"Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings — consider printing them all.

The city of Los Angeles — also known as the "City of Angels" or simply L.A. — is the largest city in California. Located on a broad basin in Southern California, it's surrounded by vast mountain ranges, deep valleys, forests, desert and miles of coastline on the Pacific Ocean.

The metropolitan area is the second largest in the United States in terms of population, containing over 17 million people who hail from all parts of the globe and speak over a hundred different languages. The metropolitan area is centered in Los Angeles County, but stretches into Orange County, Ventura County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County.

Los Angeles is an important center of culture, business, media, and international trade, but is most famous for being the center of the world's entertainment industry, which forms the base of its global status.

Districts

* Downtown — Once the center of LA, it fell into disrepair over the last few decades and was primarily a business center and home to the homeless. However, in recent years, the area has seen a booming revival, with trendy hotels, bars, shops and restaurants opening to make it a place to be again.

* Eastside — A funkier area north of downtown and east of Hollywood that's rapidly gentrifying.

* Harbor Area — Home of the largest sea port in the States, and the launching point for trips to Catalina Island.

* Hollywood — The place where dreams are made. It has received quite a makeover in recent years, sparked by the construction of Hollywood & Highland and the return of the Academy Awards.

* South Central — It's long had a reputation for gang violence and is famed for the Rodney King riots, but while it remains off most peoples radar, there's a handful of things to see and it's working slowly to repair its bruised image.

* Westside — Generally more affluent area of town near the ocean

* Greater Wilshire — Wilshire Blvd didn't invent the car, but it certainly put it on the map - the first gas station in the country was at Wilshire & La Brea.

* San Fernando Valley — "The Valley" is the sprawling northern section of the city and home to Universal Studios and a few other attractions.

Understand

Even before O.J. drove the Bronco or "The Terminator" became governor, Frank Lloyd Wright said, "Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles."

The Los Angeles metro area has been a "boomtown" since the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1876, first attracting "the folks" from the Midwest with a blessedly warm and dry climate- and becoming a gateway to a remarkable diversity of immigration from throughout the Pacific Rim and Latin America.

L.A. is a sprawling megalopolis; one could start in one end of L.A. and drive for more than two hours without leaving the county's influence. The metro area includes smaller cities, such as Santa Monica, Burbank, Pasadena and Long Beach, which were founded around the end of the nineteenth century and retain distinct identities. Geographically, there is no clear method as to what is part of the city of L.A. For example, Hollywood is not a separate city (it's part of the City of LA) but adjacent West Hollywood and Beverly Hills are independent cities. Nonetheless, they are all within Los Angeles County and culturally are very much a part of the city itself.

The city's primary newspapers are the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News. The free LA Weekly comes out on Thursdays and is a good source for concerts, movies and other local information. Local areas may have their own free neighborhood papers as well. LosAngelesNomad.com is a good resource for travelers trying to find hidden gems.

People

Los Angeles is a very diverse city with nearly half of its population being born outside the United States. It has the third largest Mexican population in the world behind Mexico City and Guadalajara, and is home to many other large immigrant populations such as Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Iranians, Russians, Armenians, Thais, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Asian Indians, Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese, Israelis, and Samoans. Spread throughout the city are many ethnic enclaves such as Chinatown, Filipinotown, Little Tokyo, Little Armenia, Little Saigon, Thai Town, Little Persia, and Little India. For the most part it's also a fairly gay-friendly city, especially the West side, Hollywood, and West Hollywood where even the police cars bear rainbows.

Talk

English is the dominant language in Los Angeles. However, like much of California with a large Hispanic population and a history under Spanish and Mexican rule, Spanish is very widely spoken in Los Angeles. The city's name is even a Spanish phrase, meaning "The Angels". In fact, Los Angeles has one of the largest Spanish speaking populations in the world, with street and store signs in certain parts of the city printed in both English and Spanish. According to the U.S. Census, roughly 70% of Los Angeles's population speaks speak English either as their first or second language, while roughly 44% of Los Angeles speaks Spanish as a first or second language. With Los Angeles's large immigrant population, many other languages such as Tagalog, Chinese, Japanese, Persian, Russian, Korean, Hindi, and Vietnamese are also widely spoken. Street signs in ethnic inclaves will often be printed in one of these languages. For example, street signs in Chinatown will be printed in English and Chinese."