City Overview of Los Angeles
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States after New York. She has been given various names, from “La La Land” to “Tinseltown” – the best known name is simply LA.
Alternative health fanatics exist side by side with some of the most glamorous and wealthy people in the world. Most visitors come for the many fashionable boutiques, first-class restaurants and the almost always sunny beaches where you can relax.
Los Angeles occupies 122 km of the southern California Pacific coast from Malibu to Long Beach and extends inland over a huge, dry valley area, which is surrounded by the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains.
Arriving by plane gives a good first impression. A group of imposing skyscrapers rises from the huge city area: Downtown Los Angeles, 26 km from the coast. To the northeast is Pasadena, to the northwest are Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Century City and the vast San Fernando Valley. South is Long Beach and on the coast west of downtown Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Marina del Rey.
LA has much more to offer than just Hollywood: Disneyland, America’s most popular entertainment center, is located here, but also world-class cultural institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the LA Philharmonic Orchestra or the impressive Getty Museum.
Los Angeles is currently looking forward to a great event: the hosting of the Olympic Games in 2028.
Important facts
Area code: 213, 323, 310, 818, 424
Population: 3,990,456 (2018)
Latitude: 34.052419
Longitude: -118.240455
Los Angeles Weather
With an average of 263 sunny days a year, Los Angeles is always a popular travel destination. The coldest month is December, but the temperatures rarely drop below 10 ° C during the day. January and March are the months with the most rainfall, but in some years it hardly rains even at this time. In July and August, domestic temperatures are often above 38 ° C, and it is somewhat cooler on the coast. In May and June there can be coastal fog, which the locals call the ” marine layer ” and which usually disappears at lunchtime.
City History of Los Angeles
LA’s history goes back to 8,000 BC. BC when the native Americans hunted and fished along the California coast. Today’s LA was founded by a handful of Spanish settlers in 1781 when missions and forts were being built all over California. When Mexico became independent of Spain, Mexicans proudly hoisted their new flag. Since then there has been a strong Mexican influence on the city.
During the American-Mexican War in 1846, LA became a battlefield. The war ended with the signing of a peace treaty in which California passed to the United States. California officially became the 31st state of the United States in 1850.
Over the centuries, LA grew from a tiny village that served the gold miners in the north to a major oil producer. The development of the city was further promoted by connecting LAs to the rail network.
The city redefined itself in the 1920s when the young film industry moved from New York in search of the sun and Hollywood was born. The subsequent construction boom brought LA numerous interesting Art Deco buildings that are popular with architecture fans and tourists alike.
During the golden age of studio films in the 1920s, 30s and 40s, many movie stars moved to the hills and canyons around Hollywood. LA became a real film city. Today the most important film studios are located here, including Paramount, Universal, Fox and Warner Brothers. Contrary to other recent claims, LA is still the world’s undisputed capital of film production.
The period after World War II brought dark years for LA. A communist witch-hunt occurred in Hollywood, and the ethnic turmoil, fueled by right-wing politics, led to the Watts Riots in 1965, causing 34 deaths and over a thousand injuries within six days.
In the 1960s, the music industry turned its attention to the west, and numerous legendary artists and bands began their careers in clubs along the Sunset Strip in western Hollywood, such as the Troubadour Club, the Roxy and the Whiskey A-Go- Go. The Doors, Frank Zappa, Led Zeppelin, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and later The Eagles made their debut here.
Hippie culture prompted many musicians to move their home to LA’s green hills, such as Laurel and Topanga Canyon. There is still an alternative mood in some of these areas, but in a more affluent form. Los Feliz, Echo Park and Silver Lake are the new old vibe communities for artists and musicians.
Capitol Records built its famous circular HQ building near Hollywood and Vine in the 1950s that looks like a stack of records on a turntable. Even if the building is no longer owned by the company and now houses apartments and offices, the tower with the needle on the roof is a characteristic landmark for Hollywood.
After a rather shabby period in the 70s and 80s, Hollywood experienced a kind of regeneration, especially with the construction of the Kodak Theater complex, the current location for the Academy Awards, and now proudly bears the title of ‘World Entertainment City’.
