Wright is reputed to have declared, a phrase that has since been repeated by individuals who both love and despise L.A. The “City of Angels” is a city with great contrasts, a melting pot of people from all over the world, and a vital center of culture, commerce, media, and international trade. However, it is most known for being a major hub of the world’s television, motion picture, and music industries, which serves as the foundation of the city’s reputation and draws tourists because of its show business heritage and celebrity culture. Visitors are also attracted to Los Angeles because of its Mediterranean warmth and abundance of beaches, which gave rise to California’s famous surf culture.

Los Angeles, California’s most populated metropolis and the United States’ second most populous city (after New York City), is stretched over a huge basin in Southern California, surrounded by massive wooded mountain ranges, valleys, the Pacific Ocean, and neighboring desert. Los Angeles is in the center of a metropolitan area that includes Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, and the Inland Empire region of San Bernardino County and Riverside County.

Los Angeles is commonly referred to as the “Creative Capital of the World” since one in every six of its citizens works in the creative sector, and the city has more artists, authors, filmmakers, actors, dancers, and musicians than any other city in history.

THE PERFORMING ARTS AND MOVIES

The city’s Hollywood district has grown to be known as the heart of the motion film industry. Los Angeles is home to the annual Academy Awards and the USC School of Cinematic Arts, the country’s oldest film school.

Los Angeles’ cultural identity is heavily influenced by the performing arts. “There are more than 1,100 yearly theatre performances and 21 openings every week,” according to the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation. With over 1.3 million visitors each year, the Los Angeles Music Center is “one of the three biggest performing arts facilities in the country.” The Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center’s focal point, is home to the famed Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Music Center’s resident companies include notable groups such as Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Los Angeles Opera. Locally, talent is nurtured at prestigious schools such as the Colburn School and the USC Thornton School of Music.

SHOW BUSINESS

The entertainment industry is what has made Los Angeles famous, so it’s no wonder that many visitors come to see the sites of Hollywood, where you can shoot at Grauman’s Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, or look up at the Hollywood Sign situated on the hill.

While the entertainment industry is still headquartered in Hollywood, the majority of the major studios have relocated elsewhere, particularly to the San Fernando Valley; Universal City is home to Universal Studios and its associated theme park, CBS has a studio in Studio City, and nearby Burbank is home to the Warner Brothers Studios and the Walt Disney Studios, among others. On the Westside, Sony Pictures is headquartered at the old MGM Studios in Culver City, 20th Century Fox is headquartered in Century City, and many television series are still recorded in CBS Television City in Fairfax. With its renowned double-arched gate facing Melrose Avenue, Paramount Pictures is the only remaining movie studio in Hollywood. Many studios provide tours, and in some cases, you may even be able to attend a television program taping; check the individual sites for more information.

Aside from the studios, there are several attractions that appeal to film aficionados and are worth seeing for people interested in the history of cinema. Hollywood features a plethora of museums and historic theatres dedicated to the Golden Age of Hollywood, while Hollywood, Downtown, Northwest L.A., Wilshire, and Beverly Hills are home to some of the city’s most renowned movie sites. There are also a few cemeteries notable for being the final resting places of many celebrities and influential writers and directors, most notably the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, the Westwood Village Memorial Park in Westwood, and the massive Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, where you’re bound to run into the famous of yesteryear.

Of course, many people come hoping to see live superstars. While the odds of meeting one in Hollywood are slim, you could get fortunate in the glitzy areas of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Malibu, which are home to numerous celebrity houses and whose fine restaurants are sometimes visited by movie stars. The Academy Awards take place in Hollywood, typically in late February; the Grammy Awards have settled into the Staples Center in Downtown each February; the Golden Globes take place in Beverly Hills each January; and the late summer Primetime Emmys have spent the last several years at the Microsoft Theater in Downtown.

GALLERIES AND MUSEUMS

In Los Angeles County, there are 841 museums and art galleries. Los Angeles, in fact, has more museums per capita than any other city in the world. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (the biggest art museum in the Western United States), the Getty Center (part of the broader J. Paul Getty Trust, the world’s richest art institution), the Battleship Iowa, and the Museum of Contemporary Art are among the prominent museums. Gallery Row is home to a large number of art galleries, and tens of thousands of people attend the monthly Downtown Art Walk there.

