Los Angeles

This huge city has an appropriately long official name. Founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora de los Angeles de Porciuncula (Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula) in 1781, it was the capital of the Spanish Alta until 1846, when Mexico ceded it to the United States. Since then, it has expanded enormously, first as a major railroad center, then as an oil and shipping center and, most recently, as the capital of the movie industry.

A union of five counties -- Ventura, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino, and the county of Los Angeles itself -- the Greater Los Angeles area is home to more than 14.5 million people. Large numbers of immigrants have settled here. Hispanics comprise nearly 40 percent of the population, and Asians (including Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Cambodians) almost 10 percent. With such a gigantic population commuting daily on the city's freeway system, the city's traffic can be a nightmare. The city is not known for its air quality either: the continuous inundation of car exhaust covers the city with a persistent blanket of smog.

In many ways, L.A. is as a city of haves and have-nots. Neighborhoods range from the glitzy triad of Beverly Hills (a snobby residential and shopping district), Santa Monica (a seaside party capital) and Malibu (the private beachfront haven of the wealthy), to racially troubled Watts (location of the 1965 race riots) and the gang-infested heartland of South Central L.A. But to visitors, L.A. is funland, home to major attractions like Disneyland and Hollywood.