General Information_Facts
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FACTS ABOUT LOS ANGELES
POPULATION:
City of Los Angeles: 3.7
million
County of Los Angeles: 9.4 million
Los Angeles Five-County Area: 14.5 million
(Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, Orange and San Bernardino Counties)
The Los Angeles Five-County area population is larger than any state excluding California, Alaska, New York and Texas.
SIZE:
City of Los Angeles: 467 square miles
County of Los Angeles: 4,083 square miles Los Angeles Five-County Area: 34,149 square miles
Orange County is the smallest county with 782.1 square miles and San Bernardino is the largest with 20,164 square miles.
Due to its large population, Los Angeles has more telephone area codes than any other area. Cities in the 310 area code include Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Long Beach, the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) area and West Los Angeles. Downtown Los Angeles and the Hollywood area use the 213 area code. Other area codes for Greater Los Angles are 818 (San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys and adjacent areas), 714 (Orange County and parts of Eastern Los Angeles County) and 909 (Riverside and San Bernardino counties, and parts of Eastern Los Angeles County).
There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County ranging from Vernon (population 85) to Los Angeles (population 3.7
million).
GEOGRAPHY:
Los Angeles spans a widely diverse geographic area. Primarily a desert basin, the area is surrounded by the San Gabriel Mountain range, and divided by the Santa Monica Mountains. The region includes 160 miles of coastline and altitudes ranging from nine feet below to 10,080 above sea level. Area rivers include the Los Angeles, Rio Hondo, San Gabriel and Ventura rivers.
CLIMATE:
Southern California’s climate has often been described as
“perfect” and for very good reasons. Mostly it is sunny and warm with gentle ocean breezes in the summer. The humidity is low with little rain. In fact, there are no unpleasant seasons in Los Angeles.
Annual precipitation: 14.85 inches
Average number days of sun: 329 days
Average mean temperature: 65 degrees F
MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES (FAHRENHEIT):
JAN 65/45 APR 71/53 JULY 83/63 OCT
77/57
FEB 66/48 MAY 74/56 AUG 83/63 NOV
73/52
MAR 69/50 JUNE 77/59 SEPT 82/61 DEC
68/49
HISTORY:
September 4, 1781 is the city’s official birthdate, when 44 “vecinos pobladores”_village settlers from the Mexican provinces of Sonora and Sinaloa_made their home in what is now downtown Los Angeles. Two of the 44 settlers were Spaniards, while the others were Indians, Blacks and Mestizos (of mixed ancestry). Here to greet the pobladores was a tribe of Indians called Yangna. The
Spanish named the new settlement “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles” or the town of the Queen of the Angels.
After the territory changed hands from Spain to Mexico, the
town was officially declared a city in 1835. In August of 1846, American soldiers entered Los Angeles and the Stars and Stripes have flown over the city since January 1847.
PEOPLE:
The diverse multi-ethnic population of Los Angeles today
distinguishes the city as the cultural hub of the Pacific Rim. People from about 140 countries, speaking approximately 96
different languages, currently call Los Angeles home.
(Estimates based on L.A.’s five-county region)
White, non-Hispanic: 49.7
percent
Hispanic: 32.9 percent African-American: 8.0 percent Asian/Pacific Islander: 8.8
American Indian/Others: .6 percent
*Los Angeles County has the U.S.’s largest Hispanic population (2.5 million).
Only Mexico City and Guadalajara have larger Hispanic populations.
*L.A. has the largest Asian/Pacific Island population in the United States.
*L.A. is the fourth-largest African-American metropolitan
area in the United States.
TOURISM:
Overnight visitors to Los Angeles County in 1995: 22.1 million
Annual estimated visitor expenditures: $9.25 billion
NUMBER OF PASSENGERS FOR EACH AIRPORT IN 1995:
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) 53,909,223 Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport 4,972,575 Long Beach Airport 489,631 Ontario International Airport 6,405,097
John Wayne Airport (Orange County) 7,159,154
BEACHES:
Attendance at Los Angeles County beaches in 1995: 55 million
The Los Angeles County coastline, stretching from Malibu to Long Beach, is 72 miles long.
BUSINESS:
The leading businesses in the five-county area are:
1. Business and management services (includes advertising, computer programming, legal services and engineering).
2. Tourism.
3. Health services, includes medical manufacturing.
4. Wholesale trade.
5. Direct international trade.
MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY IN LOS ANGELES:
California is the leading supplier of entertainment to the world, and Los Angeles County produces the vast majority of the state’s entertainment output. In 1992, the Los Angeles motion picture/television production industry employed 142,263 people out of a statewide total of 149,158. Los Angeles’ 4,675 industry establishments produced receipts of more than $19 billion in 1992.
IMPORTS/EXPORTS:
Los Angeles is the No. 1 import/export port in the United States; there is $146 billion of trading activity in the Los Angeles customs district (including the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, LAX and smaller ports). Major exports include integrated circuits, aircraft and space craft, computers, aircraft parts and parts for office machines. Major imports are computers, passenger vehicles, integrated circuits, office machine parts and reception apparatus.
HIGHER EDUCATION:
L.A. is home to 176 colleges and universities, including three campuses of the University of California, and seven campuses of the California State College and University system. Also, many private colleges are located in the Los Angeles area, including Cal Tech, the Claremont College and the University of Southern California.