Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
October 29th, 2008
The Coliseum has the distinction of being the only stadium in the world to host the Olympic Games twice, in 1932 and 1984. It is also the only Olympic stadium to have also hosted Super Bowls and World Series. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity 92,000 person crowd, although they regularly drew far less during the 1990s. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 93,607. The Coliseum Commission also rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox played an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. On March 29th, 2008 a Los Angeles and MLB record for attendance was broken. 115,300 people attended the game.
The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to veterans of World War I (rededicated to veterans of all wars in 1968). The official ground breaking ceremony took place on December 21, 1921 with work being completed less than two years later, on May 1, 1923. Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl's initial construction costs were $954,873. When the Coliseum opened in 1923, it was the largest stadium in Los Angeles with a capacity of 76,000. However, with the arrival of the Olympics only ten years later, the stadium was expanded to 101,574 and the now-signature torch was added. For a time it was known as Olympic Stadium. The Olympic cauldron torch which burned through both Games remains above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances. The football field runs east-west with the press box on the south side of the stadium. The scoreboard and video screen that tower over the peristyle date back to 1983; they replaced a smaller scoreboard installed in 1972, which in turn supplanted the 1937 model, one of the first electric scoreboards in the nation. Over the years new light towers have been placed along the north and south rims. The analog clock and thermometer over the office windows at either end of the peristyle were installed in 1956. Between the peristyle arches at the east end are plaques recognizing many of the memorable events and participants in Coliseum history, including a full list of 1932 and 1984 Olympic gold medalists.
A pair of life-sized bronze nude statues of male and female athletes atop a 20,000 pound (9,000 kg) post-and-lintel frame formed the Olympic Gateway created by Robert Graham for the 1984 games. The statues, modeled on water polo player Terry Schroeder and long jumper from Guyana, Jennifer Innis, who participated in the games, were noted for their anatomical accuracy.
There is much debate about the Coliseum's potential to be a modern NFL venue. Although the Coliseum has significant historical value, it is regarded by many as inadequate to be the home of a major professional sports team. Since it was designed and built long before the age of club seats, luxury boxes, and the other revenue-generating amenities that modern football stadiums possess, any professional team moving to the Coliseum will likely have to perform extensive renovations. Also, its status as a National Historic Landmark means any renovations would have to be complementary to the most identifiable parts of the building, a guideline that was not followed during Soldier Field's renovations in 2002. Soldier Field was stripped of its landmark status as a result of its somewhat careless renovation. Los Angeles County voters have been generally uninterested in appropriating tax revenue toward building a new stadium. Without public funds, the costs of renovation would have to be borne by any future tenant of the Coliseum. Because of the difficulties that the NFL has had with trying to finance a renovated Coliseum, Rose Bowl or brand new stadium, pro football has been absent from the second-largest media market in the United States for over a decade. (The NFL was to award a franchise to Los Angeles in 2002, but debate over a stadium, coupled with Houston's aggressiveness, led the NFL to award the franchise to Houston instead.)
On November 10, 2005 then-NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced that the NFL and city officials have reached a preliminary agreement on bringing an NFL team back to the Coliseum. However, no details have been decided.
An article in the Wednesday, May 24, 2006 issue of the Los Angeles Times made light of a proposition to spend tens of millions of dollars of city funds to heavily renovate the stadium, and indicated that the city may make more than $100 million dollars in added funds available in the future toward further renovation. City leaders who support the spending despite significant disapproval from the local population cite that the renovations are necessary to help attract a new NFL team to the city, and that the tax revenue generated by the presence of a new franchise team would eventually pay back the investment many times over. Supporters further claim that the addition of a new NFL team will increase employment in the area adjacent to the stadium, a major concern because the area's population is largely of low and middle income, that these people will themselves help repay the expenditure by paying income taxes, that the presence of a new team will stimulate the local economy by making the area more attractive to new businesses (which themselves could theoretically employ hundreds of tax payers) and that the overall impact on the area will help to raise the area's real estate values.
