Welcome to Los Angeles!
Frank Lloyd Wright is said to have quipped, "Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles", a quote that has since been repeated both by those who love and hate L.A. The "City of Angels" is a city of sharp contrasts, home to people who hail from all parts of the globe and an important center of culture, business, media, and international trade. However, it's most famous for being a major center of the world's television, motion picture, and music industry, which forms the base of the city's status and lures visitors for its show business history and celebrity culture. Visitors are also drawn to Los Angeles for its Mediterranean climate and numerous beaches, which gave birth to California's famed surf culture.
California's most populous city and the second most populous city in the United States (after New York City), Los Angeles is spread across a broad basin in Southern California surrounded by vast forested mountain ranges, valleys, the Pacific Ocean, and nearby desert. Los Angeles sits at the heart of a metropolitan area of over 18 million people that spreads across Los Angeles County, Orange County, Ventura County, and the Inland Empire region of San Bernardino County and Riverside County.
Los Angeles (Tongva: Tovaangar, Spanish: Los Ángeles, lit. 'The Angels'), commonly referred to by the initialism L.A., is the largest city in California. With a 2020 population of 3,898,747, it is the second-largest city in the United States, following New York City. Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, Hollywood entertainment industry, and sprawling metropolitan area.
Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California, adjacent to the Pacific Ocean. The city, which covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2), is the seat of Los Angeles County.
Home to the Chumash and Tongva indigenous peoples, the area that became Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, in the village of Yaanga. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and thus became part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The city was further expanded with the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, which delivers water from Eastern California.
Los Angeles has a diverse and robust economy and hosts businesses in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. It also has the busiest container port in the Americas. In 2018, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product of over $1.0 trillion, making it the city with the third-largest GDP in the world, after Tokyo and New York City. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the 2028 Summer Olympics.