Los Angeles, California

This article is about Los Angeles, California. For other uses of the term Los Angeles, please see Los Angeles (disambiguation).

Los Angeles in 2019, with Mount Baldy in the background.

Los Angeles is a sprawling city in southern California and the second-largest urban center in the U.S. (after New York). The city's 2021 population is around 3.8 million, with the surrounding metro area's population is around 10 million. The city is popularly known by its initials, "L.A.", or it may also be called by the nickname "City of Angels". Los Angeles County also is home to over half a million Jewish people, second in the U.S. only to New York City.

The origins of the city go back to the early Spanish colonization of California. Los Angeles was formed as a pueblo on Sept. 4, 1781, with 44 inhabitants and grew slowly to 1,100 inhabitants by 1840. The accession of California to the U.S. in 1850 as an aftermath of the Mexican War and the discovery of gold brought a surge of settlers from Western Europe and the Eastern U.S..

In 2023, Los Angeles is known for its balmy climate, as well as extreme traffic congestion. It is a cultural and media hub; the American movie industry is based in its Hollywood district.

For more details, see the Wikipedia article on Los Angeles.