History
The City of Angels known as Los Angeles (literally the Angels in Spanish) is the biggest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States. The city is often known simply as L.A. by the 3.8 million Los Angelenos who call it home (as of the 2005 U.S. Census estimate). The city of Los Angeles has worldwide renown as a hub for culture, science, and higher education. Los Angeles also has a great claim to fame – it is where the internet was born.

Los Angeles is arguably the leading maker of entertainment material, the world over. It churns out popular media such as motion pictures, television, and recorded music—which gives a great boost to its international fame. On top of that, the many theaters, museums, and libraries are a testament to LA’s great cultural heritage.

Los Angeles is also home to world-renowned scientific and cultural organizations. Also, a large number of businesses call Los Angeles its home. Other companies headquartered in Los Angeles include Twentieth Century Fox, Herbalife, Univision, Metro Interactive, LLC, Premier America, CB Richard Ellis, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, Guess?, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP, Tokyopop, The Jim Henson Company, Paramount Pictures, Robinsons-May, Sunkist, Fox Sports Net, Health Net, Inc., 21st Century Insurance, and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The metropolitan area contains the headquarters of even more companies, many of whom wish to escape the city's high taxes. For example, Los Angeles charges a gross receipts tax based on a percentage of business revenue, while most neighboring cities charge only small flat fees. The companies below clearly benefit from their proximity to Los Angeles, while at the same time they also avoid the city's taxes (and other problems). Some of the major companies headquartered in the cities of Los Angeles county are Shakey's Pizza (Alhambra), Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Beverly Hills), City National Bank (Beverly Hills), Hilton Hotels (Beverly Hills), DiC Entertainment (Burbank), The Walt Disney Company (Fortune 500 - Burbank), Warner Bros. (Burbank), Countrywide Financial Corporation (Fortune 500 - Calabasas), THQ (Calabasas), Belkin (Compton), Sony Pictures Entertainment (parent of Columbia Pictures, located in Culver City), Computer Sciences Corporation (Fortune 500 - El Segundo), DirecTV (El Segundo), Mattel (Fortune 500 - El Segundo), Unocal (Fortune 500 - El Segundo), DreamWorks SKG (Glendale), Sea Launch (Long Beach), ICANN (Marina Del Rey), Cunard Line (Santa Clarita), Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita), Activision (Santa Monica), and RAND (Santa Monica).

Los Angeles is also one of the most globally-oriented places in the world—it is a cosmopolitan city, home to people from virtually every nation on Earth. The city of Los Angeles has hosted two Olympic Games—in 1932 and 1984. Many people of the world come to live in Los Angeles because of its warm weather, world-renown status, lifestyle, and the realization of their own American Dream.

As a side note, the American Dream is the faith held by many in the United States of America that through hard work and determination one can achieve a better life for oneself, usually through the earning of money. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to the newer generations. As of right now, the American dream is a dream of having 2 children and living in a perfect house with financial security. This iconic middle class lifestyle is however not lived by the majority of the population but rather only by a sizable, somewhat privileged minority.

History

Before the White Man came to North American lands, the Los Angeles coastal area was inhabited by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños), Chumash, and earlier Native American peoples for thousands of years. In 1542, all that was set to change as the Spaniards started arriving. Juan Cabrillo was first to arrive. In 1769, Gaspar de Portolà led an expedition across southern California with Franciscan Padres Junípero Serra and Juan Crespi, and a bunch of Spanish soldiers.

Father Crespi had picked out a site along the river for a mission, but in 1771 Father Serra had the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel built near Whittier Narrows. After a 1776 flood, the mission was relocated to its present site in San Gabriel. The Mission Nuestra Señora Reina de los Angeles (Our Lady, Queen of the Angels Mission) was established in 1781 by a group of 46 Mexican settlers who had set out from the San Gabriel mission to establish a settlement along the banks of the Porciúncula River.

