Los Angeles at a glance
Founded: September 4, 1781 (founded by 44 settlers from two Mexican provinces)
Nickname: City of Angels
Population: 3.7 million people within the city limits; 16.3 million in the entire metropolitan area. Second largest city in the country; largest on the West Coast
Demographics: City of Los Angeles, 1990
40 percent Hispanic; 37 percent Caucasian; 14 percent African-American; 9 percent Asian/Pacific Islander
City of Los Angeles, 2000 projection
44 percent Hispanic; 31 percent Caucasian; 15 percent Asian/Pacific Islander; 10 percent African-American
The City of Los Angeles has...
-- The second-largest Jewish population outside of Israel
-- The fourth-largest African-American metropolitan area in the nation
-- The largest Asian/Pacific Islander population in the nation
Los Angeles County has...
- The largest Mexican population in the nation (2.5 million)
- The largest Korean population outside of Korea
- A Latino population of 4,135,000 as of 1998
Area: 467 square miles (City of Los Angeles); 4,752 square miles (Los Angeles County)
Mayor: Richard J. Riordan (R)
Los Angeles government: The city has a "weak mayor" form of government, although recent changes in the city charter have strengthened the office.
City Council: 15 members elected by district; no at-large members
Members of Congress: Rep. Brad Sherman (D-24), elected in 1996 to represent the Northwest Los Angeles County suburbs; Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-25), elected in 1992 to represent Northern Los Angeles County; Rep. Howard Berman (D-26) elected in 1982 to represent the San Fernando Valley and North Hollywood; Rep. James E. Rogan (R-27) elected in 1996 to represent Northeast Los Angeles County, Pasadena and Burbank; Rep. David Dreier (R-28) elected in 1980 to represent the Northeast Los Angeles suburbs; Rep. Henry Waxman (D-29) elected in 1974 to represent Santa Monica, West Hollywood and Beverly Hills; Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-30) elected in 1992 to represent Central, East, and Southeast Los Angeles; Rep. Matthew G. Martinez (R-31) elected in 1982 to represent Eastern Los Angeles County; Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-32) elected in 1978 to represent West Los Angeles and Culver City; Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-33) elected in 1992 to represent East-Central Los Angeles; Rep. Grace F. Napolitano (D-34) elected in 1998 to represent East Los Angeles County suburbs; Rep. Maxine Waters (D-35) elected in 1990 to represent South Central Los Angeles; Rep. Steven T. Kuykendall (R-36) elected in 1998 to represent West Los Angeles County; Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-37) elected in March 1996 to represent Southern Los Angeles County and Compton; Rep. Steve Horn (R-38) elected in 1992 to represent Long Beach; Rep. Ed Royce (R-39) elected in 1992 to represent Southeast Los Angeles County, bordering Orange County; Rep. Gary Miller (R-41) elected in 1998 to represent a small section of East Los Angeles County.
Key news events in recent Los Angeles history
7/11-15/60: The Democratic National Convention is held in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and Senator John F. Kennedy is nominated for president.
6/5/68: After winning the California primary, Sen. Robert Kennedy assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
5/29/73: Tom Bradley is elected mayor -- the first African-American mayor of a majority white city.
7/84: Los Angeles hosts the 23rd Summer Olympics.
3/3/91: Four white LAPD officers are videotaped beating motorist Rodney King.
4/29/92: Riots erupt after the acquittal of the four LAPD officers who beat Rodney King; the riots result in an estimated $775 million in property damage.
6/26/92: LAPD Police Chief Daryl Gates is replaced by Willie Williams, the city's first African-American police chief.
6/8/93: Richard Riordan (R) elected mayor, defeating former city council member Michael Woo.
10/93: Wildfires sweep the Southland area, destroying more than 700 homes and causing an estimated $950 million in damage.
1/17/94: An earthquake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, hits the Northridge area, causing 61 deaths and $20 billion in damage.
6/14/94: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman found slain in Brentwood.
6/17/94: O.J. Simpson leads police on a 60-mile, low speed chase on Los Angeles freeways, before turning himself in at his Brentwood home.
10/3/95: O.J. Simpson acquitted in the double murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
1996: Los Angeles experiences drought -- 219 consecutive days without rain.
4/29/96: Vice President Gore visits the Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in Hacienda Heights, near Los Angeles.
2/4/97: A jury finds O.J. Simpson responsible for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and orders he pay the families $8.5 million in damages. The verdict is announced during President Clinton's State of the Union address.
3/9/98: Rep. Jay Kim (R), who represents east Los Angeles County, is sentenced and fined after pleading guilty to accepting illegal campaign contributions. Kim ran for a fourth term, but was defeated by Gary Miller in the June primary
9/29/98: Former mayor Tom Bradley dies of a heart attack.
3/15/99: The Democratic National Committee announces that Los Angeles will host the 43rd Democratic National Convention.
9/8/99: A former LAPD officer in the Rampart anti-gang unit pleads guilty to stealing eight pounds of cocaine seized as evidence, and later implicates several officers in the LAPD's largest corruption scandal in 60 years.
6/19/00: Lakers win their first NBA championship in 12 years; violence erupts outside the Staples Center, where the game was played, as fans riot.
7/26/00: Rep. Matthew Martinez (CA-31) switches from the Democratic to the Republican party, after being defeated in the March Democratic primary by state Rep. Hilda Solis. The switch gives the GOP a 223-210 edge over the Democrats in the House.
Los Angeles and the entertainment industry: More than 515,000 people in the Los Angeles area are employed in either the motion picture or television industry and there are more than 30 movie studios in the city.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame contains over 2,000 stars. The first celebrity to have a star was actress Joanne Woodward on February 9, 1960.
The Hollywood sign was built in 1923 as a real estate advertisement and originally said "Hollywoodland." The sign stands 50 feet tall, stretches 450 feet across, weighs 450,000 pounds.
In 1999, the total number of film production days in Los Angeles was 46,410.
Los Angeles culture:
Los Angeles is home to people from 140 countries, speaking 96 different languages.
The city has more museums per capita than any other city in the United States and the second largest art market in the world.
Los Angeles is home to the longest mural in the world -- The Great Wall of Los Angeles (2,500 feet long).
The Los Angeles County coastline is 76 miles long, running from Malibu to Long Beach. The number of visits to Los Angeles beaches reached almost 54 million in 1999.
There are 158 colleges and universities in Los Angeles County. The University of Southern California and UCLA are both located within the city limits.
There are more than 20,000 restaurants in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Los Angeles traffic:
More than 4 million cars are registered in the city of Los Angeles.
During the average weekday, more than 23 million car trips are made in Los Angeles.
85 million vehicle miles are traveled on average per day in Los Angeles County.
The average speed on Los Angeles' freeways during rush hour is 17 miles per hour.
The Santa Monica Freeway is America's busiest thoroughfare.
Los Angeles pollution:
Los Angeles has improved its air quality more than any other major city in the world over the past 20 years. Smog has been cut by two-thirds since 1995. It has been surpassed by Houston as the nation's smoggiest city.
The city has the largest fleet of clean-fuel buses in the nation. The city is in the process of converting other large-sized diesel vehicles such as school buses and garbage trucks to natural gas and other clean-burning fuel engines.
Sources: Los Angeles Host Committee 2000; Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau; Office of the Mayor; Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America 2000; Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
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