Explain Los Angeles geography

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve never been to L.A. but I constantly hear references to its’ various areas and neighborhoods in movies, on TV, in music, and in podcasts, and I have no idea what they’re talking about.

I assume “the Hills” are Beverly Hills? What exactly is “the valley”? When people talk about “Burbank” or “Long Beach” are those actual separate towns or just names of areas within L.A.? Which area is “downtown”? Which areas are synonymous with rich/poor/crime/ethnic groups/etc.?

Tell me everything you know about L.A.!

2

“The Valley” is the San Fernando Valley, north of downtown Los Angeles. Home of cities like Van Nuys, Reseda and Sherman Oaks.

3

The Valley = San Fernando Valley
Burbank and Long Beach are separate towns, but are part of the Greater Los Angeles metroplex, which stretches from Santa Monica to Banning without a break, getting narrower as it goes East.

4

No, usually when people say “the Hills” they mean Hollywood Hills.

The valley is usually the San Fernando Valley.

Long Beach and Burbank are cities in Los Angeles County.

There’s “downtowns” in most major cities..but usually when people say downtown they mean the downtown area of the city of Los Angeles.
What people often don’t realize is how big Los Angeles County is - for example Burbank and Long Beach are over 30 miles apart. With traffic that’s like a 2 hour drive.

5

I see. Where are the Hollywood Hills, exactly?

I often hear “the valley” used in a disparaging manner. Why? Because it’s the 'burbs?

Is there really no such thing as “South Central”?

6

Between downtown LA and “the Valley”.

7

I’ve been to Los Angeles a few times, and I still can’t wrap my head around the geography very well. I know the basics, but even looking at a map to find a place where I’ve already been, it takes me forever … where the hell is Studio City again?

If you Google Earth, you should surf around the city - hell any city - it’s pretty fascinating.

8

South Central is now officially South Los Angeles. Most people still call it South Central.

The Hollywood Hills are due north of Hollywood, roughly bounded by the 101 on the east, Coldwater Canyon Dr. on the west, Ventura Blvd. on the north and Sunset Blvd. on the south.

The Valley is another planet. They do things differently there.

9

Also, most of the porn made in the US comes from the Valley

10

“The Valley” definitely means the San Fernando Valley, but more specifically places like Encino, Reseda, Tarzana, Northridge, Sherman Oaks, Panorama City, and not way out to Thousand Oaks, which might be called the West Valley. I don’t recall hearing “The Hills” idiomatically like that, but it would make me think of places like Brentwood and Bel Air before the Hollywood Hills. That is, I would think of the hills between Sunset Blvd. and Ventura Blvd., which are crested by Mulholland Drive.

The communities that are named, but not separately incorporated cities, like Reseda or Westwood, are usually delineated by zip code. I lived for a time in Reseda when I was a kid, but that house is now in Encino after local residents petitioned (the post office, I guess) to extend the boundaries a bit. That simple change in zip code added tens of thousands of dollars to the value of the affected homes. As Dick Deadeye observed, “'Tis a queer world.”

11

Of significance is the presence of mountains as geographic borders. Downtown LA and in to the Westside (Hollywood, Beverly Hills, to the ocean) are a generally flat area. To the north of this is a set of mountains, over the mountains is another flat area called The Valley (San Fernando Valley). Due north of Downtown LA, at the eastern edge of The Valley is another set of mountains - east of those mountains is another flat area known as the San Gabriel Valley (it is not known as “The Valley”). They both get their names from the Catholic Missions built there a couple hundred years ago. That’s all a general look at the northern areas.

12

Some place names are separate towns, with separate governments, not part of Los Angeles City, but part of the County, like Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, and Santa Monica.

Others are only districts within Los Angeles City, and some of those boundaries are poorly-defined. Examples are Studio City, Hollywood, North Hollywood, and Van Nuys. These do not have separate governments.

13

Here’s a map showing the neighborhoods within the city of Los Angeles:

http://www.laalmanac.com/LA/lamap2.htm

Other terms not specifically shown on this map:

The San Fernando Valley includes pretty much everything north of the line from Woodland Hills through Studio City.

Beverly Hills is the unnamed grey blob between Hollywood and Westwood. (It’s a separate city.) Technically, a small part of that is the city of West Hollywood.

Burbank is a separate city directly east of North Hollywood.

Long Beach is a separate city directly east of Wilminton (and Terminal Island, which is part of the port).

14

So is Two days in the Valley not enough to scratch the surface or long enough for a lifetime?

15

Yes.

16

We are all going to The Valley in one way or another, to die.

17

While (the city of) Beverly Hills is often presented on TV as the stereotype of a place for rich people to end up, it’s just that–a place for “new money,” which is why the Clampett family went there. The “old money” traditionally has been in Hancock Park, a neighborhood of L.A. city proper, between downtown and the Westside, which has smaller, less “conspicuous” houses.