The new governor of California, Felip de Neve, recommended to the viceroy in Mexico that the site be developed into a pueblo (town). The area was duly named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula," ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula"). It remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820 the population had increased to about 650 residents, making it the largest civilian community in Spanish California. Today the outline of the Pueblo is preserved in a historic monument we have come to know as Olvera Street.

In 1821, Mexico fight for independence from Spain gained fruition. The greatest change for the Los Angeles we now know, however, took place in present-day Montebello after the Battle of Rio San Gabriel in 1847, when Americans took control of the fledgling city.  Americans solidified control over the city after they flooded into California during the Gold Rush and secured the subsequent admission of California into the United States.

Los Angeles was incorporated as a city in 1850. Railroads arrived when the Southern Pacific completed its line to Los Angeles in 1876. Oil was discovered in 1892, and by 1923 Los Angeles was supplying one-quarter of the world's petroleum. Quite a feat to accomplish for a North American city in the face of so many oil-producing countries, but LA stood its ground.

Even more important to the city's growth was water. In 1913, William Mulholland completed the aqueduct that assured the city's growth. Starting in 1915, the City of Los Angeles started annexation of dozens of neighboring communities without water supplies of their own. In the roaring 20's, Los Angeles saw an influx of movie and aviation industries who went and put up stakes in Los Angeles.

The city was the proud host of the 1932 Summer Olympics and along with it the development of Baldwin Hills, the original Olympic Village. World War II brought new growth and prosperity to the city, although many of its Japanese-American residents were transported to internment camps for the duration of the war. This period also saw the arrival of the German exiles, who included such notables as Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht and Lion Feuchtwanger. The postwar years saw an even greater boom as urban sprawl expanded into the San Fernando Valley.

The ARPANET (the Internet's ancestor) – as mentioned above – was born in Los Angeles. In 1969, the first ARPANET transmission was sent from UCLA to SRI in Menlo Park. The city is divided into many neighborhoods, many of which were towns that were annexed by the growing city during the days that Los Angeles capitalized on its water system.

There are also several independent cities in and around Los Angeles, but they are popularly grouped with the city of Los Angeles, either due to being completely engulfed by Los Angeles, or lying within its immediate area. Generally, the city is divided into the following districts: Downtown L.A., East L.A., South Los Angeles, the South Bay/Harbor, Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire (or Mid City), the Westside (which includes West Los Angeles as well as the cities of Santa Monica and West Hollywood), and the San Fernando Valley.

Recently in the last ten years, "Eastside" has appeared as a new designation to contrast with the more traditional "Westside" description (though many Angelenos reject the term as a trendy East Coast import). Some well-known communities of Los Angeles include Venice Beach, the Downtown financial district, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Hancock Park, Koreatown, and the extremely affluent areas of Bel-Air, Westwood, Malibu, Holmby Hills, and Brentwood to name a few.

The city is administered by a mayor-council system. There are 15 city council districts. Other elected city officials include the city attorney and the city controller. The city attorney prosecutes misdemeanors within the city limits. The district attorney, elected by county voters, prosecutes misdemeanors in unincorporated areas and in 78 of the 88 cities in the county, as well as felonies throughout the county.

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) polices the city of Los Angeles, but Los Angeles City also has three specialized police agencies General Services Police (GSD), which is responsible for security and law enforcement services at city facilities throughout the city, including city hall and civic center, and all city parks Port Police Harbor Dept.) which is responsible for land,air and sea law enforcement service at the Port of Los Angeles Airport Police which is responsible for law enforcement services at all 4 city owned airports under the Department of Airports.

The LAPD, Los Angeles Public Library System and Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are among the largest such organizations in the country. The LAUSD is the second largest school district in the United States only the New York City Department of Education is larger. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides service to city residents and businesses.

The economy of Los Angeles is driven by worldwide trade, entertainment (television, motion pictures, recorded music), aerospace, agriculture, petroleum, and tourism. Los Angeles is also the biggest manufacturing center in the United States. The contiguous ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach together compose the most significant port in North America and one of the most important ports in the world, and they are vital to trade within the Pacific Rim. Other significant industries include media production, finance, telecommunications, law, health and medicine, and transportation.

