Southern California

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"Southern California"
"Southern California"
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
Downtown San Diego
Downtown San Diego
The famous Hollywood sign, a symbol of the city's world famous entertainment culture
The famous Hollywood sign, a symbol of the city's world famous entertainment culture
Many major companies are headquartered in Southern California, particularly Los Angeles.
Many major companies are headquartered in Southern California, particularly Los Angeles.

Southern California is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population is centered on the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, behind only the BosWash Region in the Eastern United States. Southern California also contains a plethora of diverse landscapes including towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, vast deserts, scenic islands, large swaths of forest, and a breathtaking rugged coastline with miles of sandy beaches.

There is no official definition for the northern boundary of Southern California, however, most definitions in use include all the land south of the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles (113 km) north of Los Angeles. Some definitions simply use the 36th parallel north which forms the northern borders of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernadino counties.

On the west of Southern California lies the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the international border between the United States and Mexico; to the east are the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and the Colorado River at the state's border with Arizona and Nevada.

Contents

Within its boundaries is a major world city, Los Angeles, and three of the country's largest metropolitan areas.[1] Its counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are in the top 15 most populous counties in the United States. The region is also home to Los Angeles International Airport, the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume,[2] and the 2nd by international passenger volume,[3] Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport, Ontario International Airport, John Wayne International Airport, San Diego International Airport, and San Bernardino International Airport . Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' busiest commercial port, and the adjacent Port of Long Beach. Also of note in the region is the Los Angeles Freeway System, which is the world's busiest. Six of the seven lines of the commuter rail system, Metrolink, run out of Downtown Los Angeles, connecting Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego Counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly, the nation's first suburb-to-suburb commuter rail line.

The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (Los Angeles (UCLA), Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and San Diego (UCSD) campuses), twelve California State University campuses (Bakersfield, Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), Northridge (CSUN), San Bernardino, San Diego (SDSU), San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly), and San Marcos campuses), as well as private institutions such as Occidental College, the University of Southern California (USC), the University of San Diego (USD), Loyola Marymount University (LMU), Chapman University, the Claremont Colleges (Claremont McKenna, Pomona, Pitzer, Scripps, Harvey Mudd, and the Keck and Claremont Graduate Universities), Pepperdine University, the University of La Verne, and Cal Tech.

Southern California is also the entertainment (motion picture, television, and recorded music) capital of the world and is home to Hollywood, the center of the motion picture industry. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company (which also owns ABC), Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures (parent company of Dreamworks), 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, and as well as Univision, Activision, and THQ. Southern California is also home to the world's largest adult entertainment industry, located primarily in the San Fernando Valley. More than 85% of adult film and video production in North America takes place in the area.

Besides the entertainment industry, Southern California is also home to a large surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Volcom, Quiksilver, Lost Enterprises, Sector 9[4], RVCA, and Surfline[5] are all headquartered here. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, professional surfers Rob Machado, Tom Curran, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds, and Chris Ward, and professional snowboarder Shaun White live in Southern California. Some of the world's legendary surf spots are here as well, including Trestles, Rincon, The Wedge, Huntington Beach, and Malibu, and it is second only to the island of Oahu in terms of famous surf breaks. Brand name skate parks including the Vans Skate Park in Orange, the Etnies Park in Lake Forest, and the YMCA Skate Park in Encinitas are in Southern California. Some of the world's biggest extreme sports events including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the US Open of Surfing are all in Southern California.[verification needed]

Southern California is home to many successful sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Teams that are located in the region include the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA, Los Angeles Riptide, and San Diego Chargers. Southern California also hosts a number of popular NCAA sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the SDSU Aztecs.

With inhabitants from all over the world, Southern California has always been at the forefront of popular culture as well as a pioneer of several subcultures, including the hippie movement, and various musical movements such as skate punk, hardcore punk, and West Coast Rap with its gangster/"g-funk" style. The Los Angeles area in particular has always been one of the most important areas for entertainment, the arts, architecture, and food, all of which reflects the broad influence Los Angeles has on the world's culture.

Tehachapi Mountains
Tehachapi Mountains

The region's northern boundary is subject to a broader degree of interpretation than those of the West, East, and South. The most commonly used physical boundary between Southern California and the rest of the state is the Tehachapi Range[citation needed], located about 70 miles (113 km) north of Los Angeles. A less inclusive boundary is the San Gabriel Mountain range, located 10 to 30 miles (48 km) north of downtown Los Angeles, but this boundary is generally not accepted because land north of the San Gabriel Mountain Range but south of the Tehachapi Mountain Range is largely inside Los Angeles County. Depending on which of the two mountain ranges is used for the northern boundary of the region, different municipalities and counties are included in, or excluded from, the area called Southern California.

More inclusive definitions use the San Gabriel Mountain range or the sixth standard parallel south as the boundary. When the San Gabriel Ranch is taken as the boundary, seven counties (listed in descending order of population) are included: Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura, and Imperial. When the sixth parallel south is taken as the boundary, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Kern County, California are included as well for a total of ten counties. Under this last definition the other 48 California counties comprise Northern California[citation needed].

