Thursday 15 September 2011

Los Angeles County, California

Los Angeles County (incorporated as the County of Los Angeles) is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of 2010 U.S. Census, the county had a population of 9,818,605, making it the most populous county in the United States. Los Angeles County alone is more populous than 42 individual U.S. states. The county seat is the city of Los Angeles, the largest city in California and the second-largest city in the United States (after New York City).
Los Angeles County also includes two offshore islands, San Clemente Island and Santa Catalina Island.The county is home to 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas. At 4,083 square miles (10,570 km2), it is larger than the combined areas of the states of Rhode Island and Delaware.
The county is home to over a quarter of all California residents. One of the most diverse counties in the country, the county is home to the nation's largest urban Native American population. Within its boundaries are most of the principal cities composing the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and is the core of the five counties that make up the Greater Los Angeles Area.




History


Los Angeles County was one of the original counties of California, created at the time of statehood in 1850.The county's large area included parts of what is now Kern County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County and Orange County. These parts of the county's territory were given to San Bernardino County in 1853, to Kern County in 1866 and to Orange County in 1889. In 1893, part of San Bernardino County became Riverside County.




Geography


According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 4,752.32 square miles (12,308.5 km2), of which 4,060.87 square miles (10,517.6 km2) (or 85.45%) is land and 691.45 square miles (1,790.8 km2) (or 14.55%) is water. Los Angeles County borders 70 miles (110 km) of coast on the Pacific Ocean and encompasses towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, forests, islands, lakes, rivers, and desert. The Los Angeles River, Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel River and the Santa Clara River flow in Los Angeles County, while the primary mountain ranges are the Santa Monica Mountains and the San Gabriel Mountains. The western extent of the Mojave Desert begins in the Antelope Valley, in the northeastern part of the county. Most of the population of Los Angeles County is located in the south and southwest, with major population centers in the Los Angeles Basin, San Fernando Valley and San Gabriel Valley. Other population centers are found in the Santa Clarita Valley, Crescenta Valley and Antelope Valley.
The county is divided west-to-east by the rugged San Gabriel Mountains, filled with coniferous forests and subject to plentiful snowfall in the winter. The San Gabriel Mountains are part of the Transverse Ranges of southern California, and are contained mostly within the Angeles National Forest. 






Major divisions of the county


Los Angeles, CA from the air
East: Eastside, San Gabriel Valley, Pomona Valley
West: Westside, Beach Cities
South: South Bay, Palos Verdes Peninsula, South Los Angeles, Gateway Cities
North: San Fernando Valley, portions of the Conejo Valley, portions of the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita Valley
Central: Downtown Los Angeles, Mid-Wilshire




Cities


Main article: List of cities in Los Angeles County, California
There are 88 incorporated cities in Los Angeles County. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the most populous are: 
1. Los Angeles 3,792,621
2. Long Beach 462,257
3. Glendale 191,719
4. Santa Clarita 176,320
5. Lancaster 156,633
6. Palmdale 152,750
7. Pomona 149,058
8. Torrance 145,438
9. Pasadena 137,122
10. El Monte 113,475
11. Downey 111,772
12. Inglewood 109,673
13. West Covina 106,098
14. Norwalk 105,549
15. Burbank 103,340




Unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County
Despite the large number of incorporated cities, most of the area of the county is unincorporated, and falls directly under the county government's jurisdiction. With no city government, residents of these areas must petition the appropriate member of the Board of Supervisors when they have a grievance about the quality of local services.[




Census-designated places
Acton
Agua Dulce
Alondra Park
Altadena
Avocado Heights
Castaic
Charter Oak
Citrus
Del Aire
Desert View Highlands
East Racho Dominguez
East La Mirada
East Los Angeles
East Pasadena
East San Gabriel
Florence-Graham
Hacienda Heights
La Crescenta-Montrose
Ladera Heights
Lake Hughes
Lake Los Angeles
Lennox
Leona Valley
Littlerock
Marina del Rey
Mayflower Village
North El Monte
Quartz Hill
Rowland Heights
Stevenson Ranch
South San Gabriel
South San Jose Hills
South Whittier
Topanga
Val Verde
Valinda
View Park-Windsor Hills
Vincent
Walnut Park
West Athens
West Carson
West Rancho Dominguez
West Puente Valley
West Whittier-Los Nietos
Westmont
Willowbrook
[edit]Communities not census-designated
Agoura
Antelope Acres
Athens
Bassett
Big Mountain Ridge
Big Pines
Big Rock
Bouquet Canyon
Castaic Junction
Del Sur
Del Valle
Gorman
Juniper Hills
Llano
Pearblossom
Kinneloa Mesa
Two Harbors
Valyermo
Centennial(planned for 70,000).
See: Los Angeles Almanac MAP: Unincorporated Areas and Communities of Los Angeles County
See also: List of districts and neighborhoods of Los Angeles




Adjacent counties


Los Angeles
Ventura
Kern
San
Bernardino
Orange
Pacific
Ocean
Counties and bodies of water adjacent to Los Angeles County, California
[edit]National protected areas
Angeles National Forest (part)
Los Padres National Forest (part)
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (part)




Transportation infrastructure


Roads
The county has an extensive freeway network of legendary size and complexity, which is maintained by Caltrans and patrolled by the California Highway Patrol. It also has a vast urban and suburban street network, most of which is maintained by city governments. The county and most cities generally do a decent job of maintaining and cleaning streets. For more information about the primary exception, see the Transportation in Los Angeles article.
Both the freeways and streets are notorious for severe traffic congestion, and the area's freeway-to-freeway interchanges regularly rank among the top 10 most congested points in the country.
In addition to Metro Bus service, numerous cities within the county also operate their own bus companies and shuttle lines.