The city is home to three major Fortune 500 companies, including aerospace contractor Northrop Grumman, energy company Occidental Petroleum Corporation, and homebuilding company KB Home. It is also of interest to note that the post-1950 population increase did not occur exclusively in suburban or peripheral locations. The increase in the central area population—while many other American cities have experienced central area population declines—is due in part to Los Angeles' large immigrant population. Los Angeles is home to followers of many religions, and has over 100 Christian denominations, as well a large Jewish community. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles leads the largest archdiocese in the country. Roger Cardinal Mahony supervised construction of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, completed in 2002 at the north end of downtown. The Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is their second-largest temple and is located in West Los Angeles.

The Azusa Street Revival (1906–1909) in Los Angeles was a key milestone in the history of the Pentecostal movement. Not long after Christian Fundamentalism received its name and crucial promotion in Los Angeles. In 1909, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (B.I.O.L.A. now Biola University) published and widely distributed a set of books called The Fundamentals, which presented a defense of the traditional conservative interpretation of the Bible. The term fundamentalism is derived from these books.

In the 1920s, Aimee Semple McPherson established a thriving evangelical ministry, with her Angelus Temple in Echo Park open to both black and white church members of the Foursquare Church. Billy Graham became a celebrity during a successful revival campaign in Los Angeles in 1949. Herbert W. Armstrong's Worldwide Church of God used to have its headquarters in nearby Pasadena, now in Glendale. Until his death in 2005, Dr. Gene Scott was based near downtown. The Metropolitan Community Church, a fellowship of Christian congregations a focus on outreach to gays and lesbians, was started in Los Angeles in 1968 by Troy Perry. Jack Chick, of "Chick Tracts", was born in Boyle Heights and lived in the area most of his life.

Because of Los Angeles's large multi-ethnic population, there are numerous organizations in the area representing a wide variety of faiths, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Bahá'í, various Eastern Orthodox Churches, Sufism and others. Immigrants from Asia for example, have formed a number of significant Buddhist congregations making the city home to the biggest variety of Buddhists in the world. There are over 300 temples in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has been a destination for Swamis and Gurus since as early as 1900, including Paramahansa Yogananda (1920). The Self-Realization Fellowship is headquartered in Hollywood and has a private park in Pacific Palisades. Los Angeles is the home to a number of Neopagans, as well as adherents of various other mystical religions. One wing of the Theosophist movement is centered in Los Angeles, and another is in neighboring Pasadena. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi founded the Transcendental Meditation movement in Los Angeles in the late 1950s. The Kabbalah Centre is in the city. The Church of Scientology has had a major presence in Los Angeles since it opened February 18, 1954, and the city probably contains more Scientologists than any other city in the world. They have several churches, museums, and recruiting sites in the area, most notably the Celebrity Centre in Hollywood.

Many movies and songs about Los Angeles depict the notion that the city is home to a large number of gangsters and professional criminals, which is true, but the number of criminals in the county is relatively small. According to a May 2001 Drug Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center, Los Angeles County is home to 152,000 gang members organized into 1,350 gangs. Car chases happen more often than in most other major cities, with the city's complex freeway system allowing for lengthier pursuits. Other common crimes include: car-to-car shootings, drive-by shootings, hit-and-run accidents, and carjacking.

L.A. can truly be described as a "world city" — that is, it has one of the largest and most diverse populations of any municipality anywhere. It has the second largest percentage of foreign-born citizens of any major U.S. city, after Miami. The Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is the number one entry for immigrants in the country. The Hispanic, Carribean, and Asian American populations are growing particularly quickly — the Asian American population is the largest of any city in the U.S and the city contains the largest concentration of Los Angeles County's 1.4 million Asians. Los Angeles hosts the largest populations of Armenians, Cambodians, Filipinos, jamaicans, Guatemalans, Hungarians, Iranians, Israelis, Koreans, Laotians, Mexicans, Salvadorans, Thais, and Vietnamese in the world outside of their respective countries. Los Angeles is also home to the largest populations of Persians (Iranians) and Japanese living in the U.S., and has one of the largest Native American populations in the country.

