CH.5- THE NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING CORE

Although the manufacturing core of the United States is in the northeast, Los Angeles is the home to plenty of manufacturing. Industries include: Apparel, Computer and Electronics, Transportation products, Fabricated Metal products, Food products, and Furniture- no wonder Los Angeles is home to the nation's largest port! One well known apparel manufacturer based in Los Angeles is American Apparel, which is known around the world. American Apparel owns an 800,000 square foot factory in downtown Los Angeles, and employees 4,000 people.

SOURCE: americanapparel.com 

Made in Downtown LA Vertically Integrated Manufacturing

CHAPTER.4- MEGALOPOLIS

Los Angeles definitely feels like a megalopolis. The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside area is one big metro area, thanks to Metropolitan Coalescence which makes L.A and it's surrounding cities feel like one huge city with numerous city centers. Spatial Interaction in Los Angeles is highly important, because so many of us who live in L.A have to get around our megalopolis and go from one city to another. Los Angeles experiences many of the problems other megalopolis encounter including: congestion, polution, and overcrowding, among others.  


The Los Angeles Megalopolis

CHAPTER.3- FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY

Los Angeles has a very diverse population thanks to the huge number of immigrants who call L.A home. Due to this immigration, the ethnic character of many of the cities communities have changed over time. Due to the vast immigration into Los Angeles, all of the following religions are widely practiced in our city: Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Baha'i, various Eastern Orthodox Churches, Sufism, among others.

Here is some interesting information relating to the demographics of Los Angeles which relate to chapter. 3, courtesy of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles#Demographics.

According to the 2006–08 American Community Survey, the racial composition of Los Angeles was as follows:

• White: 49.5% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 29.4%)
• Black or African American: 9.9%
• Native American: 0.6%
• Asian: 10.4%
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.2%
• Some other race: 26.5%
• Two or more races: 2.9%

• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 48.4%

 

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	%±
1850	1,610	—
1860	4,385	172.4%
1870	5,728	30.6%
1880	11,183	95.2%
1890	50,395	350.6%
1900	102,479	103.4%
1910	319,198	211.5%
1920	576,673	80.7%
1930	1,238,048	114.7%
1940	1,504,277	21.5%
1950	1,970,358	31.0%
1960	2,479,015	25.8%
1970	2,816,061	13.6%
1980	2,966,850	5.4%
1990	3,485,398	17.5%
2000	3,694,820	6.0%
2009	3,831,868	3.7%

CHAPTER.2- GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

One of the "recent" landform processes that helped shape North America is earthquakes. Earthquakes are a part of life in Los Angeles, effecting the way our buildings are roads are built, as well as the safety education we aquire in school. The largest fault that effects Los Angeles is the San Andreas Fault, which runs over 800 miles through california. Although the fault doesn't actually run through L.A, the power of one of the earthquakes it produces has the potential to shake L.A. like never before. Below is a list of significant earthquakes to hit the Los Angeles area:

YEAR MN DY HRMINSEC  LATITUTE  LONGITUDE MAG   DEPTH        NAME
---- -- -- --------  --------  --------- ------ -----  ---------------

1920                                     ml=4.9
1930                                     ml=5.2
1933  3 11 015407.80 33 37.00 -117 58.00 mw=6.4  0.00 Long Beach
1938  5 31 083455.41 33 41.93 -117 30.64 ml=5.2 10.00  
1941 10 22 065718.50 33 49.00 -118 13.00 ml=4.8  0.00  
1941 11 14 084136.30 33 47.00 -118 15.00 ml=4.8  0.00 
1952  8 23 100907.15 34 31.16 -118 11.89    5.2 13.10  
1969 10 24 082912.11 33 17.46 -119 11.56    5.1 10.00  
1970  9 12 143052.98 34 16.19 -117 32.40 ml=5.2  8.00 Lytle Creek
1971  2  9 140041.83 34 24.67 -118 24.04 mw=6.7  8.40 San Fernando (Sylmar)
1973  2 21 144557.30 34  3.89 -119  2.10 ml=5.9  8.00 Point Mugu
1979  1  1 231438.94 33 56.66 -118 40.88 ml=5.2 11.28 Malibu
1981  9  4 155050.13 33 39.09 -119  5.58 mw=6.0  6.00 Santa Barbara Island
1987 10  1 144220.02 34  3.68 -118  4.71 ml=5.9  9.53 Whittier Narrows
1988 12  3 113826.44 34  9.06 -118  7.81 ml=5.0 14.27 Pasadena
1989  1 19 065328.84 33 55.12 -118 37.65 ml=5.0 11.86 Malibu
1990  2 28 234336.75 34  8.62 -117 41.84 ml=5.3  4.49 Upland
1991  6 28 144354.66 34 16.19 -117 59.58 mw=5.8  9.15 Sierra Madre
1994  1 17 123055.39 34 12.80 -118 32.22 mw=6.7 18.40 Northridge

SOURCE: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/sca/la_eqs.php

CHAPTER 1- REGIONS AND THEMES

For this first post, I want to concentrate on the climatic region of Los Angeles.
Los Angeles enjoys a Subtropical- Mediterranean climate. The climate is characterized by warm to hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The average temperature during the day in downtown Los Angeles is 75 degrees; the average overnight temperature is 57 degrees. The average annual precipitation total is just over 15 inches, with February usually being the wettest month of the year. The chart below provides the total inches of rain Los Angeles has received over the last decade. As you can see, the 2004-2005 season was unusually wet, while the 2006-2007 season was unbearably dry!

Season (July 1-June 30)	Total Inches of Rainfall	Inches Above/Below (+/-) 132 Year Average
2008-2009	9.08	-5.90
2007-2008	13.53	-1.45
2006-2007	3.21	-11.77
2005-2006	13.19	-1.79
2004-2005	37.96	+22.98
2003-2004	9.25	-5.73
2002-2003	16.42	+1.44
2001-2002	4.42	-10.56
2000-2001	17.94	+2.96

SOURCE: http://www.laalmanac.com/weather/we13.htm