Los Angeles

Los Angeles, United States

Downtown Los Angeles skyscrapers glowing at sunset with Mount Baldy in the background, viewed from a rooftop terrace.

Los Angeles is California's largest city, where film, food and a deep Mexican-American heritage sit side by side, and it rewards a car, a plan and a willingness to travel between areas.

The place

Los Angeles, often shortened to LA, is the largest city in California and the commercial and cultural centre of Southern California. Its population is a little under 3.9 million, but the city proper is only part of the story, because the wider metropolitan area spreads across the basin and well beyond. The city sits on a broad plain running down to the Pacific, with the Santa Monica Mountains cutting through its western side and the San Fernando Valley opening out to the north. Neighbourhoods are spread wide rather than packed tight, so the city feels less like one place than a set of towns joined by freeways.

Hollywood is the name most people arrive with, but the film and television industry has spread well beyond it. Major studios now operate across the San Fernando Valley, in Burbank, Culver City and Century City. The Hollywood district itself is better understood as a stage set of theatres, memorabilia and pavement stars than as a working studio quarter.

The city is also layered. Mexican-American life shapes its food, music and public art, and murals across the city form a visible record of that history. Its architecture reflects Spanish, Mexican and American roots side by side, from old adobe-era churches to mid-century houses and glass towers downtown. The elevation is modest, about 106 metres above sea level, so the city is not a hill station, although the hills around it offer wide views. Summers are hot and dry inland, while the coast stays cooler because of the sea air. Distances are the real challenge, and most people do better planning each day around one or two areas.

Its story

The Los Angeles Basin was home to Tongva people long before Spanish explorers arrived. Their main settlement in the area was Yaanga, a name often translated as "place of the poison oak", and it stood on the ground where the Spanish later founded their pueblo. Some translators also render the name as "the valley of smoke", a reminder that the landscape was shaped by fire and seasonal burning as well as by people. The Tongva are also known as the Gabrieleño, a name that dates from the Spanish mission period.

In 1542, the maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the coast of present-day southern California for the Spanish Empire during a northward voyage along the Pacific. Later expeditions, led by Gaspar de Portolà and the Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the site in 1769. Two years later, in 1771, the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area.

The town itself dates from 1781. On 4 September that year, 44 settlers established the community now known as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, which translates to the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels. The settlement later passed through Mexican and then American control, and its character changed with each wave of arrivals. In the twentieth century, the arrival of railways, oil, agriculture and above all the film industry turned a small pueblo into a sprawling metropolis, while the Tongva history that began the story remained in place names and in the wider region.

What to see

Culture

The city earns its global creative capital status because of its people. A large share of residents work in creative industries, from film and television to music, design and visual art, and the city has drawn artists, writers and performers from across the country and abroad for generations. That mix means there is no single local routine: a studio assistant, a nurse and a surf instructor may live within a few miles of each other and keep very different hours.

Mexican-American culture runs deep here. California was once part of Mexico, and Spanish-speaking communities have shaped the city's religious life, its food and much of its public art. Murals are a visible part of that story, painted on freeway walls, shopfronts and community centres, and they are worth stopping for rather than photographing from a moving car.

Religious life is strong as well. The Roman Catholic archdiocese here is the largest in the United States, so churches, processions and feast days are part of the ordinary calendar in many neighbourhoods. At mission churches and parish services, keep your voice low, dress modestly and ask before photographing people, especially at street markets and community events.

What to wear

Los Angeles has no single traditional dress, but its older look comes from the Spanish and Mexican communities that shaped the city. The most visible traditional clothing is the charro suit, a fitted outfit of embroidered jacket, trousers and wide-brimmed hat, worn at rodeos and national celebrations. The folklórico dress, with its full, layered skirt and bright embroidery, appears at dance performances and festivals, and the rebozo, a long fringed shawl, is worn at weddings and religious occasions. Many of these garments are made from cotton, wool and silk, and the embroidery is often hand-worked.

Today most Angelenos dress for the weather and for their area rather than for one style. Denim, sneakers and athleisure are everywhere. Downtown's garment district, the Arts District and the shops along Melrose show the city's fashion side, where designers mix vintage pieces with contemporary tailoring. At the beach, swimwear and flip-flops are normal, and many people carry a light layer for the evening.

For a visit, pack for warm days and cooler nights, since the coast can feel chilly after dark. Comfortable walking shoes matter more than fashion, because neighbourhoods are spread out and many sights involve hills or stairs. Bring a light jacket for Griffith Park, which sits high above the city. Cover shoulders and knees for cathedral and mission church services, and use sun protection year round.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. Spring, roughly March to May, is the most comfortable time, with warm days and mild evenings; summer is hot and dry inland, autumn heat often lingers into September and October, and winter, from December to February, is the wet season, with cooler days.

How long. 3–4

Getting there. Fly into Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), then take a rental car or the connecting bus routes into the city; Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) is closer to Hollywood and downtown, with a free shuttle to the North Hollywood Red Line subway station.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources