Los Angeles Information

The city of Los Angeles is spread across a thousand square miles of desert basin. It is located on the west coast of America between the Pacific Ocean and snowcapped mountains - one of the few places where you could head to the mountains in the morning for a quick ski session then head down to the beach to catch some waves on a surf board, if you have the energy that is!

LA is a comparatively young city, during the mid-nineteenth century most of the population was made up of rich Mexican ranchers, poor Chinese labourers and other immigrants. At this time the population was less than fifty-thousand. The city didn't really begin to grow until the 1880s when the transcontinental railroad was completed. Los Angeles became a mecca for people looking for sunshine, clean living, good health as well as the endless acres of citrus crops.

Most of the new arrivals were coming from the Midwest, they created a new ruling class which would replace the old Mexican elite. The population grew rapidly whilst the family-sized house in suburbia became the city's enduring symbol. World War II brought about the huge boom in the aeronautics industry, which until the military cutbacks post-Cold War, accounted for around one in four jobs.

Many visitors are drawn to the city to experience the epitome of the American Dream - the dream worlds of Disneyland and Hollywood alongside the affluence of Beverly Hills and Malibu. Add to that the colourful assortment of shopping malls and palm trees and you'll find a city that is both slightly surreal and surprisingly familiar thanks to the self image portrayed in its movies that has spread across the world.