BEACHES

The Westside is home to LA’s most well-known beaches: Venice Beach, with its colorful Boardwalk and Muscle Beach, and Santa Monica, with its iconic pier and amusement park. Both settlements share a long length of sandy beach that is quite busy in the summer and has lots of amusements and amenities, as well as a highly festive atmosphere in Venice that’s great for people watching. Dockweiler State Beach, in the appropriately called municipality of Playa del Rey, located just south of Venice (Spanish for beach of the king). Further north, where the shoreline meets the Santa Monica Mountains, are gorgeous beaches at Pacific Palisades and Malibu; Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades is large and popular, while Malibu’s smaller Surfrider Beach is well-known for its surf breakers.

South Bay is home to a variety of prominent beaches, including the Beach Cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach, which include piers and large lengths of sand bordered with opulent homes. Hermosa Beach is well-known for its celebratory atmosphere, with volleyball tournaments and surfing events held on a regular basis; all three are popular with families and beachgoers. Torrance Beach, farther south, is also nice but less busy, and is known for its superb surfing, as is the highly gorgeous length of coastline near Palos Verdes, which has several rocky coves and tidepools that are enjoyable to explore.

The lovely beaches of Catalina Island are located off the coast and are quite popular for those taking a day excursion out of Los Angeles. Furthermore, the surrounding Orange County Beach Cities are quite popular with inhabitants. For those who prefer boats to sand, Marina del Rey, just south of Venice, is the world’s biggest man-made small-craft marina, with lots of mooring as well as motorized and non-powered rentals.

Most of the year, the city has a moderate Mediterranean climate. However, the climate in Southern California is relatively diverse, and temperatures may vary greatly depending on where you are in the city due to the city’s varied geography, which creates a number of microclimates. Daytime highs may vary by up to twenty degrees Fahrenheit between coastal regions and communities in the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys on the same day. The shore is cooler in the summer, which helps with the heat, but it is also colder at night. Even in the summer, bring a sweater and jeans if you want to remain along the ocean for supper.

Summers are warm, if not scorching, and bring the famed nasty smog, but air quality has improved dramatically over the years. During the warmest months of July and September, average daytime highs in Downtown Los Angeles are 83°F (28°C) and nightly lows are 63°F (17°C). Winters are moderate and provide majority of the yearly rainfall; average daytime highs are 68°F (20°C) and nighttime lows are 49°F (9°C) between December and March. Spring is a mix of gloomy rainy days and warm sunny days; Los Angeles, like the rest of Southern California, experiences the “May Gray” and “June Gloom” marine effect, which results in frequent fog and overcast skies along the coast, so don’t expect sunny beach weather if you visit during these months. Autumn brings the same mix of rain and sun, but with more sunny days. Ocean temperatures near the Los Angeles coast range from 58°F (14°C) in January to 68°F (20°C) in August.

Santa Ana winds may occur at any time of year, although they are most prevalent in the autumn and winter. These winds represent a reversal of normal climatic conditions, which see hot, dry air blow from the desert to the shore. Milder Santa Ana breezes may provide great dry air conditions, but strong ones can continue for days, dramatically rising temperatures, posing a considerable fire risk, and generally making life unpleasant.

TOPOGRAPHY

Los Angeles is 502.7 square miles (1,302 km2) in size, with 468.7 square miles (1,214 km2) of land and 34.0 square miles (88 km2) of water. The city is 44 miles (71 kilometers) long and 29 miles (47 kilometers) wide. The city’s perimeter is 342 kilometers long (550 km).

Los Angeles has a mix of flat and steep terrain. Mount Lukens, near the northeastern extremity of the San Fernando Valley, is the city’s highest point at 5,074 feet (1,547 m). From Downtown to the Pacific Ocean, the eastern extremity of the Santa Monica Mountains divides the Los Angeles Basin from the San Fernando Valley. Other mountainous areas of Los Angeles include the Mt. Washington neighborhood north of Downtown, the Boyle Heights neighborhood in the east, the Crenshaw district in the Baldwin Hills, and the San Pedro neighborhood in the south.

