Los Angeles, California
Where Hollywood's brightest lights cast the darkest shadows for hunters on the road.
Los Angeles, California, began its modern history in 1781 when 44 settlers from central New Spain (modern Mexico) established a permanent settlement in what is now Downtown Los Angeles, as instructed by Spanish Governor of Las Californias, Felipe de Neve, and authorized by Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli. After sovereignty changed from Mexico to the United States in 1849, great changes came from the completion of the Santa Fe railroad line from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1885.
"Overlanders" flooded in, mostly White Protestants from the Midwest and Upland South. Los Angeles had a strong economic base in farming, oil, tourism, real estate and movies. It grew rapidly with many suburban areas inside and outside the city limits. Its motion picture industry made the city world-famous, and World War II brought new industry, especially high-tech aircraft construction. Politically the city was moderately conservative, with a weak labor union sector.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Southern California, United States
Lore & Background
The Tongva people called the Los Angeles region Yaa in their Uto-Aztecan language. By the 1700s CE, there were 5,000 native people in the Los Angeles basin, and the land occupied by the Tongva covered about 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2). Their trade extended to the Colorado River and included slavery. The survival and success of Los Angeles depended greatly on the presence of a nearby and prosperous Tongva village called Yaanga, located by the freshwater artesian aquifer of the Los Angeles River.
Its residents provided the colonists with seafood, fish, bowls, pelts, and baskets. For pay, they dug ditches, hauled water, and provided domestic help. They often intermarried with the Mexican colonists. The first Europeans to visit the region were Captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542 and Captain Sebastián Vizcaíno in 1602. The first permanent non-native presence began when the Portolá expedition arrived on August 2, 1769.
Reader's Guide
Los Angeles is a major urban setting within the Supernatural universe, characterized by its high concentration of supernatural threats masked by celebrity culture and urban density. It serves as a critical location where Sam and Dean Winchester often travel to investigate cases involving demons exploiting human ambition or ancient creatures hiding in the city's vast infrastructure. The environment forces hunters to adapt their tactics from rural isolation to navigating crowded, chaotic streets. The city matters because it represents the intersection of modern society and the hidden war between heaven and hell. Its role highlights that monsters do not just lurk in backwoods but thrive where human sin is most concentrated, making it a dangerous yet necessary ground for the brothers' endless crusade.
Did You Know?
- The official date for the founding of Los Angeles is September 4, 1781.
- Twenty of the 44 Pobladores who founded Los Angeles were of African American or Native American descent.
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Elsewhere in Supernatural
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