Los Angeles: City of Angels

The word “Los” in Spanish means city, so Los Angeles in Spanish means city of Angels. Los Angeles, or LA as it is popularly called, is one of the top tourist destinations. It is part of Southern California and famous for its beaches. The weather of the city is neither too hot nor too cold just moderate throughout the year. But the temperatures vary drastically throughout the day. Afternoons are the warmest but evenings are a little chilly with median temperature of 72 to 76 degrees.

Los Angeles became part of the USA in 1848 at the end of Mexican-American war. LA and California was purchased by USA as part of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was incorporated as a municipality in 1850 five months before California got its statehood in the nation.

The greater Los Angeles area is a combination of many smaller cities spread around it. The demographic of Los Angeles are slowly tilting towards Hispanic community. The rise in the population of Hispanics has forced the city to adopt a multicultural dynamics with Spanish considered as the second language. This rise in Spanish speaking population is the result of close proximity to Mexico which is only few miles away from the city. These Hispanics contribute significantly to the cultural diversity of the city as well as maintain the economic engine of growth.

Los Angeles offers many attractions but the most famous are Hollywood Blvd, Universal Studios theme park and Beverly Hills’ shopping area. Los Angeles is also home to many live comedy shows that produce talented comedians famous around the world. Unlike many big cities like Chicago, New York and San Francisco, LA is not famous for its high rises but its importance as a cultural center. Los Angeles is considered one of the top fashion centers setting new trends. LA’s famous museums and opera houses are not only architectural landmarks but house world famous paintings, sculpture and modern art.

The major daily newspaper in the area is the Los Angeles Times; La Opinión is the city's major Spanish-language paper. Investor's Business Daily is distributed from its L.A. corporate offices, which are headquartered in Playa Del Rey. There are also a number of smaller regional newspapers, alternative weeklies and magazines, including the Daily News (which focuses coverage on the San Fernando Valley), LA Weekly, Los Angeles CityBeat, L.A. Record (which focuses coverage on the music scene in the Greater Los Angeles area), Los Angeles magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Daily Journal (legal industry paper), The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (entertainment industry papers), and Los Angeles Downtown News. In addition to the English- and Spanish-language papers, numerous local periodicals serve immigrant communities in their native languages, including Armenian, Korean, Persian, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Many cities adjacent to Los Angeles also have their own daily newspapers whose coverage and availability overlaps into certain Los Angeles neighborhoods. Examples include The Daily Breeze (serving the South Bay), and The Long Beach Press-Telegram. Los Angeles is considered as one of the favored tourist destination in the world. Tourists for all over the world flock to LA to experience its deep culture, fashion and entertainment offerings. The tourist from pacific nations of Japan, China and Korea dominate the numbers. This may also be because of large Chinese immigrant population living in greater LA area.