The city is surrounded by considerably higher mountains. To the north, the San Gabriel Mountains, a favorite leisure destination for Angelenos, are located. Mount San Antonio, colloquially referred to as Mount Baldy, is its highest peak, reaching 10,064 feet (3,068 m). Further distant, San Gorgonio Mountain, at 11,503 feet, is the highest peak in the greater Los Angeles region (3,506 m).

The principal drainage channel is the Los Angeles River, which is primarily seasonal. The Army Corps of Engineers straightened and lined it with 51 miles (82 kilometers) of concrete to serve as a flood control channel. The river originates in the city’s Canoga Park neighborhood, runs east from the San Fernando Valley along the north side of the Santa Monica Mountains, and then swings south through the city center, eventually reaching its mouth at the Pacific Ocean’s Port of Long Beach. At Playa del Rey, the smaller Ballona Creek empties into the Santa Monica Bay.

FLORAL AND ANIMAL LIFE

Los Angeles is home to a diverse range of native plant species, in part due to the city’s diverse ecosystems, which include beaches, marshes, and mountains. Coastal sage scrub, chaparral shrubland, and riparian forest are the most common plant groups. California poppy, matilija poppy, toyon, Ceanothus, Chamise, Coast Live Oak, sycamore, willow, and Giant Wildrye are all native plants. Numerous indigenous species, such as the Los Angeles sunflower, have become so scarce that they are now classified as endangered. Though not indigenous to the region, the Coral Tree (Erythrina caffra) is the city’s official tree, and the Bird of Paradise is the city’s official flower (Strelitzia reginae). In the Los Angeles region, Mexican Fan Palms, Canary Island Palms, Queen Palms, Date Palms, and California Fan Palms are all prevalent, but only the latter is native.

GEOLOGY

Due to its position on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Los Angeles is prone to earthquakes. Numerous faults have been created as a result of natural instability, resulting in around 10,000 earthquakes every year in Southern California, albeit the majority are too minor to be felt. At the border between the Pacific and North American plates, the strike-slip San Andreas Fault system is prone to the “big one,” a potentially enormous and destructive catastrophe. Blind thrust earthquakes are likewise a threat to the Los Angeles basin and metropolitan region. The 1933 Long Beach, 1971 San Fernando, 1987 Whittier Narrows, and 1994 Northridge earthquakes all struck the Los Angeles region. Nonetheless, all but a few are of low intensity and are hence undetectable. The USGS has issued their UCERF California earthquake prediction, which forecasts the incidence of earthquakes in the state. Tsunamis are also a threat to portions of the city; harbor sections were destroyed by waves during the 1960 Valdivia earthquake.

International commerce, entertainment (television, motion pictures, video games, and music recording and production), aerospace, technology, petroleum, fashion and clothing, and tourism all contribute to Los Angeles’ economy. Finance, telecommunications, law, healthcare, and transportation are other prominent businesses.

Within the municipal borders are three of the six major film studios: Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Pictures.

Los Angeles is the western United States’ major industrial hub. Los Angeles and Long Beach combined represent the fifth busiest port in the world and the most major port in the Western Hemisphere, which is critical for Pacific Rim commerce.

The Los Angeles–Long Beach metropolitan region has a gross metropolitan product of $866 billion (as of 2015), ranking it third in the world after Tokyo and New York. According to a 2012 research conducted by a group from Loughborough University, Los Angeles has been designated a “Alpha global metropolis.”

As of 2009, the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, and the University of California, Los Angeles were the city’s major employers, in decreasing order. USC is the city’s fourth biggest employer and the largest private sector employer.

Internet cafés are scattered across the city, but are especially prevalent in highly touristed areas such as Hollywood Blvd and Melrose Ave. For the majority of tourists, a visit to a neighborhood coffee shop such as Starbucks or The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf will suffice. Most will either provide free service or charge a little price for use. Numerous budget hotels and motels also provide free internet connection, which is often available in the lobby prior to check-in.

Additionally, there is a rising tendency among local fast food outlets and certain restaurants to provide free Wi-Fi.