County Population (Jan 2007 estimate) Land Area (mi²) Density (per mi²)
San Bernardino County 2,028,013 20,105 100.9
Los Angeles County 10,331,939 4,061 2,544.2
Ventura County 825,512 1,846 447.2
San Diego County 3,098,269 4,200 737.7
Riverside County 2,031,625 7,207 281.9
Orange County 3,098,121 789 3,926.6
Imperial County 172,672 4,175 41.36
Southern California 21,586,151 42,383 509
  • Using the Tehachapi Mountain range as the key to a northern boundary, as well as the east-west trending Santa Ynez Mountain range, Santa Barbara and Kern Counties should be included. The city of Santa Barbara is widely held to be in Southern California, due to the mild climate and the westerward alignment of the coastline, but Bakersfield and most of Kern County are usually regarded as a part of the Central Valley.
City Population (2007 estimate)
Santa Barbara 89,456
Goleta, Santa Barbara County 30,169
Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County 14,123
Summerland CDP, Santa Barbara County 1,545 (2000 Census)
Isla Vista CDP, Santa Barbara County 18,344 (2000 Census)
Mission Canyon CDP, Santa Barbara County 2,610 (2000 Census)
Toro Canyon CDP, Santa Barbara County 1,697 (2000 Census)
Hope Ranch, Santa Barbara County 2,200 (2000 Census)
Southern Coast of Santa Barbara County 170,144
Kern County 801,648
SoCal boundary disputed 971,792

Source : http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Estimates/E1/documents/e-1press.pdf

Southern California is in part a heavily developed urban environment, along with vast arid areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the second-largest urbanized region in the United States, second only to the Washington, D.C./Philadelphia/New York/Boston megalopolis (BosWash). Whereas the BosWash cities are dense, with major downtown populations and significant rail and transit systems, much of SoCal is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino, each of which is the center of its respective metropolitan area, which are in turn composed of numerous other cities and communities.

Traveling south on Interstate 5, the main gap to continued urbanization is Camp Pendleton. The communities along Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 are so inter-related that Temecula has as much connection with San Diego County as it does with the Inland Empire. To the east, the United States Census Bureau considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, Riverside-San Bernardino Area as a separate metropolitan area from Los Angeles County. While many commute to L.A. and Orange Counties, there are some differences in development, as most of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties were developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Downtown Los Angeles skyline seen on an average hazy June Day, from the Santa Ana Freeway. At 1,018 feet (310 m), 73 floors, The U.S. Bank Tower stands as the West Coast's tallest since 1989.
The Downtown Los Angeles skyline seen on an average hazy June Day, from the Santa Ana Freeway. At 1,018 feet (310 m), 73 floors, The U.S. Bank Tower stands as the West Coast's tallest since 1989.
Snowy San Bernardino Sky line after the melted snow in the city, with San Bernardino Mountains in the backround and downtown in the far left.
Snowy San Bernardino Sky line after the melted snow in the city, with San Bernardino Mountains in the backround and downtown in the far left.

All population information is from the 2005 estimate of the State of California.[citation needed]

Tallest building in Downtown San Diego
Tallest building in Downtown San Diego

Ventura City Hall in Old Town Ventura
Ventura City Hall in Old Town Ventura
Downtown Santa Monica
Downtown Santa Monica

South of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains
North of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains

Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura are also counties in the Central Coast.

See Southern California Zip Codes

Marriott Hotel in downtown San Diego
Marriott Hotel in downtown San Diego

Southern California is also divided into the Coastal Region (Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County) and the larger, more sparsely populated, desert Inland Empire (San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Imperial County). The division between the Coastal Regions and the Inland Empire winds along the backs of the coastal mountain ranges such as the Santa Ana Mountains. A related geographical term is cismontane Southern California, which refers to the portion of California on the coastal side of the Transverse and Peninsular mountain ranges. The term "Southern California" often refers to this region specifically, as opposed to largely desert areas comprising the rest of the southern portion of the state, which are referred to as transmontane Southern California.

View from La Jolla Cove in San Diego
View from La Jolla Cove in San Diego
Summits in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino County
Summits in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino County
Coachella Valley Preserve in the Colorado Desert in Riverside County
Coachella Valley Preserve in the Colorado Desert in Riverside County
Sunset in Santa Monica
Sunset in Santa Monica

One of the large LAX signs that greet visitors to LAX. This sign is at the Century Boulevard entrance to Los Angeles International Airport
One of the large LAX signs that greet visitors to LAX. This sign is at the Century Boulevard entrance to Los Angeles International Airport

Downtown San Bernardino Hotel, know as The Clarion Hotel
Downtown San Bernardino Hotel, know as The Clarion Hotel

The following are central business districts in Southern California:

Main article: Southern California freeways

Interstate Highways

U.S. Highway system

 This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (March 2006)

California State Routes

Note: highway segments with names listed in italics are surface streets and not freeways.

Main article: Metrolink (Southern California)

Map of major Southern California area codes
Map of major Southern California area codes

Team Sport League Venue
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Baseball American League (Major League Baseball) Angel Stadium of Anaheim
Los Angeles Dodgers National League (Major League Baseball) Dodger Stadium
San Diego Padres PETCO Park
Los Angeles Clippers Basketball National Basketball Association Staples Center
Los Angeles Lakers
San Diego Chargers Football National Football League Qualcomm Stadium
Anaheim Ducks Ice Hockey National Hockey League Honda Center
Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
Chivas USA Soccer Major League Soccer The Home Depot Center
Los Angeles Galaxy

  1. ^ The three metropolitan areas are: 1) Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana (the second largest in the US), 2) Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario (also know as the Inland Empire) and 3) San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos - see: United States metropolitan areas
  2. ^ World's busiest airports by passenger traffic
  3. ^ Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic
  4. ^ Sector 9 Incorporated - San Diego, CA
  5. ^ Surfline - Huntington Beach, CA
This article needs additional citations for verification.
Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

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