While a proposal to bring pro football back to the southland is still in the works, there has been little action taken in recent times and doubts of bringing an NFL team to the coliseum or any other venue in the region have risen. The Los Angeles Coliseum Commission is currently in talks with USC to see if a long-term master lease can be arranged with the university managing the facility; however the university has stated it does not want an opening for the NFL to come in later in such an agreement. In recent years, USC has had a series of mostly one- and two-year leases with the commission. In November 2007, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa declared that the policy of requiring the NFL to relocate to the Coliseum will change and other options will be explored.
The Coliseum Commission's June 23, 2008 decision to sell naming rights to the stadium further signals a likely end to the prospects of the NFL's returning to the Coliseum as the prospect of a naming-rights deal could have helped lure a new pro team.
Due to its location near Hollywood, the Coliseum has been used in hundreds of commercials and movies over the years. Recently, a computer-generated version of the Coliseum was used for Budweiser beer TV commercials during the 2006 FIFA World Cup and then the 2006 NFL playoffs, the only change being that football players were on the field in the NFL playoffs version, whereas soccer players were on the field in the World Cup version. The stadium was shown filled to capacity, with each spectator participating in a classic card stunt. The imagery turned out to be a gigantic beer bottle on one sideline, pouring into a gigantic beer mug on the other sideline, whose contents were then shown being drained by an invisible consumer. It was also used in the filming of the last episode of the second season of the television show 24. A 2007-08 season episode of Shark was filmed at the Coliseum. The Third episode of Alias used the Coliseum as a Berlin location. It was also used in an episode of Beauty and the Geek (season 5) where the participants took part in a game of flag football with the Beauties winning.
The final scene of the film Money Talks was shot in the Coliseum.
The Coliseum also served as the starting line for the 13th installment of CBS's The Amazing Race.
Hollywood Sign
May 18th, 2008
It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition after its initial purpose had been fulfilled. The sign was a frequent target of pranks and vandalism, but has undergone restoration including a state of the art security system to deter vandalism. The Hollywood sign is protected and promoted by the Hollywood Sign Trust, a non-profit organization whose purpose is to physically maintain, repair and secure the Hollywood sign; to educate the world about its historical and cultural importance; and to raise the funds necessary to accomplish these projects.
From the ground, the contours of the hills give the sign its well-known "wavy" appearance. When observed at a comparable altitude, the letters appear straight-across.
The sign makes frequent appearances in popular culture, particularly in establishing shots for films and television programs set in or around Hollywood. Signs of similar style, but spelling different words, are frequently seen as parodies.
The sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND", and its purpose was to advertise a new housing development in the hills above the Hollywood district of Los Angeles. H.J. Whitley had already used a sign to advertise his development Whitley Heights, which was located between Highland Avenue and Vine Avenue. He suggested to his friend Harry Chandler, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, that the land syndicate he was involved in make a similar sign to advertise their land. Real estate developers Woodruff and Shoults called their development "Hollywoodland" and advertised it as a "superb environment without excessive cost on the Hollywood side of the hills."
They contracted the Crescent Sign Company to erect thirteen letters on the hillside, each facing south. The sign company owner, Thomas Fisk Goff (1890–1984) designed the sign. Each letter of the sign was 30 ft (9 m) wide and 50 ft (15 m) high, and was studded with some 4000 light bulbs. The sign was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923. It was not intended to be permanent. Some sources say its expected life was to be about a year and a half but after the rise of the American cinema in Los Angeles, it became an internationally recognized symbol, and was left there.
It became so associated with Hollywood that in September 1932, actress Peg Entwistle committed suicide by jumping to her death from the letter "H", as she saw the sign as a symbol of the industry that had rejected her.
Official maintenance of the sign ended in 1939 and it rapidly began to deteriorate.
According to the summer 2006 edition of The Beachwood Voice, during the early 1940s, Albert Kothe (the sign's official caretaker) caused an accident that destroyed the letter "H", as seen in many historical pictures. Kothe was driving his car up to the top of Mount Lee drunk, lost control of the vehicle, and drove off the cliff behind the "H". While Kothe was not injured, the 1928 Ford Model A was destroyed, as was the "H".
