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LOS ANGELES AREA

Los Angeles Weather and Climate

Los Angeles has a Subtropical-Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), and receives just enough annual precipitation to avoid Köppen's BSh (semi-arid climate) classification. Los Angeles enjoys plenty of sunshine throughout the year, with an average of only 35 days with measurable precipitation annually.[19]

Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League, the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles D-Fenders, an NBA Development team owned by the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association.Los Angeles also boasts a number of sports venues, including Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles Coliseum, The Forum, Staples Center, a sports and entertainment complex that also hosts concerts and awards shows such as the Grammys. Staples Center also serves as the home arena for the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL.

Staples Center

Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles. Opening on October 17, 1999, it is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Los Angeles Area.It is owned and operated by the L.A. Arena Company and Anschutz Entertainment Group. The arena is home to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). [5] Staples Center is also host to over 250 events and nearly 4,000,000 visitors a year.[6]

Staples Center

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in the University Park neighborhood, of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park. It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, just south of the campus of the University of Southern California.HistoryThe Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was opened on July 4, 1959 by then U.S. Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Its first event followed four days later, a Bantamweight title fight betweenJose Becerra and Alphonse Halimi on July 8, 1959. The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena became a companion facility to the adjacent Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and home court to the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA from October 1960 to December 1967, the Los Angeles Clippers also of the NBA from 1984–1999.

History

Since its opening day, the arena has hosted the 1960 Democratic National Convention, the 1968 and 1972 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four, the 1992 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four, the 1963 NBA All-Star Game, and the boxing competitions during the 1984 Summer Olympics.[2] In addition to hosting the final portion of WrestleMania 2 in 1986, the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena has also hosted WrestleMania VII in 1991 as well as other WWE events. The arena also hosted When Worlds Collide, a 1994 joint card between the Mexican lucha librepromotion AAA and World Championship Wrestling that is credited with introducing the lucha style to English-speaking audiences in the U.S. NBC's renewed version of American Gladiatorswas filmed from the arena.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team. It is the largest football stadium in the Pac-12.It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena adjacent to the campus of the University of Southern California (USC). The stadium is jointly owned by the State of California,Los Angeles County, and the City of Los Angeles; it is currently managed by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which has board members drawn from the three ownership interests.[7]

CultureMotion pictures

The greater Los Angeles area is the most important site in the United States for movie and television production. This has drawn not only actors, but also writers, composers, artists, and other creative individuals to the area.Los Angeles is often billed as the "Creative Capital of the World", due to the fact that one in every six of its residents works in a creative industry.[64] According to the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, "there are more artists, writers, filmmakers, actors, dancers and musicians living and working in Los Angeles than any other city at any time in the history of civilization."[65]

Museums and galleries

There are 841 museums and art galleries in Los Angeles County.[68] In fact, Los Angeles has more museums per capita than any other city in the world.[68] Some of the notable museums are the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (the largest art museum in the Western United States[69]), the Getty Center (part of the larger J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthiest art institution[70]), and the Museum of Contemporary Art. A significant number of art galleries are located on Gallery Row, and tens of thousands attend the monthly Downtown Art Walk there.[71]

Demographics

DemographicsThe 2010 United States Census[112]

reported that Los Angeles had a population of 3,792,621. The population density was 7,544.6 people per square mile (2,913.0/km²). The demonym for the city's inhabitants is "Angelenos". The racial makeup of Los Angeles was 1,888,158 (49.8%) White, 365,118 (9.6%) African American, 28,215 (0.7%) Native American, 426,959 (11.3%) Asian(3.2% Filipino, 2.9% Korean, 1.8% Chinese, 0.9% Indian, 0.9% Japanese, 0.5% Vietnamese, 0.3% Thai, 0.1% Cambodian), 5,577 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 902,959 (23.8%) from other races, and 175,635 (4.6%) from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1,838,822 persons (48.5%). Among the Hispanic population, 31.9% are Mexican, 6.0% Salvadoran, 3.6%Guatemalan, 0.6% Honduran, 0.4% Nicaraguan, 0.4% Puerto Rican, 0.4% Peruvian, 0.4% Cuban, 0.3% Colombian, 0.2% Argentinean, and 0.2% Ecuadorian.

Environmental issues

A view of Los Angeles covered in smogThe name given by the Chumash tribe of Native Americans for the area now known as Los Angeles translates to "the valley of smoke."[115] Owing to geography, heavy reliance on automobiles, and the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex, Los Angeles suffers from air pollution in the form of smog. The Los Angeles Basin and the San Fernando Valley are susceptible to atmospheric inversion, which holds in the exhausts from road vehicles, airplanes, locomotives, shipping, manufacturing, and other sources.[116]

The smog season lasts from May to October.[117] Unlike other large cities that rely on rain to clear smog, Los Angeles gets only 15 inches (380 mm) of rain each year: pollution accumulates over many consecutive days.

Crime

CrimeLike most American cities, Los Angeles has been experiencing significant decline in crime since the mid-1990s, and reached a 50-year low in 2009 with 314 homicides.[123][124] Antonio Villaraigosa is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition.[125]

In 2009, Los Angeles reported 314 homicides, which corresponds to a rate of 7.85 (per 100,000 population)—a major decrease from 1993, when the all time homicide rate of over 21.1 (per 100,000 population) was reported for the year.[126] This included 15 officer-involved shootings. One shooting led to the death of a SWAT team member, Randal Simmons, the first in LAPD's history.[127]