Major highways
Interstate 5
Interstate 105
Interstate 405
Interstate 605
Interstate 10
Interstate 110
Interstate 210
Interstate 710
U.S. Route 101
State Route 1
State Route 2
State Route 14
State Route 18
State Route 19
State Route 39
State Route 47
State Route 57
State Route 60
State Route 66
State Route 71
State Route 90
State Route 91
State Route 110
State Route 134
State Route 138
State Route 170
State Route 210




Air


Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), located in the Westchester district, is the primary commercial airport for commercial airlines in the county and the Greater Los Angeles Area. LAX is operated by Los Angeles World Airports, an agency of the City of Los Angeles. Other important commercial airports in Los Angeles County include:
Long Beach Municipal Airport operated by the City of Long Beach
Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, operated by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport in Palmdale, also operated by Los Angeles World Airports. Palmdale Airport is planned for expanded commercial service to serve the Antelope Valley. The airport is a separate facility on the grounds of Air Force Plant 42.
The following general aviation airports also are located in Los Angeles County:
County operated airports (Department of Public Works, Aviation Division)
Compton/Woodley Airport in Compton
El Monte Airport in El Monte
Brackett Field in La Verne
Whiteman Airport in Pacoima
General William J. Fox Airfield in Lancaster
City operated airports
Van Nuys Airport in Van Nuys, also operated by LAWA. Van Nuys Airport sees significant executive jet air traffic.
Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, which also has major executive jet traffic.
Hawthorne Municipal Airport, also known as Jack Northrop Field, in Hawthorne
Zamperini Field in Torrance
The U.S. Air Force also has two airports in Los Angeles County:
Portions of Edwards Air Force Base, located at the northern edge of the county, and
Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, sharing runways with LA/Palmdale Regional.




Train


Los Angeles is a major freight railroad transportation center, largely due to the large volumes of freight moving in and out of the county's port facilities. The ports are connected to the downtown rail yards and to the main lines of Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe headed east via a grade-separated, freight rail corridor known as the Alameda Corridor.
Passenger rail service is provided in the county by Amtrak, Los Angeles Metro Rail and Metrolink.
Amtrak has the following intercity Amtrak service at Union Station in the city of Los Angeles.
The Pacific Surfliner to Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Diego.
The Coast Starlight to Seattle
The Southwest Chief to Chicago
The Sunset Limited to New Orleans and Orlando
Union Station is also the primary hub for Metrolink commuter rail, which serves much of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Light rail, subway (heavy rail), and long-distance bus service are all provided by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
[edit]Sea
The county's two main seaports are the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. Together they handle over a quarter of all container traffic entering the United States, making the complex the largest and most important port in the country, and the third-largest port in the world by shipping volume.
The Port of Los Angeles is the largest cruise ship center on the West Coast, handling more than 1 million passengers annually.
The Port of Long Beach is home to the Sea Launch program, which uses a floating launch platform to insert payloads into orbits that would be difficult to attain from existing land-based launch sites.
Ferries link the Catalina Island city of Avalon to the mainland.




Economy


Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce
Los Angeles County is commonly associated with the entertainment industry; all six major film studios—Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, and Walt Disney Studios—are located within the county. Beyond motion picture and television program production, other major industries of Los Angeles County are international trade supported by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach, music recording and production, aerospace, and professional services such as law and medicine.
For major companies headquartered in the City of Los Angeles, and adjacent cities, see the Economy section of the Los Angeles, California article.
The following major companies have headquarters in Los Angeles County cities not adjacent to the city of Los Angeles:
Cerritos
CareMore
Isuzu Motors America
Memorex
RazorUSA
La Mirada
Makita
Monrovia
Trader Joe's
Palmdale
Delta Scientific
Santa Clarita
Princess Cruise Lines
Honda Racing
Thousand Oaks
J.D. Power and Associates
Torrance
American Honda Motor Co.
Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc.
Westlake Village
Dole Food Company
Unincorporated areas
ICANN (Marina del Rey)




Demographics


Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1850 3,530

1860 11,333 221.0%
1870 15,309 35.1%
1880 33,381 118.0%
1890 101,454 203.9%
1900 170,298 67.9%
1910 504,131 196.0%
1920 936,455 85.8%
1930 2,208,492 135.8%
1940 2,785,643 26.1%
1950 4,151,687 49.0%
1960 6,038,771 45.5%
1970 7,041,980 16.6%
1980 7,477,421 6.2%
1990 8,863,164 18.5%
2000 9,519,338 7.4%
2010 9,818,605 3.1%




2010


The 2010 United States Census reported that Los Angeles County had a population of 9,818,605. The racial makeup of Los Angeles County was 4,936,599 (50.3%) White, 856,874 (8.7%) African American, 72,828 (0.7%) Native American, 1,346,865 (13.7%) Asian (4.0% Chinese, 3.3% Filipino, 2.2% Korean, 1.0% Japanese, 0.9% Vietnamese, 0.8% Indian, 0.3% Cambodian, 0.3% Thai, 0.1% Pakistani), 26,094 (0.3%) Pacific Islander (0.1% Samoan), 2,140,632 (21.8%) from other races, and 438,713 (4.5%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 4,687,889 persons (47.7%); 35.8% of Los Angeles County is Mexican, 3.7% Salvadoran, 2.2% Guatemalan, 0.5% Puerto Rican, 0.4% Cuban, 0.4% Honduran, 0.4% Nicaraguan, 0.3% Peruvian, 0.3% Colombian, and 0.2% Ecuadorian.



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