I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They’re beautiful. Everybody’s plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic. — Andy Warhol
L.A.’s Shape
The most Interesting aspect of the shape of Los Angeles is the long narrow strip known as the Shoestring Corridor, which was annexed by the city in 1906. Sixteen miles long, but just half a mile wide, this strip connects central L.A. to the city’s harbor in San Pedro, slicing through the cities of Gardena, Carson, Torrance, and Lomita. On any clearly demarcated map, it appears that the City of Angels has the tail of a devil.
www.thingstodo-losangeles.com
L.A.’s Port
Los Angeles / Long Beach cargo volume annually: $248 billion.
Next largest U.S. port: New York / New Jersey at $132 billion.
www.wsj.com
L.A.’s Area
465 sq. mi. (1,200 sq. km.) in the City of Los Angeles, 4,100 sq. mi. (10,600 sq. km.) in L.A. County.
www.thingstodo-losangeles.com
AIA LA
Los Angeles has the largest number of active AIA members out of the twenty-one California AIA chapters at 2,511 members. The next three largest California chapters are San Francisco at 2,181, San Diego at 1,129 and Orange County at 1,113.
www.aiacc.org
Five of California’s ten NAAB accredited architecture schools are located in the Los Angeles basin:
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Southern California Institute of Architecture
University of California at Los Angeles
University of Southern California
Woodbury University
www.naab.org
Light up L.A.
Miles of Streets in the City of Los Angeles: 7,300.
Miles of Lighted Streets in the City of Los Angeles: 5,000.
Number of Streetlights: Over 242,000.
Number of Different Styles of Streetlights Currently Being Maintained: Over 400.
www.lacity.org
Drive on L.A.
DPW makes 200,000 repairs a year, resurfacing and reconstructing 150 to 200 miles of roads annually;
… cleans public streets and alleys using a variety of methods including machine sweeping over 600,000 curb miles per year; and
… trims, plants, and maintains the City’s 680,000 tree urban forest, trimming approximately 90,000 trees annually, maintains over 290 acres of landscaped median islands, and enforces street tree and oak tree ordinances.
www.lacity.org
L.A. in a Word
Los Angeles’s full name is “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula.”
http://dogman0.tripod.com
The Biggest Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is the world’s largest outdoor amphitheater.
www.shgresources.com
L.A. Folk
The Los Angeles metropolis is home to 3.6 million Latinos, 1.8 million Asians and Pacific Islanders, 1.3 million African Americans, 90,000 Native Americans, and a balance of European Americans in a head-spinning mosaic of 17 million residents.
www.soulofamerica.com
Dot L.A.
L.A.’s “Digital Coast” fills more multimedia jobs (133,000) than Silicon Valley and New York City combined.
www.soulofamerica.com
Originally published 2nd quarter 2006 in arcCA 06.2, “L.A.”
