Greater Los Angeles

The Greater Los Angeles Area is the , Orange , San Bernardino , Riverside and Ventura . It is referred to locally as " Southern California ", " SoCal " or " The Southland ". It is also referred to simply as '' L.A. '' especially by the residents of Los Angeles County and by outsiders. It is such a sprawling area that residents refer to broad general sub-regions. It is not always meaningful to refer to Los Angeles as a distinct city, and people outside of Southern California commonly refer to the entire region as ''L.A.'' even though there are five counties, more than 100 distinct municipalities, hundreds of neighborhoods and districts, and more people than any individual state except for Texas , New York , and Florida . As of 2005 , the official estimate of the population of the Greater Los Angeles area is 17,545,623. According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the Greater Los Angeles Area has a total area of 87,972 Km² (33,953 Mi² ), though more than half of this is the sparsely populated eastern areas of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

GEOGRAPHY

Sprawl

, looking south from Mulholland Drive. Palos Verdes peninsula lies across the basin on the Pacific coast; Catalina Island lies beyond PV.]]
The area's reputation for sprawl is more historic than real in today's terms. Los Angeles became a real city just as automobiles began to be mass-produced, and as a result it developed somewhat less densely. This decentralization has resulted in the city of Los Angeles having a very low population density compared to other large American cities (less than one-third the density of New York City , and nearly half the density of Chicago ). In contrast to this, the extent of the region's suburban sprawl has been so thoroughly cultivated so as to result in an urbanized area with a relatively high density of 7,070 people per square mile (2,730/km²) according to the 2000 census. However, the L.A. sprawl reached its geographic limits around 2000 , and future expansion of the sprawl will involve leapfrogging across whole mountain ranges. As real-estate investment becomes focused towards the central areas of the city, these numbers are beginning to change. For example, Downtown Los Angeles is gaining more skyscrapers (some of which are residential towers), the office vacancy rate is decreasing, and the value of housing units and homes continues to rise. The ''Los Angeles Downtown News'' keeps a list of ongoing development projects, updated every quarter, here .

See Also: Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California

Identity

Due to the decentralized nature of Southern California, there is no universally accepted definition of the terms “Greater Los Angeles Area” or “Southland,” the definition varies from one region of Southern California to the next. Although some people, especially those outside of Southern California and some of those in Los Angeles proper, view the terms ''Greater Los Angeles Area'' and ''Southland'' as being synonymous, in many other parts of Southern California the term Greater Los Angeles Area is considered to be a sub-section of the Southland, along with the other sub-sections: Orange County Area , Inland Empire , and Ventura . With the counties of Southern California being the size of states on the east coast, the lack of one vibrant downtown area to serve this massive region, and the fact that mass transit does not work well due to its decentralized nature, most people outside of Los Angeles County do not go there and therefore do not assimilate with it. The people of Orange County use the term ''Greater Los Angeles'' to refer to the area to the north of Orange County’s borders. To use the term ''Greater Los Angeles'' to refer to areas outside of Los Angeles County causes a great deal of confusion when used in other parts of Southern California, especially in Orange County. Residents of Orange County, which like those of neighboring San Diego County have their own employment base, arts, and other metropolitan amenities in the middle of their own county, thereby resulting in the residents not needing to leave the county and thereby not closely identifying with a larger area.

Boundaries

at dawn]]
Some areas are bounded by natural features such as mountains or the ocean; others are marked by city boundaries, freeways, or other constructed landmarks. For example, to the west, the U.S. Route 101 to the north, the Los Angeles River to the east, and the Santa Monica Freeway to the south. Or, consider the San Fernando Valley : lying north-northwest of Downtown L.A., "The Valley" is a 15-mile (24-km) wide basin ringed by mountains.

Some other areas of Los Angeles include the Westside ; South L.A. (formerly known as South Central L.A.); and the San Pedro/Harbor City area. Adjoining areas that are outside the ''actual city boundaries'' of the incorporated city of Los Angeles include the South Bay , the San Gabriel Valley and the Foothills . The San Pedro/Harbor City area was annexed by the city of Los Angeles so the city could have access and control over the Port Of Los Angeles , and is connected by only a narrow Corridor, which follows the Harbor Freeway for the most part, with the rest of L.A. Many Angelenos consider the Eastside to be the area east of the Los Angeles River , above Orange County .

The city boundaries are quite complicated. For example, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood are completely surrounded by the City of Los Angeles except for a small border the two cities share. Culver City is surrounded by L.A. except where it shares a boundary with the unincorporated communities of Ladera Heights and Baldwin Hills . Both Santa Monica and Marina Del Rey are surrounded except on their ocean side. San Fernando in the northern corner of the San Fernando Valley is also a separate city entirely surrounded by L.A. territory. There are also unincorporated enclaves which are under Los Angeles County jurisdiction.

Los Angeles--Riverside--Orange County CMSA Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area is an obsolete US Census Bureau defined Area that also includes San Bernardino and Ventura County .

COUNTIES IN THE SOUTHLAND