Please wait while we load your article...

Home > Southern California

Learn more about "Southern California"

Southern California

[[File:Los Angeles skyline.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Downtown Los Angeles skyline]] [[File:San diego panorama.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Downtown San Diego skyline]] [[File:Riverside 06Skyline.JPG|thumb|300px|Right|Downtown Riverside skyline]] [[File:Sb 2004 dt skyline 006a.jpg|thumb|300px|Right|Downtown San Bernardino skyline]]
Southern California, or '''SoCal''', is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Though there is no official definition for the northern boundary of Southern California, most definitions in use include all the land south of the Tehachapi Mountains, located about north of Los Angeles. Southern California can be divided into Greater Los Angeles Area|Greater Los Angeles, the Inland Empire (California)|Inland Empire, and the Southern Border. Southern California is a large cultural and economic center for the State of California along with the San Francisco Bay Area. Its population encompasses a total of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area, San Diego metropolitan area, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks metropolitan area and the El Centro metropolitan area. Out of these, three are major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles metropolitan area with over 12 million inhabitants, the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area with over 4 million inhabitants, and the San Diego metropolitan area with over 3 million inhabitants. The region as a whole is home to approximately 24 million people, which is more than half of California's population, and is the nation's most populous region behind the urban seaboard of the Northeastern United States. To the west of Southern California lies the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the US-Mexico border|international border between the United States and Mexico; to the east are the Mojave Desert|Mojave and Colorado Desert|Colorado Deserts and the Colorado River at the state's border with Arizona and Nevada.

Significance

[[File:SANO1 015.jpg|180px|thumb|left|Downtown San Diego]] [[File:Venice, California Beach.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Sunset in Venice, California]] Within its boundaries are two major Global city|world cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the List of United States metropolitan areas|country's largest metropolitan areas.The three metropolitan areas are: 1) Greater Los Angeles Area|Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana'' (the second largest in the US)'', 2) Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario '' (the Inland Empire (California)|Inland Empire)'' and 3) San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos - see: Metropolitan Statistical Area|United States metropolitan areas With a population of 1,336,865, San Diego is the second most populous city in California, and the eighth most populous in the U.S. Its counties of Los Angeles County, California|Los Angeles, Orange County, California|Orange, San Diego County, California|San Diego, San Bernardino County, California|San Bernardino, and Riverside County, California|Riverside are in the top 15 most populous counties in the United States and all five are the top 5 most populous counties in California.http://www.csac.counties.org/images/users/1/2008population.pdf The region is also home to Los Angeles International Airport, the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume (see World's busiest airports by passenger traffic) and the second by international passenger volume (see Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic); San Diego International Airport the busiest single runway airport in the world; Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport; major commercial airports at John Wayne Airport|Orange County, LA/Ontario International Airport|Ontario, Bob Hope Airport|Burbank and Long Beach Airport|Long Beach; and numerous smaller commercial and general aviation airports. Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' busiest commercial port, the adjacent Port of Long Beach, and the Port of San Diego. Also of note in the region is the Freeway system of 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 County, California|Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly. [[File:Ucsbuniversitycenterandstorketower.jpg|200px|right|thumb|University of California, Santa Barbara]] 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 (University of California, Los Angeles|Los Angeles (UCLA), University of California, Irvine|Irvine, University of California, Riverside|Riverside, University of California, Santa Barbara|Santa Barbara, and University of California, San Diego|San Diego (UCSD) campuses), 10 California State University campuses (California State University, Channel Islands|Channel Islands, California State University, Dominguez Hills|Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton|Fullerton, California State University, Long Beach|Long Beach, California State University, Los Angeles|Los Angeles, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona|Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), California State University, Northridge|Northridge (CSUN), California State University, San Bernardino|San Bernardino, San Diego State University|San Diego (SDSU), and California State University, San Marcos|San Marcos campuses), as well as private institutions such as California Institute of Technology|Caltech, the University of Southern California, Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University,Chapman University, the Claremont Consortium of Colleges|Claremont Colleges and the University of San Diego (USD). [[File:HollywoodSign.jpg|200px|thumb|right|The famous Hollywood sign in L.A., a symbol of the city's world famous entertainment culture.]] [[File:Universal Studios Hollywood 2007.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Universal Studios at Hollywood]] Southern California is also the entertainment (cinema of the United States|motion picture, television in the United States|television, and music of the United States|recorded music) capital of the world and is home to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood, the center of the motion picture industry. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company (which also owns American Broadcasting Company|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 pornography|adult entertainment industry, located primarily in the San Fernando Valley. Besides the entertainment industry, Southern California is also home to a large home grown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Volcom, Quiksilver, O'Neill (brand)|O'Neill clothing division, No Fear, [Lost Enterprises, Sector 9Sector 9 Incorporated - San Diego, CA, RVCA, Body Glove and SurflineSurfline - Huntington Beach, CA are all headquartered here. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, professional surfers Rob Machado, Tim Curran, Bobby Martinez, 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 Point|Rincon, The Wedge (surfing)|The Wedge, Huntington Beach, California|Huntington Beach, and Malibu, California|Malibu, and it is second only to the island of Oahu in terms of famous surf breaks. Some of the world's biggest extreme sports events including the X GamesX Games Take a Turn for the Better - Los Angeles Times, ASP World Tour|Boost Mobile Pro, and the U.S. Open of Surfing are all in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting. The annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or "Transpac", from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachting's premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the America's Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995 and hosted three America's Cup races during that time. Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Professional 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, C.D. Chivas USA|Chivas USA, and San Diego Chargers. Southern California also is home to a number of popular NCAA sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the San Diego State Aztecs.

Northern boundary

[[File:Southern California.png|thumb|310px|right|California counties below the sixth standard parallel]] [[File:Andaz WestHollywood2.JPG|180px|thumb|right|The famous Andaz West Hollywood Hotel on the Sunset Strip]] There is a definition coinciding neatly with county lines uses the sixth standard parallel southRevisions to the California State Implementation Plan, San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District of Mount Diablo (144 miles south of Mt. Diablo at 35°47′28″N) which forms the northern borders of San Luis Obispo County, California|San Luis Obispo, Kern County, California|Kern, and San Bernardino County, California|San Bernardino counties as the boundary. However counties most commonly thought of as making up Southern California are Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino and Imperial. Urbanized Santa Barbara is also commonly included. The counties of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo are part of the Central Coast (California)|Central Coast and Kern County is part of the Central Valley (California)|Central Valley, therefore they are not generally considered part of Southern California.

References

External links

- Historical Society of Southern California
- Cities in Southern California Category:Southern California| simple:Southern California

Related Images

Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL

Welcome to Start Learning Now. Explore to your heart's content, and we hope you enjoy reading the material we have assembled for you here!

Related News

Further Resources


	home lucky pick

Related Resources