LOS ANGELES BRIEF HISTORY & DEMOGRAPHICS Demographics Table of Contents)
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Los Angeles Economy
Long established as the financial, commercial, and industrial capital of southern California, the sprawling Los Angeles metropolitan area is among the nation's leading urban-industrial complexes. The size of its population alone makes the Los Angeles metropolitan area California's biggest economic center, employing 30 percent of the state's workforce. It generates nearly one-third of the value of goods manufactured in the state and accounts for more than one-quarter of all retail and wholesale sales. The city also is a financial center for the western United States and a principal importer and exporter of international trade goods.
Although it directly employs only a small portion of the labor force, the motion-picture, television, and musical entertainment industry is one of Los Angeles's most famous activities. Many American movies and television programs are produced by local studios. Hollywood is the traditional movie capital, but studios and production centers today are scattered through the area. The region is also home to many of the country's recorded-music businesses. Because of its association with the entertainment industry, the Los Angeles area in the 1990s grew in importance as a center for multimedia production.
Leading manufactures are transportation equipment, food products, instruments (many of them associated with the aerospace industry), printed materials, clothing (particularly women's apparel), fabricated metal goods, and chemicals. The Los Angeles metropolitan area is a hub of the transportation industry, including automobile, aircraft, and aerospace production. However, in the early 1990s aerospace manufacturing suffered a sharp downturn as federal expenditures for military aircraft decreased, diminishing the industry's relative importance. The city is also a major supplier of fresh-cut flowers and contains the headquarters of many large corporations, research and development facilities, and financial institutions. The city has also become the financial gateway between Asia and the United States. Tourism is an important part of the city's economy.
Los Angeles is dependent upon its extensive freeway system for transportation, and the roadways themselves have become closely identified with the city. Major routes connect all corners of the metropolitan region and usually bear names associated with their destination (Interstate 405 is called the San Diego Freeway, for example). With one automobile for every two city residents, the freeway system is often clogged with traffic. Smog from automobile exhaust and other sources is an intermittent pollution problem.
The city is taking measures to lessen its dependence on freeway travel. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority opened the first segment of a light-rail line in 1990, connecting downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach; two other lines have opened since and more are under construction. Metrolink, a commuter rail line, operates six lines connecting the region's cities. Los Angeles is also served by major transcontinental and regional railroad lines, and one of the busiest airports in the United States, the Los Angeles International Airport.
Los Angeles Harbor, 32 km (20 mi) south of downtown on San Pedro Bay, is one of the nation's leading ports. Huge warehouses and cargo-handling terminals line the 45 km (28 mi) of waterfront. Offshore on Terminal Island is Fish Harbor, the home port of a large fishing fleet. Cerritos Channel links the harbor with Long Beach Harbor to the east. Besides its facilities for cargo and fishing vessels, Los Angeles Harbor has a busy terminal for passenger ships.
A major problem facing Los Angeles is the need to keep the city supplied with water. Originally a sufficient supply could be obtained from the Los Angeles River and from local wells. However, modern growth of the city created a need for water that could only be met by outside sources of supply. The city acquired water rights in the Owens Valley, located in the southern Sierra Nevada of eastern California. Between 1907 and 1913, a 390-km (240-mi) long aqueduct was built to carry water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles. In 1940 an extension of this aqueduct was opened to take in water from Mono Basin, north of the Owens Valley. In 1928 Los Angeles and 12 nearby cities formed the Metropolitan Water District. In 1941 an aqueduct was completed to tap the Colorado River to supply water to the district. In the 1970s the multibillion-dollar California Water Project was begun to supply the Los Angeles area with water from the northern Sierra Nevada.
Los Angeles has the largest city-owned power system in the United States. Much of the power comes from federally operated Hoover Dam on the Colorado River at the Arizona-Nevada border. Electricity also comes from power plants located along the aqueduct from Owens Valley and from several steam-electric plants. Some independent cities in the metropolitan area maintain their own municipal power supplies. Private utility companies also provide power.