Los Angeles is home to people from more than 140 countries, who speak at least 224 different languages. Ethnic enclaves like Chinatown, Historic Filipinotown, Koreatown, Little Armenia, Little Phnom Penh, Little Ethiopia, Little Persia, Little Tokyo, Thai Town, and Little Saigon give testimony to the polyglot character of Los Angeles and its unique diversity.

Great restaurants of all types abound in Los Angeles, thus the city is a fine location for exquisite dining. Many celebrity chefs are also based in the city, the most notable being Wolfgang Puck. The nightlife in Los Angeles is very vibrant, with an immense array of bars, clubs, lounges, and other venues that cater to many tastes. Nighttime hotspots include places such as Downtown Los Angeles, Silver Lake, Hollywood, and West Hollywood, which is the home of the world-famous Sunset Strip. Furthermore, the Los Angales area also boasts a prominent shopping scene. Anything can be bought in the city some of the best shopping areas include Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, Third Street Promenade and Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, Old Town Pasadena, the Hollywood and Highland complex, the Beverly Center, The Grove, Melrose Avenue, and Robertson Boulevard.

Los Angeles is widely referred to as the entertainment capital of the world. The largest and most famous entertainment industries in Los Angeles are television and film production, with the music business and the arts being huge industries as well. The city also offers several cultural institutions, and some of the most notable include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Getty Center and Villa, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), the Museum of Neon Art (MONA), the Norton Simon Museum, the Museum of Tolerance, the Skirball Cultural Center, the Latino Museum of History, Art, and Culture, the George C. Page Museum, the Japanese American National Museum, the California Science Center, and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. There are also numerous smaller art galleries throughout the area, most noticeably in West Hollywood and Santa Monica. In regards to the performing arts, there are many venues such the Music Center of Los Angeles County (consisting of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, home of the Los Angeles Opera, the Ahmanson Theatre, which hosts big Broadway productions, and the Mark Taper Forum), the Ford Amphitheatre, the Greek Theatre, the Hollywood Bowl, the Pantages Theatre, and the new home of the Academy Awards, the Kodak Theatre. The city also has many smaller theaters such as the famous Actors Gang Theatre or the Coronet Theatre. There are also many architectural landmarks such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, home to the world-renowned Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the Bradbury Building. There is also a great rennaissance of downtown Los Angeles as an arts and entertainment district, with the restoration and development of historic buildings, Broadway theatres, and businesses such as restaurants and clubs. Many Angelenos are also migrating there to live, with the construction of hundreds of new penthouses and lofts.

Because the city is the center of the film industry, movie theaters also abound in the metro area, with the most famous being Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which hosts many film premieres, and the El Capitan Theatre. As a major global metropolis, Los Angeles has also evolved a unique culture of glamour, opulence, and prosperity that is widely portrayed in popular media. While much portrayal of Los Angeles is positive or at least neutral, it has developed a negative connotation among some sectors of society, where it is criticized for a culture of materialism and irresponsibility out-of-step with more mainstream American values.

Residents of the city of Los Angeles are served by the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and its branch locations. Residents of the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and various cities within the county are served by the County of Los Angeles Public Library The LAPL is funded by voter-approved bond and tax levy packages. The Central Library is located in downtown Los Angeles and has been recognized as a National Historic Site.

Sports Teams
Los Angeles is the home of the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, the Los Angeles Galaxy and Club Deportivo Chivas USA of Major League Soccer, the Los Angeles Riptide of Major League Lacrosse, and the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League, while nearby Anaheim is the home of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, and the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL. Los Angeles has been without an NFL franchise since 1995 despite being the second-biggest television market in North America. Prior to 1995, the Rams (1946-1994) and the Raiders (1982-1994) of the NFL were in the Los Angeles market.

