Los Angeles Lights

Los Angeles, located in the southwestern California along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, is the second most populous city in the United States, with over 3.8 million people. Los Angeles has a land area of 498 square miles, and the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area has nearly 15 million people. Founded in 1781 by a Spanish governor, Los Angeles became part of Mexico in 1821 following Mexico’s achieving independence from Spain. In 1848, upon the conclusion of the Mexican-American War, the territory of California was purchased by the United States as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Los Angeles became an incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California was admitted to statehood. In the 1920’s, the motion picture industry became firmly established in Los Angeles, thus helping the city fare relatively better than most U.S. metropolitan areas during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The city underwent periodic episodes of urban sprawl starting after World War II as a result of major population growth. Los Angeles today is a major center of business, finance, international trade, entertainment, media, fashion, culture, education, technology, and science. As the home to Hollywood, a major global center for motion picture production, television, video gaming, and recorded music, Los Angeles is sometimes referred to as the “Entertainment Capital of the World.”

The Los Angeles Economy: Golden

Los Angeles is a major global business center. Drivers of the Los Angeles economy are: entertainment and media, aerospace, petroleum, fashion and apparel, tourism, transportation and trade, manufacturing, and technology. Los Angeles is home to 7 companies listed on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S companies. Numerous other large companies are located in the city or its surrounding towns.

Education in L.A.: Cool for School

Educational attainment among the Los Angeles populace is a mixed picture compared with that of the U.S. as a whole. As of 2000, roughly 67% of its residents aged 25 and older had completed high school, well below the U.S. average, and roughly 26% had completed college, on part with the U.S. as a whole. There are more than forty colleges and universities in the Los Angeles area. Two of the many well-known educational institutions in Los Angeles are the private University of Southern California, with nearly 35,000 students, and the public University of California at Los Angeles, with roughly 37,000 students. Among other well-known institutions of higher learning in the Los Angeles area are: California Institute of Technology, the Claremont Colleges, Occidental College, and Whittier College.

The Crime Scene in Los Angeles: LAPD on the Beat

In 2008, the Los Angeles overall crime rate fell 2.8% versus 2007. All major categories of crime experienced declines. Los Angeles is experiencing substantially lower crime rates than its historic high levels of the early 1990’s.

The Los Angeles Population and Politics: Democratic Leanings

Los Angeles has a population of approximately 3.8 million people. Its population has been growing slowly, at a rate of less than 0.3% per year over the past decade. Immigrants compose nearly 40% of the city’s population. Los Angeles has leaned decidedly Democratic in its political preferences in the recent past. Among more than 3.3 million votes cast in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Los Angeles County voters chose Democratic candidate Barack Obama over Republican candidate John McCain by a ratio of seven to three.