In 1949, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce stepped up and began a contract with the City of Los Angeles Parks Department to repair the sign. However the contract stipulated that "LAND" be removed to spell "Hollywood" and reflect the city, not the "Hollywoodland" housing development. The Parks Department dictated that all subsequent illumination would be at the cost of the chamber, so the chamber opted not to replace the light bulbs. The 1949 effort gave it new life, but the wooden and sheet metal sign continued to deteriorate in the open air of the Hollywood Hills. Eventually the first "O" splintered and broke off resembling a lowercase "u", and the third "O" fell down completely leaving the severely dilapidated sign reading "HuLLYWO D".
In 1978, due in large part to the public campaign to restore the landmark by shock rocker Alice Cooper (who donated the wholly missing "O"), the Chamber set out to replace the intensely deteriorated sign with a more permanent structure. For the contract of $250,000.00 nine donors gave $27,777 each to sponsor replacement letters made of Australian steel, guaranteed to last for many years (see Donors section below).
These new letters were each 45 ft (13.7 m) high and ranged from 31 to 39 ft (9.3 to 11.8 m) wide. The new version of the sign was unveiled on Hollywood's 75th anniversary, November 14, 1978, before a live television audience of 60 million people.
Refurbishment, donated by Bay Cal Commercial Painting, began again in November 2005, as workers stripped the letters back to their metal base and repainted them white. Also in 2005, the original 1923 sign was put up for sale on eBay by producer/entrepreneur Dan Bliss. Bliss sold the sign to artist Bill Mack.
The sign is located on the southern side of Mount Lee in Griffith Park, north of the Mulholland Highway. A good viewpoint within 100 yards of the sign can be reached by driving north up Gower Street from Hollywood Blvd. and then north along Beachwood Drive.
Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
April 24th, 2008
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheatre at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California, USA, that is used primarily for music performances. The "bowl" in this context is the natural cavity in the earth into which the amphitheater is built, rather than the shape of the bandshell. It officially opened on July 11, 1922 on the site of a natural amphitheater formerly known as the Daisy Dell, and has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since then. The Bowl is also home to a second resident ensemble, the "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra".
The Hollywood Bowl is well known for its band shell, a distinctive set of concentric arches that has graced the site since 1929. Cartoon buffs may see a resemblance between the concentric arches of the shell and Porky Pig's backdrop in Th-th-that's all, Folks; it is debatable whether it was intentional (however, the Bowl did make appearances in various Warner Brothers cartoon shorts, at least one DePatie-Freleng Pink Panther cartoon, and a Tom and Jerry 1950 cartoon Tom and Jerry in the Hollywood Bowl). It is the scene of Bette Midler's concert at the beginning and end of the 1988 movie Beaches. A remarkably similar shell built in 'Far Far Away' is the scene of the singing competition at the end of the Shrek 2 DVD version. Adding to the atmosphere of the Bowl, the famous Hollywood Sign, several miles away, is visible from the Bowl site, to the north-northeast, behind and to the right of it from the spectators' viewpoint.
Shortly after the end of the 2003 summer season, the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County, which owns the Hollywood Bowl (seating capacity 17,376), replaced the 1929 shell with a new, somewhat larger, acoustically improved shell, which had its debut in the 2004 summer season. Preservationists fiercely opposed the demolition for many years, citing the shell's storied history. However, even when it was built, the 1929 shell was (at least acoustically) only the third-best shell in the Bowl's history, behind its two immediate predecessors (which were designed by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright). By the late 1970s the Hollywood Bowl became an acoustic liability because of continued hardening of its transite skin. The new shell incorporates design elements of not only the 1929 shell, but of both the Lloyd Wright shells. During the 2004 summer season, the sound steadily improved, as engineers learned to work with its live acoustics.
Every Easter Sunday, Bel Air Presbyterian Church holds the largest worship service in Southern California at the Hollywood Bowl, with attendance exceeding 10,000.
At first, the Bowl was very close to its natural state, with only makeshift wooden benches for the audience, and eventually a simple awning over the stage. In 1926, a group known as the Allied Architects was contracted to regrade the Bowl, providing permanent seating and a shell. These improvements did provide increased capacity (the all-time record for attendance was set in 1936, when 26,410 people crowded into the Bowl to hear opera singer Lily Pons), but were otherwise disappointing, as the regrading noticeably degraded the natural acoustics, and the original shell was deemed acoustically unsatisfactory (as well as visually unfashionable, with its murals of sailing ships).
