Book Hotels in Los Angeles

The first settlers of Los Angeles were the American Indians. In the 1500's the Shoshoni tribe lived in a village they called, Yang-na. The location of this village is now known as the down-town area of Los Angeles and was built along the Los Angeles River. Jan Rodriguez Cabrillo was an explorer from Portugal who was working for Spain. Yang-na was discovered by him in 1542. He continued to explore the coast of California and only noted this area on his map. Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest, and Gaspar de Portola, a spanish Army captain discovered Yang-na while leading an expedition from San Diego to Monterey Bay in 1769. Crespi knew it had all the features for a settlement and considered it a delightful place. The area was named after a phrase meaning; Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciuncula (Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Purciuncula). The Roman Catholic Church's founder was of the Franciscan order. A chapel in Italy, named Porciuncula was associated with Saint Francis of Assisi, both Los Angeles and LA come from this phrase.

A group of pioneers met at Guaymas, Mexico, in February 1781, on a journey to Los Angeles. They founded the Pueblo of Los Angeles upon their arrival on September 4, 1781. There was a total of 44 settlers, 11 women, 22 children, and 11 men. This group of settlers consisted of Spaniards, Indians, blacks, those of white and black ancestry, and white and indian ancestry. Los Angeles became a corporated city by the spring of 1850 but the Great Depression caused a slump of the econonmy in the 1930's. After World War ii, the city began to recover. People began coming to Los Angeles for work since the city had war plants that consisted of shipyards and aircraft factories. Los Angeles had a population of over 11/2 million people after the war ended in 1945.

Los Angeles is famous for the Universal Studios, which is the largest studio of television and movies. The average temperature in January is 55 degrees and 73 degrees in July. Los Angeles has very little rainfall in the summer and by fall the brush and grass is so dry that fires are such a hazard there.