Known as the City of Angels or just LA, Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world and a cultural Mecca with more than 300 museum. The motion picture industry in California generates approximately $34 billion annually. In 2007 Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) saw 61,896,075 passangers go through its gates. 25.8 million visitors pass through on a yearly basis and spend in the region of $14 on tourist related activities. Los Angeles was named the eight most powerful economy in the world by Forbes in 2008.
Los Angeles is for the most part a desert basin with 75 miles of coastline. Many earthquakes occur in Los Angeles each year, roughly 10,000, but most are low intensity and are never felt. The reason for he earthquakes is that Los Angeles is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire. The last major earthquake was in 1987 called Whittier Narrows earthquake.
The city dates back to 4th September 1781. 44 village settlers from Mexico made their home in what is now Downtown Los Angeles. and then became part of Mexico in 1821. The Spanish named the new settlement El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles, or The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels. In 1848, as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo it became part of the United States at the end of the Mexico American War. Los Angeles then received statehood in 1850.
The city is divided into areas such as Downtown Los Angeles, The Eastside and Northeast Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, the Harbor Area, Hollywood, Wilshire, the Westside and the San Fernando and Crescenta Valleys. In these areas are communities, which have nearly become brands themselves such as Bel Air, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Venice Beach and Pacific Palisades.
The Academy Awards are held here annually and is one of the most important and oldest award ceremonies in the world. Hollywood is filled with actors and A listers who's talents re recogised both at the Academy awards ceremony and with a world recognised tourist attraction, the Walk of Fame’s collection of stars which grows by one or two each month and has to date over 2,300 stars.
One in six of every resident in Los Angeles works in the creative industry giving the city the name of the "Creative Capital of the World". Artists, writers, filmmakers, actors, dancers and musicians come to LA to make a living and many in search of Hollywood fame. Los Angeles is awash with art galleries and museums and the city has more museums per capita than any other city in the world. Among the 841 museums and galleries are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Getty Center, and the Museum of Contemporary Art. In LA there are 134,000 jobs in the fashion industry, having surpassed New York’s fashion district workforce.
2010 was a great year for Los Angles Basketball. The LA Lakers have excelled again in this years NBA playoffs, beating Boston Celtics four games to three under the lead of the famous Phil Jackson. This win makes it their 16th championship on the 50th anniversary of its relocation to Los Angeles from Detroit, Michigan. The Lakers are the most valuable NBA franchise and in 2010, basketball analyst and writer John Hollinger ranked the Lakers as the greatest NBA franchise of all time.