For the 1927 season, Lloyd Wright built a pyramidal shell, with a vaguely Southwestern look, out of left-over lumber from a production of Robin Hood. This was generally regarded as the best shell the Bowl ever had from an acoustic standpoint; unfortunately, its appearance was deemed too avant-garde, and it was demolished at the end of the season. It did, however, get Wright a second chance, this time with the stipulation that the shell was to have an arch shape.
For the 1928 season, Wright built a fiberglass shell in the shape of concentric 120-degree arches, with movable panels inside that could be used to tune the acoustics. It was designed to be easily dismantled and stored between concert seasons; apparently for political reasons, this was not done, and it did not survive the winter.
For the 1929 season, the Allied Architects built the shell that stood until 2003, using a transite skin over a metal frame. Its acoustics, though not nearly as good as those of the Lloyd Wright shells, were deemed satisfactory at first, and its clean lines and white, almost-semicircular arches were copied for music shells elsewhere. As the acoustics deteriorated, various measures were used to mitigate the problems, starting with an inner shell made from large cardboard tubes (of the sort used as forms for round concrete pillars) in the 1970s, which were replaced by the early 1980s with the large fiberglass spheres (designed by Frank Gehry) that remained until 2003. These dampened out the unfavorable acoustics, but required massive use of electronic amplification to reach the full audience, particularly since the background noise level had risen sharply since the 1920s. The appearance underwent other, purely visual, changes as well, including the addition of a broad outer arch (forming a proscenium) where it had once had only a narrow rim and the reflecting pool in front of the stage that lasted from 1953 till 1972.
The 2004 shell incorporates the prominent front arch, flared at the base and forming a proscenium, of the 1926 shell, the broad profile of the 1928 shell, and the unadorned white finish (and most of the general lines) of the 1929 shell. In addition, the ring-shaped structure hung within the shell, supporting lights and acoustic clouds, echoes a somewhat similar structure hung within the 1927 shell. During the 2004 season, because the back wall was not yet finished, a white curtain was hung at the back; beginning with the 2005 season, the curtain was removed to show a finished back wall. The architectural concept for the shell was developed by the LA based architectural practice Hodgetts and Fung, with the structural concept developed by the local office of Arup.
In addition, the new shell is wired for video cameras, with two large screens on either side, and two more atop the rearmost lighting towers; during most concerts, three remotely-operated cameras in the shell, and a fourth, manually-operated camera among the box seats, provide the audience with close-up views of the musicians, usually alternating between a view of the conductor, and a view of whichever musicians have "the melody."
Los Angeles
March 18th, 2008
Los Angeles was founded in the year 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its independence from Spain. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican-American War, Los Angeles and California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thus becoming part of the United States; Mexico retained the territory of Baja California. It was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850 — five months before California achieved statehood.
Los Angeles is one of the world's most prominent centers of culture, technology, and international trade. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields. The city and its immediate vicinity lead the world in producing popular entertainment — such as motion picture, television, video games and recorded music — which forms the base of Los Angeles' international fame and global status. The Los Angeles Consular Corps is one of the largest and most important consular communities in the world.
Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva (or Gabrieleños) and Chumash Native American tribes thousands of years ago. The first Europeans arrived in 1542 under João Cabrilho, a Portuguese explorer who claimed the area as the City of God for the Spanish Empire; he continued with his voyage and did not establish a settlement. The next contact would not come until 227 years later, when Gaspar de Portola, together with Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. Crespi noted that the site had the potential to be developed into a large settlement.
In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra built the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel near Whittier Narrows, in what is now called San Gabriel Valley. In 1777, the new governor of California, Felipe de Neve, recommended to the viceroy of New Spain that the site noted by Juan Crespi be developed into a pueblo. The town was founded on September 4, 1781, by a group of 44 settlers and was named "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula" ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels on the River Porciúncula"). These settlers were of Filipino, Native American, African, and Spanish ancestry, with two-thirds being mestizo or mulatto. A majority of the settlers had some African ancestry. The settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820 the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles.
New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, and the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican-American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating on on January 13, 1847, with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga. Later, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, the Mexican government formally ceded Alta California and other territories to the United States.
