Offers a list of all two-year community colleges and technical schools within California, including brief introduction and official website address.
Monterey, California
Monterey, United States, California, at Monterey Bay, 140 miles south of San Francisco; 29,200 in. (2005). Tourist center with many military schools and camps. Former port for sardine fishing.
Franciscan mission station from 1770, 1775-1846 capital of Alta California. Known from several of John Steinbeck’s novels, including Tortilla Flat (1935) and Cannery Row (1945). Annual jazz festival, and a famous pop festival in 1967.
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States after New York, located in southern California, on the Pacific Ocean about 200 km north of the Mexico border. The city has 3,999,759 residents (U.S. Census, 2017).
In Los Angeles, people live in more than 140 different countries, and 224 different languages are registered. 28.5 percent of the population is white (compared to 86 percent in 1940), while Latinos and Hispanics make up 48.6 percent and African Americans 9 percent.
The city is part of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles – Long Beach – Anaheim (metropolitan area) with 13,353,907 residents (U.S. Census, 2017). The so-called Greater Los Angeles Area (combined statistical area) – also called The Southland – includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties.
Population
Los Angeles has had several periods of very large population growth. Important reasons for this were, among other things, that a rail link was established in 1876 (Southern Pacific), the establishment of a stable water supply (Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913), and not least that Hollywood became part of the city in 1910. The film industry was already well established here, and in 1921, more than 80 percent of the world’s film industry was located in Hollywood and its environs. The industry greatly contributed to Los Angeles not experiencing the same dramatic decline as the rest of the United States during the 1930s depression. During World War IILos Angeles was a major center for the war industry with both shipyards and aircraft production. After the war, the city grew strongly, especially to a large extent, and gradually covered large parts of the San Fernando Valley. The development of the Interstate Highway system in the 1950s and 1960s further contributed to suburban development and the use of cars as the primary means of transport. The population trends in Los Angeles are shown below.
Los Angeles itself, which covers a land area of 1214 km 2, extends widely on the coastal plain between the San Gabriel Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Within the city limits are several independent cities, including Beverly Hills, Culver City and Santa Monica. The city is surrounded by a number of suburbs, and the area extends about 150 km west-east, from the San Fernando Valley to the San Bernardino Mountains, and about 75 km north-south from the mountains down to the Pacific coast.
The Los Angeles area has a sunny, semi-tropical Mediterranean climate. The average temperature in the coldest month (December) is 14.8 ° C, in the warmest month (August) 24.1 ° C. The modest rainfall (379 mm) falls mostly in the winter. The high vehicle density and low average wind force lead to frequent serious air pollution (photochemical smog), which causes eye disorders, among other things.
Transport and Communications
Los Angeles is the endpoint for a number of freeways and three transcontinental rail lines, and is a significant air traffic hub. In 2017, Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) handled 84,557,968 passengers, making it the nation’s second busiest airport after Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta. The city’s port is in San Pedro with a large container port. The local transportation in the Los Angeles area is almost entirely based on private motoring. However, the construction of one of the world’s most comprehensive motorway systems has not been able to prevent huge traffic problems with queues and congestion on the main roads. Now, however, one is planning to reintroduce the tram – in the light rail version, separate from other traffic.
Drinking water is sourced from the Colorado River, among other things, through the 385-mile Colorado River Aqueduct, completed in 1939, but drinking water supply remains a problem, and Los Angeles as well as the state of California still has litigation going on with neighboring states, especially Arizona, Colorado River water.
Business
Los Angeles is the economic hub of Southern California and the city’s business is diverse and covers a wide range, from agriculture that was once dominant, to oil production, manufacturing of industrial goods, banking and transportation. Los Angeles is the third largest industrial city in the United States, with a particular emphasis on manufacturing aircraft, cars and electronics. The city also has a significant engineering and mechanical, steel, confectionery, rubber and canning and petrochemical industries. The defense industry has been important throughout the post-war period. The film and television industry plays a big role, and the tourism industry also brings big revenue. In the vicinity, oranges, peaches and other fruits are grown by artificial irrigation.
The city is the seat of a number of universities and other higher education institutions. Best known is the State University, the University of California, which has a department in Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Methodist-Episcopal University of Southern California. In the suburbs is the state university’s department in Irvine.
Description
Los Angeles is a sprawling city with wide avenues and large parks and with predominantly detached houses outside the central districts. The city center is less developed than in most other major U.S. cities, and Los Angeles has often been jokingly referred to as “a thousand suburbs in search of a city center.” The city center consists mostly of office and bank buildings. Prior to 1958, building height was limited to 13 floors, but after that time a number of high-rise buildings have been built in the downtown area, including First Interstate Bank (62 floors), Security Pacific National Bank (55), Crocker Center (53) and Atlantic Richfield Plaza (52). Here is also the city’s Music Center, with the Walt Disney Concert Hall (designed by Frank Gehry) and the convention center.
North of the city center lies the movie city of Hollywood and a number of elegant villas (Beverly Hills), in the west seaside resort of Santa Monica. The San Fernando Valley (including Burbank and Glendale), on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains, also belongs to the affluent areas of the city, with a predominantly white population. The ethnic minority groups are concentrated in specific areas. Thus, the numerous Hispanic population is particularly concentrated in East Los Angeles, while the black population mainly lives in Los Angeles’ southern neighborhoods (including Watts). In 1965, Watts was haunted by serious riots, and in South Central, in 1992, there was rioting with major destruction, triggered by a video recording of police violence (the Rodney King case). Black residents and Oriental groups, especially Koreans, have also been spiteful, owning many stores in the poor areas. Otherwise, the oriental groups often live in their own enclaves (Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Little Saigon). Immigration from Mexico (chicanos) has created many Spanish-speaking barrios or colonias. Most of the industry is located in the south around the port city of San Pedro and Long Beach.