Beach volleyball and windsurfing were both invented in the area (though predecessors of both were invented in some form by Duke Kahanamoku in Hawaii). Venice, also known as Dogtown, is credited with being the birthplace of skateboarding and the place where Rollerblading first became popular. Area beaches are popular with surfers, who have created their own subculture.

Los Angeles has twice played host to the summer Olympic Games: in 1932 and in 1984. When the tenth Olympic Games were hosted in 1932, the former 10th Street was renamed Olympic Blvd. The 1984 Summer Olympics inspired the creation of the Los Angeles Marathon, which has been celebrated every year in March since 1986. Super Bowls I and VII were also contested in the city as well as the World Cup in 1994. Los Angeles is also hoping to be lead of the 2016 Olympics.

Los Angeles also boasts a number of sports venues, most noticeably STAPLES Center, a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment complex that also hosts concerts and awards shows such as the Grammys.

The major daily newspaper in the area is The Los Angeles Times. La Opinión is the city's major Spanish-language paper. There are also a wide variety of smaller regional newspapers, alternative weeklies and magazines, including the Daily News (which focuses coverage on the Valley), L.A. Weekly, L.A. City Beat, Los Angeles magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Los Angeles Daily Journal (legal industry paper), The Hollywood Reporter and Variety (entertainment industry papers), The Planning Report, and Los Angeles Downtown News. In addition to the English and Spanish language papers, numerous local periodicals serve immigrant communities in their native languages (e.g. Korean, Persian and Japanese).

Many cities adjacent to Los Angeles also have their own daily newspapers whose coverage and availability overlaps into certain Los Angeles neighborhoods. Examples include the Daily Breeze (serving the South Bay), and The Long Beach Press-Telegram.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority and other agencies operate an extensive system of bus lines, as well as subway and light rail lines, which together carry over a million passengers a day. The major rail system includes the Red Line subway, the Gold, Blue, and Green light rail lines, and the Orange Line, a bus rapid transit line. The special red Metro Rapid buses have also been highly touted as a prime example of a successful bus transit program since these buses operate like a rail line and run through the best-known parts of the city. Currently under construction is an eastside extension of the Gold Line. In the works is a new rail line called the Exposition Line. Momentum is slowly building to extend the subway under Wilshire Boulevard all the way to the ocean in Santa Monica, ushering in an even more extensive public transportation system. Rail passenger service is provided by Amtrak and Metrolink from historic Union Station. Rail shipping is handled by Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway.

There are several public colleges and universities in the city, including the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), and California State University, Northridge (CSUN). Private schools in the city include the University of Southern California (USC), Antioch University's Los Angeles campus, Southern California University of Health Sciences, Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University (LMU), Mount St. Mary's College, Occidental College (Oxy), Otis College of Art and Design (Otis), Alliant International University, Southwestern University School of Law, and Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

The community college system consists of Los Angeles City College (LACC), Los Angeles Harbor College, Los Angeles Pierce College, Los Angeles Valley College, Los Angeles Mission College, East Los Angeles College (ELAC), West Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Southwest College, Los Angeles Trade Technical College.

Los Angeles Unified School District serves the city of Los Angeles, as well as several surrounding communities. It is the second-largest school district in the United States, with over 700,000 students. After Proposition 13 in 1978, urban school districts had considerable trouble with funding and LAUSD became known for its underfunded, overcrowded and poorly maintained campuses. Wealthy and upper-middle-class parents placed their children in elite private schools, while middle-class families fled into suburban school districts beyond LAUSD boundaries. Since then, the LAUSD has embarked on an aggressive school construction program to relieve overcrowding.

The Los Angeles Public Library system operates 72 public libraries in the city.

DR. JOHN CHAVES
5312 Comercio Lane, Suite A
Woodland Hills, CA 91364
Phone 818-999-2707
Fax 818-703-1998
appointment@cosmeticdentalservices.com