The area that became Los Angeles was originally inhabited by the indigenous Tongva people and later claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542. The city was founded on September 4, 1781, under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve, on the village of Yaanga. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence.

Los Angeles had a strong economic base in farming, oil, tourism, real estate and movies. It grew rapidly with many suburban areas inside and outside the city limits. Its motion picture industry made the city world-famous, and World War II brought new industry, especially high-tech aircraft construction.

A sprawling urban mass covering 500 sq miles (1295 sq km), it was famously described by Dorothy Parker as ‘72 suburbs in search of a city’. Its origins stretch back to the 18th Century, and yet it can still seem like a young city, having expanded alongside the film industry in the early 1900s.