One of the big problems (for me, at least) with Google Maps is that it doesn’t clearly delineate the city boundaries, or indicate which places are simply unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. As a taxi driver in L.A. I supposedly had to be aware of these things because my company was licensed by the L.A. DOT to pick up people only in the city of Los Angeles proper, and then only in the central area (not in the Valley, for instance). Actually, this was all just theoretical, because I don’t think it ever was really enforced. That is, I only heard unsubstantiated rumors of drivers getting cited for picking up in unauthorized areas, and doubt it ever really happened.

In any case, what Google Maps lacks, Thomas Guides provides. They have every city differentiated by distinct colors, so you can clearly see exactly where the boundaries are. You’ll see some weird boundary demarcations, too, of bizarre shapes that apparently seem like arbitrary city limit distinctions. The city of Los Angeles itself has a weird shape. (Look on the map in Wikipedia or the map linked to by suranyi to see the long sliver stretch that juts down so that the city can have its own port–right next to the port of Long Beach.) That port area, called San Pedro, is technically just a district of L.A., but in the movie Chinatown, for example, it’s referred to as though it were some distant, separate city. And I have to say, it does feel like a different city when you’re there.

The OP shouldn’t feel too clueless about not knowing what all the geographical terms of Los Angeles County mean. Even the people who live in Los Angeles have different perceptions of the geography, depending on who they are, what they do, and where they live. “West Siders” tend to look at everything east of the Western Avenue and north of the 10 as no man’s land. On the other hand, once I was driving taxi in Hollywood (technically just a district within the city of Los Angeles, as noted above), and I picked up two guys who said, “Take us to L.A.” I was befuddled, because they already were in L.A. But these were not tourists; they were just two drug dealers, who turned out to be from South Central (now “officially” called “South LA,” also as noted above), and what they meant by “Take us to L.A.” was actually “Take us downtown.”

18

This is what baffles me about L.A. and why I cannot move there (by the way, Los Angeles is “L.A.,” Louisiana is “LA,” sez Missy Copy Editor).

“Los Angeles” is actually a dozen or so towns, all of which hate each other, and you cannot get from one to the other without rage-and-terror-inducing driving. Whenever I visit, I try to get my dozen or so friends together for dinner, and I hear, “Oh, I’m in Westwood, I can’t possibly get out to West L.A.!” or, “I’m in Studio City, I can’t possibly get out to Glendale!”

(Of course, there is every possibility that my friends are just trying to avoid having dinner with me, too)

19

OK, so where amid these hills and valleys does a “Ravine” fit in? Specifically, Chavez Ravine, which I’ve only ever heard of in the context of Dodger Stadium?

20

There are two major parts to L.A.: The Basin & The Valley. They’re separated by a big mountain range with only a few major roads connecting them.

The Basin is on the south side of the mountain range. It’s a big square area, bordered by mountains in the north and east, and the ocean in the south and west. Downtown is at the top of the Basin up near the mountains.

South and east of downtown are generally the poorer parts of town. (Hence, South Central). The richer parts are either up against the mountains (where there are views) or next to the ocean.

Running west from downtown along the mountains you have famous neighborhoods like Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Bellaire, Brentwood, and eventually where the mountains and ocean meet, Malibu. All of these neighborhoods (with the exception of Brentwood) are actually incorporated as separate cities contained within greater L.A. – something that’s pretty common.

Running south down the coast from Malibu you have a variety of coastal communities. Some of these are independent cities (like Santa Monica) while others are just neighborhoods (like Venice). Originally the settlements on the coast were separated from the main body of L.A. by farms, but now everything flows together in a big metroplex.

As the coast turns eastward you hit Long Beach. It’s a big city in its own right. This is where the port is.

In the middle of the Basin are two hilly bits. One of them, Culver City, is where MGM (now Sony Pictures) is. The other, Century City, is where 20th Century Fox is.

The Valley is on the north side of the big mountain range. It’s long and skinny with its major axis running east-west.

At the far east end of the Valley are several old and prosperous communities – Glendale, Burbank, and Pasadena. A lot of film and TV production happens there. That’s where Disney has its offices, for example.

The middle part of the valley consists of a lot of older suburbs.

The west end of the valley (very far from the main part of the city) are a lot of newer suburbs.

Beyond the major divisions of the Basin and the Valley there are also other parts of greater L.A:

Orange County – Keep following the coast past Long Beach and it starts curving south again. That’s Orange County. That’s where Disneyland is.

The Inland Empire – Far away over the mountains to the west. Huge amounts of suburban sprawl out into the desert. I’ve only driven through it.

And, of course, there are zillions of little neighborhoods, each with their own unique character … .