Railroads arrived when the Southern Pacific completed its line to Los Angeles in 1876. Oil was discovered in 1892, and by 1923 Los Angeles was producing one-quarter of the world's petroleum.
By 1900, the population had grown to more than 100,000 people, putting pressure on the city's water supply. 1913's completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. In 1915, Los Angeles began the annexation of dozens of neighboring communities without water supplies of their own.
In the 1920s, the motion picture and aviation industries flocked to Los Angeles. In 1932, with population surpassing one million, the city hosted the Summer Olympics. This period also saw the arrival of exiles from the increasing pre-war tensions of Europe, including Thomas Mann, Fritz Lang, Bertolt Brecht, Arnold Schoenberg, and Lion Feuchtwanger.
World War II and the expansion of defense industries brought new growth and prosperity to the city. Thousands of African Americans migrated from Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi to work in these expanding fields. The state also succumbed to war fears, transporting most Japanese American residents from Los Angeles and other cities to distant internment camps for the duration of the war.
The post-war years saw an even greater boom, as urban sprawl expanded the city into the San Fernando Valley. In 1969, Los Angeles became one of the birthplaces of the Internet, as the first ARPANET transmission was sent from UCLA to SRI in Menlo Park.
As in other major cities, long-unresolved racial problems erupted in the 1960s and 1970s. Los Angeles grappled with the Watts Riots in 1965, the high school walkout by Chicano students in 1968, and the 1970 Chicano Moratorium, all representative of racial strife within the city. Los Angeles was one of the cities to pass gay rights bills during the 1970s (in 1979 after years of pressure from prominent performing arts members), and the first city where AIDS was discovered and focused upon during the 1980s.
Also in the 1980s, Los Angeles became the center of the heavy metal music scene, especially glam metal bands. In 1984, the city hosted the Summer Olympic Games for the second time. It become the most financially successful Olympics in history, and only the second Olympics to turn a profits — the other being the 1932 Summer Olympics, also held in Los Angeles.
During the remainder of the 1980s, Los Angeles was plagued by increasing gang violence and police corruption. Racial tensions erupted again in 1991 with the Rodney King controversy and the large-scale riots that followed the acquittal of his police attackers. In 1994, the 6.7 Northridge earthquake shook the city, causing $12.5 billion in damage and 72 deaths.
Voters defeated efforts by the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood to secede from the city in 2002. In the early 2000's, the Los Angeles City Council adopted the idea of smart growth, in part to combat both growing traffic problems and the lack of open land for development. Restrictions on parking for new development, residential conversions, and the hotel bed tax have been greatly eased to encourage development. This has lead to thousands of residential unit conversions in downtown Los Angeles, and major new construction such as the Hollywood and Highland complex, LA Live Entertainment District, the Grand Avenue Project, the NBC Universal West Coast headquarters complex, and many new high-rise buildings throughout the city, in what is being termed as "Manhattanization."
Gentrification and urban redevelopment have occurred in many parts of the city, most notably Hollywood, Koreatown, Silverlake, Echo Park and Downtown. Gentrification has recently spilled into the eastern and southern portions of Los Angeles, with announcements of several billion-dollar residential high-rise and commercial center projects.
The city is situated in a Mediterranean climate or Dry-Summer Subtropical zone (Köppen climate classification Csb on the coast, Csa inland), USDA Zones 8-11, experiencing mild, somewhat wet winters and warm to hot summers. The prevalent warm southerly airflow and the blocking effect of mountains to the north give the city a much warmer climate than would be expected. The average annual temperature is 18.86°C (around 66 °F), much higher than comparable coastal locations at the same distance from the equator elsewhere such as Sydney or Cape Town. Breezes from the Pacific Ocean tend to keep the beach communities of the Los Angeles area cooler in summer and warmer in winter than those further inland; summer temperatures can sometimes be as much as 18 °F (10°C) warmer in the inland communities compared to that of the coastal communities. A few coastal "micro-climates" have never recorded a temperature below freezing. Coastal areas also see a phenomenon known as the "marine layer," a dense cloud cover caused by the proximity of the ocean that helps keep the temperatures cooler throughout the year. When the marine layer becomes more common and pervades farther inland during the months of May and June, it is called May Gray or June Gloom. Temperatures in the summer can exceed 90 °F (32 °C), but average summer daytime highs in downtown are 82 °F (27 °C), with overnight lows of 63 °F (17 °C). Winter daytime high temperatures reach around 65 °F (18 °C), on average, with overnight lows of 48 °F (10 °C) and during this season rain is common. The warmest month is August, followed by July and then September. This somewhat large case of seasonal lag is caused by the influence of the ocean and its latitude of 34° north.
