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Los
Angeles
Los Angeles grew as the movie capital of the
world. For a long time, more movies were made here than in any other city. But
today Bombay, India, surpasses Los Angeles as a movie capital.
The World’s Largest Cities
|
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City
|
Country
|
2003 population*
|
|
1
|
Tokyo
|
Japan
|
35,000,000
|
2
|
Mexico
City
|
Mexico
|
18,700,000
|
3
|
São
Paulo
|
Brazil
|
17,900,000
|
4
|
New
York
|
United
States
|
18,300,000
|
5
|
Mumbai
(Bombay)
|
India
|
17,400,000
|
6
|
Los
Angeles
|
United
States
|
12,000,000
|
7
|
Kolkata
(Calcutta)
|
India
|
13,100,000
|
8
|
Shanghai
|
China
|
12,800,000
|
9
|
Dhaka
|
Bangladesh
|
11,600,000
|
10
|
Delhi
|
India
|
14,100,000
|
*Population figures are for metropolitan areas.
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Source: Population Division of the United Nations.
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AMERICA’S SECOND LARGEST CITY
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the
United States. It has a population of 3.8 million people (2006). Only New York
City is larger. More than 12 million people live in the Los Angeles area.
Los Angeles lies along the Pacific Ocean in
southern California. It sprawls over a large area between the San Gabriel
Mountains and the ocean. People depend on cars to get around this large area.
As a result, the city suffers from air pollution and traffic jams.
MOVIES AND MORE
Early in the 1900s, the movie industry moved
from New York City to Los Angeles. The mild southern California weather
permitted moviemaking year-round. By the 1930s, companies in Los Angeles
produced 400 movies a year. That’s more than one a day.
Most of the movie studios were located in a
part of Los Angeles called Hollywood. In 1923, a real estate agency put up a
huge sign on a hilltop to advertise the area. The letters of the sign, which
spell Hollywood, stand 45 feet (14 meters) tall. The Hollywood sign is a city
landmark.
Movies are big business in Los Angeles. But there
is a lot more going on than moviemaking. The city’s seaport is one of the
busiest in the United States. Los Angeles is a leading producer of aircraft and
military equipment. It is also an important banking center.
Los Angeles has many museums. The Getty Center
is an art museum that offers spectacular views of the city from a hilltop near
the Pacific Ocean. Other art museums include the Los Angeles County Museum of
Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art.
A group of colorful towers rise in an area of
the city called Watts. They are made of steel rods and wire decorated with
shells and bits of pottery and broken glass. An Italian immigrant built the
Watts Towers in his spare time over 30 years.
ICE AGE FOSSILS
Fossils have been found in the heart of Los Angeles.
Here, saber-toothed cats, huge mammoths, giant ground sloths, and other Ice Age
animals once roamed. The fossil remains of these animals were buried and
preserved in asphalt. Black asphalt, mistakenly called tar, oozed up from the
ground to form the La Brea Tar Pits in central Los Angeles.
Scientists think the animals came to drink water
that collected on top of the asphalt. While drinking, the animals got trapped
in the sticky substance and died. During the 1900s, scientists discovered the
fossil bones of the animals. The fossils are now exhibited at the Page Museum
of La Brea Discoveries.
CITY OF MANY ORIGINS
Los Angeles is home to many people from Korea,
China, Japan, Vietnam, and other places around the globe. Nearly half of the
city’s people are Hispanic. Most of the Hispanics are of Mexican ancestry. More
Mexicans live in Los Angeles than in any other city except Mexico City.
MEXICAN ROOTS
Los Angeles began in 1781 as a Mexican
settlement. Its original Spanish name was a mouthful. It was El Pueblo de
Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula. That means the Town
of Our Lady Queen of the Angels of the River Porciúncula.
The name was later shortened to Los Angeles.
It means the angels. Today, people shorten the city’s name even more, to L.A.
L.A.’S GROWTH SPURT
Los Angeles grew dramatically after railroads
linked it to the Midwest and Eastern United States. Between 1880 and 1920, the
population jumped from 11,000 to 1 million people. In 1970, California became
the U.S. state with the largest population. In 1982, Los Angeles surpassed
Chicago to become the second largest U.S. city. Los Angeles is still growing.
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United States
