I dont get something about LA// (Los Angeles, Long Beach: apartments, houses, promotional)

[JabbaJabba]

is it one city or s bunch of little cities??


(not from US)

[Capt. Dan]

In London you have Hyde Park-Soho-Kennsington-Chelsea-Mayfair etc. They are just different "sections" of 1 city. Compton-Hollywood-West La-Watts etc. They are just different "sections" of 1 city. Los Angeles.

[Twinkle Toes]

You have LA County, and within that county you have the city of LA and a whole bunch of other cities.

[bhcompy]

The city of LA itself is fairly large, but doesn't encompass much of the greater Los Angeles area/LA basin/the Southland. Orange County and Los Angeles County are the primaries counties, and they house countless cities. Ventura, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties also border the area and have some cities that are part of the greater Los Angeles area

[Lovehound]

The City of Los Angeles is made up of many postal zones (like my "Northridge") and also surrounds several independently corporated cities like Burbank or San Fernando. Much of the city is suburbia where there's nothing for miles but houses, apartments, business and shopping districts. It blends in so gradually that unless you live here or read the "entering xxx" signs you can't even tell one area from another. Los Angeles even blends into Orange County so that only residents know where the border is, unless you see the sign. Look at it from an airplane and it's just one big mass of houses, apartments, businesses and freeways.

So to answer the question in the OP, LA is both. There are some little cities like Burbank etc. but in practicality it's all one big city. There is little difference between two adjacent cities like Van Nuys and Reseda and the distinction is mainly the zip codes.

Just think of Los Angeles as one big metropolitan-suburban area and you won't be far wrong unless you're nitpicking.

[bayarea-girl]

LA is bigger than most states. The posters above are doing a good job of explaining things.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

LA is bigger than most states. The posters above are doing a good job of explaining things.

You got that right! The first time I drove through Wyoming I thought this whole state must have less ppl than LA County alone. Talk about extremes - wide open spaces vs. concrete jungle. Being from LA County I was not used to seeing something like that.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

LA is bigger than most states. The posters above are doing a good job of explaining things.

LA County (which is what most people mean when they say "L.A.") is the same size as Belgium.

I wouldn't say bigger physically than MOST states, but it's bigger than Rhode Island and is probably close in size to Delaware. In population, yes, it is bigger than most states. If LA County was its own state it would be amongst the top 10 US states in population, lower than Michigan but higher than Georgia.

[bayarea-girl]

Majoun, I bet you are right. It just seems like everything is very spread out in LA and I was referring to the county as well. Many people from other places don't realize it has several cities in it.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by bayarea-girl

Majoun, I bet you are right. It just seems like everything is very spread out in LA and I was referring to the county as well. Many people from other places don't realize it has several cities in it.

I learned that LA County was the same size as Belgium from watching a promotional destination video about L.A. on a flight from Heathrow to LAX on British Airways, obviously not intended for natives.

The city of L.A. has about 40% of the population of L.A. County. Long Beach, which is also in L.A. County, is one of California's 10 largest cities. Pasadena and Torrance have over 200K population, also.