The median temperature in January is 57 °F (13 °C) and 73 °F (22 °C) in August. The highest temperature recorded within city borders was 119.0 °F (48.33 °C) in Woodland Hills on July 22, 2006; the lowest temperature recorded was 18.0 °F (−7.8 °C) in 1989, in Canoga Park. The highest temperature recorded for Downtown Los Angeles was 112.0 °F (44.4 °C) on June 26, 1990, and the lowest temperature recorded was 28.0 °F (−2.0 °C) on January 4, 1949.
Rain occurs mainly in the winter and spring months (February being the wettest month), with great annual variations in storm severity. Los Angeles averages 15 inches (385 mm) of precipitation per year. Tornado warnings are also issued, which are extraordinarily rare downtown, though waterspouts are seen during severe storms at beaches. Snow is extraordinarily rare in the city basin, but the mountainous slopes within city limits typically receive snow every year. The greatest snowfall recorded in downtown Los Angeles was 2.0 inches (5 cm) on January 15, 1932.
The city is governed by a mayor-council system. The current mayor is Antonio Villaraigosa. There are 15 city council districts. Other elected city officials include the City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and the City Controller Laura N. Chick. The city attorney prosecutes misdemeanors within the city limits. The district attorney, elected by county voters, prosecutes misdemeanors in unincorporated areas and in 78 of the 88 cities in the county, as well as felonies throughout the county. The Los Angeles Civic Center (where city hall is located) is the largest grouping of government buildings in the U.S., outside of Washington D.C.
Los Angeles City HallThe Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) polices the city of Los Angeles, but the city also maintains four specialized police agencies; The Office of Public Safety, within the General Services Department (which is responsible for security and law enforcement services at city facilities, including City Hall, city parks and libraries, the Los Angeles Zoo, and the Convention Center), the Port Police, within the Harbor Department (which is responsible for land, air and sea law enforcement services at the Port of Los Angeles), the Los Angeles City Schools Police department which handles law enforcement for all city schools, and the Airport Police, within the Los Angeles World Airports Department (which is responsible for law enforcement services at all four city-owned airports, including Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), LA/Ontario International Airport (ONT), LA/Palmdale Regional Airport (PMD), and Van Nuys Airport (VNY), (the busiest general aviation airport in the country).
LAPL, Los Angeles Public Library System and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) are among the largest such institutions in the country. LAUSD is the second largest school district in the United States; only the New York City Department of Education is larger. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power provides service to city residents and businesses.
The San Fernando Valley and Hollywood area attempted an unsuccessful campaign of secession in 2002. The campaign to defeat secession was led by then Mayor James Hahn.
Los Angeles has been experiencing significant decline in crime since the mid-1990s, and hit a record low in 2007, with 392 homicides. Criminality peaked in 1992 with 72,667 recorded acts of violence — of which 1,096 were homicides — and 245,129 recorded property crimes. The year before, Los Angeles recorded 1,025 murders. The distribution of homicides in the city is uneven with nearly half of them occurring in the four stations of the South Bureau of the LAPD encompassing South Los Angeles and the Harbor area. The LAPD makes live crime statistics available on the LAPD crimestats and epolice web site.
Current mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.
Many movies and songs about Los Angeles depict the notion that the city is home to a large number of gangsters and professional criminals. According to a May 2001 Drug Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center, Los Angeles County is home to 152,000 gang members organized into 1,350 gangs. Among the most infamous are the Crips, Bloods, 18th Street, Florencia 13, Mara Salvatrucha, Cyclones13 and Surenos street gangs. This has led to the city being referred to as the "Gang Capital of America." Car chases happen more often than in most other major cities, with the city's complex freeway system allowing for lengthier pursuits.
