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Old 03-30-2015, 04:09 PM
 
4 posts, read 3,944 times
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I'm from NYC. Everyone here considers "the city" to be Manhattan, and while the other boroughs are still part of NYC as a whole, when people say "going to the city" they mean going into Manhattan.

I have only been to LA once and I'm confused what is considered "the city" versus the surrounding area. I tried googling it but it seems to be very confusing; there are so many neighborhoods and cities in the county of LA I have no idea where the line is drawn.

Can someone help? Thanks.
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Old 03-30-2015, 04:33 PM
 
Location: West Hollywood, CA
1,238 posts, read 1,824,190 times
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We have some very recent posts on this exact topic a couple threads away from your own post.

Here is an ongoing discussion about LA city independent cities:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/los-a...eles-do-2.html

Here is a map of the LA city borders that was also just posted:

City of Los Angeles Map - Larger View
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Old 03-30-2015, 05:05 PM
 
Location: Norteh Bajo Americano
1,631 posts, read 2,374,532 times
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The City of LA and County of LA are well defined borders.
LA City is the largest of 88 independent cities that make up LA County plus more unincorporated areas.
LA City has 4 million of the 10 million people in the county.

It gets complicated from there.
Within the city of LA there are large neighborhoods Silverlake, Koreatown, Hollywood, Bel Air, Watts, Venice, Westwood, Northridge. I think there are over 100 distinct LA neighborhoods. Downtown LA is special because it different distinct areas (Little Tokyo, South Park, Arts District, Bunker Hill, Civic Center, etc) but as a whole is called Downtown LA.
There is no "city" nickname. Within the LA area, people dont really say Im going to LA or going to the city. If you live in Santa Monica and drive to Venice, you dont say im driving to LA. Just say the area. Im going to Hollywood or Studio City or Leimert Park.
Within LA County there are regional names. South Bay, Gateway cities, The Valley ( San Fernando), SGV (San Gabriel Valley), The Westside, The Eastside, South Central, NELA, Central LA, Antelope Valley etc.
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Old 03-30-2015, 10:27 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles
1,235 posts, read 1,763,766 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by batty2000 View Post
I'm from NYC. Everyone here considers "the city" to be Manhattan, and while the other boroughs are still part of NYC as a whole, when people say "going to the city" they mean going into Manhattan.

I have only been to LA once and I'm confused what is considered "the city" versus the surrounding area. I tried googling it but it seems to be very confusing; there are so many neighborhoods and cities in the county of LA I have no idea where the line is drawn.

Can someone help? Thanks.
Your confusion is totally understandable. Check out the "City of LA" map BPeeps posted and you'll see the city of Los Angeles is a 464 square mile "city". Manhattan is only about 20 square miles.

The city of Los Angles includes areas as vast and varied as downtown Los Angeles, Koreatown, Hollywood and very suburban areas like Northridge in the San Fernando Valley. Despite the names, all of these "communities" are part of the city of LA.

Again, the gray areas in the map posted by Bpeeps shows several cities which are completely surrounded by the city of LA. Some of these include Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica and Culver City. These are all separate cities and not part of the city of LA.
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Old 03-31-2015, 08:28 AM
 
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I don't think there is a "the city" culture in Los Angeles, because there is not one single division like Manhattan or Northeast San Francisco or downtown Chicago that dominates everything. Of course the west side offers more in terms of entertainment, jobs and restaurants but it is also a massive and sprawling area covering several cities including parts of Los Angeles City. People go to different places.

LA county is huge, and one hardly ever goes to most of it unless he lives there. During the few years I was in LA, I never went to its southern or the SFV. It was limited in west side, central LA as well as western part of SGV, the total of which is like 15% of LA county. I never knew how big LA county is after I left the city!
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Old 03-31-2015, 02:35 PM
 
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Thanks everyone! The map in particular was very helpful - it was patchy which was totally not what I was expecting. I didn't know west Hollywood wasn't considered a part of the city of LA.

What would be considered the "center" of LA, if it even has one? Would it be downtown?
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Old 03-31-2015, 02:44 PM
 
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West Hollywood is basically the halfway point between Santa Monica and Downtown, so it's the closest thing to the center of "LA"
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Old 03-31-2015, 11:34 PM
 
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Thanks! I meant center not as in geographically necessarily but more like center where all the action is or what people think of when they think of LA.
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Old 04-01-2015, 02:23 AM
 
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That too.
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Old 04-01-2015, 10:44 AM
 
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I live in the Valley and the other side of the mountains are all L.A. to me excluding the notable areas like Santa Monica, Hollywood, Downtown, Pasadena, Venice, etc.

Who really cares what all of those little neighborhoods call themselves.
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