Portal:Greater Los Angeles

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The Greater Los Angeles Portal

Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County at its center, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside combined statistical area (CSA) covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km²), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is 2,281 square miles (5,910 km²), whereas the remainder mostly consists of mountain and desert areas. With an estimated population of over 18.3 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023), it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, behind New York, as well as one of the largest megacities in the world.

In addition to being the nexus of the global entertainment industry, including films, television, and recorded music, Greater Los Angeles is also an important center of international trade, education, media, business, tourism, technology, and sports. It is the third-largest metropolitan area by nominal GDP in the world with an economy exceeding $1 trillion in output, behind New York City and Tokyo.

There are three contiguous component urban areas in Greater Los Angeles: the Inland Empire, which can be broadly defined as Riverside and San Bernardino counties; the Ventura/Oxnard metropolitan area (Ventura County); and the Los Angeles metropolitan area (also known as Metropolitan Los Angeles or Metro LA) consisting of Los Angeles and Orange counties only. The Census Bureau designates the latter as the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim metropolitan statistical area (MSA), the fourth largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States, by population of 13 million as of the 2020 U.S. census. It has a total area of 4,850 square miles (12,561 km²). Although San Diego–Tijuana borders the Greater Los Angeles area at San Clemente and Temecula, it is not part of it as the two urban areas are not geographically contiguous due to the presence of Camp Pendleton. However, both form part of the Southern California Megalopolis which extends into Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. (Full article...)

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Metrolink is a commuter rail system serving Southern California; it consists of seven lines and 55 stations operating on 388 miles (624 km) of rail network. It travels up to 90 miles per hour (140 km/h).

The system operates in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura counties, as well as Oceanside in San Diego County. It connects with the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system, the San Diego Coaster commuter rail and Sprinter light rail services, and with Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, and Sunset Limited intercity rail services.

The system, founded in 1991 as the Southern California Regional Rail Authority and quickly adopting "Metrolink" as the marketing and user friendly moniker, started operation in 1992. Average weekday ridership rose to 42,265 in 2012.

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... that Los Angeles Lakers executive Jeanie Buss (pictured) was named one of the Top 20 Most Influential Women in Sports by Sporting News?
... that basketball executive Jim Buss of the Los Angeles Lakers attended jockey school even though he stood 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m)?
... that Ben Orloff set school records in college baseball for career hits, runs scored, and games played at the University of California, Irvine?
... that during the eight-year course of making The Decay of Fiction, in which he honors the past of the Ambassador Hotel, director Pat O'Neill collaborated with 45 actors and spent US$250,000?
... that Luigi's Flying Tires, a Disney California Adventure attraction that opened in 2012, is based on Disneyland's Flying Saucers ride of the 1960s?
... that Gold Base (pictured) in Riverside County, California, is the Church of Scientology's closely guarded international headquarters?

January - March 2013

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JetBlue Airways Flight 292, September 21, 2005, Los Angeles International Airport

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Parsons in 1941

John Whiteside Parsons (born Marvel Whiteside Parsons; October 2, 1914 – June 17, 1952) was an American rocket engineer, chemist, and Thelemite occultist. Parsons was one of the principal founders of both the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Aerojet Engineering Corporation. He invented the first rocket engine to use a castable, composite rocket propellant, and pioneered the advancement of both liquid-fuel and solid-fuel rockets.

Parsons was raised in Pasadena, California. He began amateur rocket experiments with school friend Edward Forman in 1928. Parsons was admitted to Stanford University but left before graduating due to financial hardship during the Great Depression. In 1934, Parsons, Forman, and Frank Malina formed the Caltech-affiliated Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory (GALCIT) Rocket Research Group, with support by GALCIT chairman Theodore von Kármán. The group worked on Jet-Assisted Take Off (JATO) for the U.S. military, and founded Aerojet in 1942 to develop and sell JATO technology during World War 2. The GALCIT Rocket Research Group became JPL in 1943. (Full article...)

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