Los Angeles

Los Angeles , city, seat of Los Angeles county, southern California, U.S. It is the second most populous city and metropolitan area (after New York City) in the United States. The city sprawls across a broad coastal plain situated between mountains and the Pacific Ocean; the much larger Los Angeles county, which encompasses the city, contains some 90 other incorporated 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 the city and the county are interwoven geographically, culturally, and economically, any consideration of Los Angeles must, to some degree, involve both entities. Population density around the metropolitan area varies greatly—as low as one person per square mile in mountainous areas and as high as 50,000 per square mile near downtown Los Angeles. 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.

Character of the city

Los Angeles, the heart of southern California, became a world-class city very recently. At the start of the 20th century it was considered merely “a large village.” This ascendancy is all the more remarkable considering that the city originally lacked some of the essential building blocks associated with cityhood, such as a natural harbour. Yet it overcame natural deficiencies and established itself as an important centre of commerce, agriculture, tourism, and industry. For more than a century it has been indelibly associated with a benign climate, extensive leisure, and outdoor recreation, as well as the special aura of celebrity associated with Hollywood. The lifestyle of Los Angeles residents (who are called Angelenos) relies on the automobile, idealizes the single-family dwelling, and favours informality. With notable exceptions, the skyline is primarily horizontal rather than vertical. Los Angeles is a place of extraordinary ethnic and racial diversity, owing largely to immigration, and, like other world cities, it reflects a growing gap between rich and poor.
Los Angeles has endured the barbs of many detractors. Critics refer to it either as a laid-back “la-la land” or, conversely, as a place reeling from earthquakes, fire, smog, gang warfare, and riots. The city’s defenders admire its mild climate and geographic variety. They claim that its major social problems are similar to those of all big cities and are perhaps even less severe there than elsewhere. In fact, some observers regard it as the most modern and quintessential American city.

Economy

Southern California’s regional economy is huge, diversified, and in a perpetual state of flux. Agriculture became important after the first citrus orchards were planted by Spanish missionaries in the 1700s. Manufacturing has also been important. The county features a wide range of financial and business services, high-technology manufacturing, and craft and fashion industries such as jewelry, clothing, toys, music, and, most famously, movies. If the Los Angeles metropolis were a country, it would have a gross national product exceeding those of all but a handful of the most prosperous countries in the world.

After a long period of growth in the 20th century, the local economy experienced a recession in the 1990s. A strong recovery began mid-decade, and the economy showed considerable resilience, particularly in the high-tech area. By the end of the century the fastest-growing sectors for employment were construction, transportation, public utilities, finance, insurance, real estate, and government services.
The global economy has created bewildering crosscurrents in the regional job market since the 1980s. As less-profitable manufacturing plants have closed or have moved to other countries, higher-paying and more labour-intensive jobs have declined and lower-paying jobs have increased. Local employers rely increasingly on immigrant labour. Sweatshop conditions exist in some clothing manufacturing and other low-wage industries.

From the 1930s to the ’50s, the labour movement achieved considerable strength in the auto, aircraft, movie, trucking, longshoring, and food handling industries. Then, after a gradual membership decline in those activities, unions organized teachers, nurses, and other service employees. The gains continued in the 1990s and early 21st century, when the AFL-CIO embraced immigrant workers (especially those engaged in janitorial and hotel work), advanced the policy of a living wage for city employees, and took an active role in local politics.

The entertainment industry

The media business, with filmmaking as its core, pumps tens of billions of dollars into the Los Angeles economy yearly and directly employs several hundred thousand people. Hollywood produces about half of all the films shot in the United States.
As California historian Kevin Starr pointed out, Hollywood is not only a town and an industry but also a creator of dreams and fantasies that have tremendous cultural impact. The “dream factories” are among the most global of industries, with huge overseas markets and an impact on people in practically every corner of the globe. Disney Studios elevated the cartoon character Mickey Mouse into what was arguably the most universally recognized icon of the 20th century. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual Academy Award (Oscar) ceremony broadcast from Los Angeles is said to have a TV audience exceeding one billion people. The industry also draws hordes of tourists into southern California.

The recording industry is another major player in the entertainment economy; virtually all major labels either are based in Los Angeles or have facilities there, and the industry employs thousands of workers. Giant corporations such as the Walt Disney Company, in Burbank, and Universal Studios, in Studio City, are involved in practically all aspects of entertainment, including theme parks.

Education

The Los Angeles area is renowned for its institutions of higher learning, both public and private, and its distinguished faculties, including Nobel Prize recipients. UCLA, established in 1919, is the largest branch of the University of California system. The California State University system has four campuses in the county in Dominguez Hills, Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Northridge. Among its well-respected private institutions, USC, the oldest independent university in the West (1880), has outstanding professional schools; the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has earned great distinction in the sciences; and the Claremont Colleges, Occidental College, and Loyola Marymount are among the excellent smaller institutions devoted to the liberal arts. Los Angeles pioneered the creation of two-year community colleges, which now channel thousands of students into California universities.

Southern California has scores of independent school districts. The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest public school district in the country, is run by an independent elected board working under state—rather than city—jurisdiction. Turmoil erupted in the 1970s over court-ordered busing to eliminate racial segregation. This litigation never gained full public support and resulted in “white flight” into the suburbs and the formation of numerous private schools. The LAUSD had upward of 750,000 students in the early 21st century, the majority of whom were Latino. In recent decades the system has struggled to improve instruction and learning amid exploding enrollments and declining public funding for education.