Los Angeles, California
The City Of Angels
Travel Information and Expenses
Lodging Overview
Fun Facts
1. When L.A. was founded, the city’s full name was “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora Reina de los Angeles sobre el Rio Porciuncula.” (If your Spanish is rusty, that translates to “The town of our lady queen of the angels on the Porciuncula River.”)
2. In 1892, oil was discovered near what is now Dodger Stadium.
3. By 1923, Los Angeles produced one quarter of the world’s oil. It still sits atop the third-largest oil field in the country!
4. An oil derrick on the property of Beverly Hills High School produces about 400 barrels a day. The school earns about $300,000 a year in royalties.
5. Not many people consider visiting the coroner to finish their holiday shopping. But if you do, the L.A. coroner’s office has a gift shop.
6. When it rains in L.A., it pours. On April 5, 1926, a gauge in the San Gabriel Mountains collected an inch of rain in just one minute.
7. While in February 1978, almost a foot of rain fell in 24 hours.
8. How did the film industry end up in L.A.? To get away from Thomas Edison. Edison—who lived in New Jersey—held most of the country’s film patents. Filmmakers fled westward to avoid Edison’s intellectual property claims.
9. Beverly Hills started out as a modest lima bean ranch.
10. And Santa Monica Pier was originally designed to protect a sewage pipe that dumped treated sewage into the ocean.
11. In 2006, a new tar pit was discovered. It contained the remains of saber-toothed cats, giant sloths, American lions, and a mammoth that was named Zed.