Los Angeles

Los Angeles—often called LA or L.A.—is the biggest city in California and the commercial, financial, and cultural heart of Southern California. Its city limits hold an estimated 3.87 million people, making it the second-most populous city in the United States (after New York City) and the largest in the Western U.S. The city is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity, and it anchors a metropolitan area of 12.9 million residents as of 2024. The broader Greater Los Angeles region, which combines the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metro areas, sprawls across over 18 million people.

Most of the city sits in the Los Angeles Basin, touching the Pacific Ocean to the west and stretching partly through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley. It borders the San Gabriel Valley to the east. Covering about 469 square miles, Los Angeles is the county seat and most populous city of Los Angeles County—the most populous county in the U.S., with an estimated 9.86 million residents. It is the third-most visited city in the country (after New York City and Miami), drawing over 3.6 million visitors in 2023.

The area was originally home to the Tongva people. Spanish explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed it for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the site of the Tongva village of Yaanga. After Mexico won independence, Los Angeles became part of the First Mexican Empire in 1821.

Following the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transferred Los Angeles and the rest of California to the United States in 1848. The city was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California became a state. Oil discovered in the 1890s sparked rapid growth, and the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913 brought water from Eastern California, fueling further expansion. Los Angeles has a diverse economy spanning many industries.

Although film production has declined, it remains the oldest and one of the largest hubs for film and television production. The city also operates one of the busiest container ports in the Americas. Downtown Los Angeles, despite an exodus of commerce, is evolving into a cultural center featuring the world’s largest collection of architecture designed by Frank Gehry. In 2024, the Los Angeles metropolitan area had a gross metropolitan product exceeding $1.295 trillion, ranking third globally behind New York and Tokyo.

The city hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984 and will host them again in 2028. On September 4, 1781, a group of 44 settlers called "Los Pobladores" founded the town they named. The original name is disputed; the Guinness Book of World Records lists it as "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula," though other sources offer shorter or alternate versions. The local English pronunciation has shifted over time.

A 1953 article in the journal of the American Name Society states that the pronunciation established after the 1850 incorporation was later challenged in the 1880s by a trend favoring Spanish-sounding names and pronunciations. In 1908, librarian Charles Fletcher Lummis, who advocated for a hard g, reported at least 12 pronunciation variants. In the early 1900s, the Los Angeles Times promoted a pronunciation approximating Spanish by printing a respelling under its masthead, but it did not catch on.

Since the 1930s, the most common pronunciation has been the one used today. In 1934, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names decreed that pronunciation for federal use, and in 1952, a jury appointed by Mayor Fletcher Bowron endorsed it as official. History Indigenous history The Tongva people (also called Gabrieleño after Spanish colonization) dominated the modern Los Angeles Basin and San Fernando Valley. Their historic center of power was the settlement of Yaanga (Tongva: Iyáangẚ), meaning "place of the poison oak," which later became the site of the Spanish Pueblo de Los Ángeles.

Iyáangẚ has also been translated as "the valley of smoke." Spanish rule In 1542, maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for the Spanish Empire during a military expedition along the Pacific coast from New Spain. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel in 1771, the first mission in the area.

On September 4, 1781, 44 settlers known as "Los Pobladores" founded the town. Today, the city has the largest Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of the Mexican (New Spain) settlers were mestizo or mulatto—of mixed African, indigenous, and European ancestry. One Asian Filipino from Manila, Antonio Miranda Rodríguez, was reassigned to nearby Santa Barbara, a fortress needing his gunsmithing skills.

The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades; by 1820, its population had grown to about 650. The historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street now commemorates the original pueblo.