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Southern California

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This article is about the south of the U. S. state of California. For the peninsula in western Mexico, see Baja California peninsula. For the university in Los Angeles, see University of Southern California. For the Mexican state of the Sudcalifornianos, see Baja California Sur.
"SoCal" and "Socal" redirect here. For other uses, see SoCal (disambiguation).
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
Downtown San Diego skyline
Downtown Riverside skyline
Downtown San Bernardino skyline

Southern California (SoCal) is the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Though there is no official definition for the northern boundary of Southern California, most definitions in use include all the land south of the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles (113 km) north of Los Angeles.[1] Southern California can be divided into Greater Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, and the Southern Border. Southern California is a large cultural and economic center for the State of California.[citation needed]

Its population encompasses a total of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles metropolitan area, Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area, San Diego metropolitan area, Oxnard-Thousand Oaks metropolitan area and the El Centro metropolitan area. Out of these, three are major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles metropolitan area with over 12 million inhabitants, the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area with over 4 million inhabitants, and the San Diego metropolitan area with over 3 million inhabitants. The region as a whole is home to approximately 24 million people, which is more than half of California's population, and is the nation's most populous region behind the urban seaboard of the Northeastern United States.

To the west of Southern California lies the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the international border between the United States and Mexico; to the east are the Mojave and Colorado Deserts and the Colorado River at the state's border with Arizona and Nevada.

Significance

San Diego Marina district
Sunset in Venice, California

Within its boundaries are two major world cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the country's largest metropolitan areas.[2] With a population of 1,336,865, San Diego is the second most populous city in California, and the eighth most populous in the U.S.

Its counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are in the top 15 most populous counties in the United States and all five are the top 5 most populous counties in California.[3] The region is also home to Los Angeles International Airport, the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume (see World's busiest airports by passenger traffic) and the second by international passenger volume (see Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic); San Diego International Airport the busiest single runway airport in the world; Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport; major commercial airports at Orange County, Ontario, Burbank and Long Beach; and numerous smaller commercial and general aviation airports. Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' busiest commercial port, the adjacent Port of Long Beach, and the Port of San Diego. Also of note in the region is the freeway system, which is the world's busiest. Six of the seven lines of the commuter rail system, Metrolink, run out of Downtown Los Angeles, connecting Los Angeles, Ventura, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly.

University of California, Santa Barbara

The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (Los Angeles (UCLA), Irvine, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and San Diego (UCSD) campuses), 10 California State University campuses (Channel Islands, Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), Northridge (CSUN), San Bernardino, San Diego (SDSU), and San Marcos campuses), as well as private institutions such as Caltech, the University of Southern California, Pepperdine University, Loyola Marymount University, Chapman University, the Claremont Colleges and the University of San Diego (USD).

The famous Hollywood sign in L.A., a symbol of the city's world famous entertainment culture.
File:Universal Studios Hollywood 2007.jpg
Universal Studios at Hollywood

Southern California is also the entertainment (motion picture, television, and recorded music) capital of the world and is home to Hollywood, the center of the motion picture industry. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company (which also owns ABC), Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures (parent company of Dreamworks), 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, and as well as Univision, Activision, and THQ. Southern California is also home to the world's largest adult entertainment industry, located primarily in the San Fernando Valley.

Besides the entertainment industry, Southern California is also home to a large home grown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Volcom, Quiksilver, O'Neill clothing division, No Fear, [Lost Enterprises, Sector 9[4], RVCA, Body Glove and Surfline[5] are all headquartered here. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, professional surfers Rob Machado, Tim Curran, Bobby Martinez, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds, and Chris Ward, and professional snowboarder Shaun White live in Southern California. Some of the world's legendary surf spots are here as well, including Trestles, Rincon, The Wedge, Huntington Beach, and Malibu, and it is second only to the island of Oahu in terms of famous surf breaks. Some of the world's biggest extreme sports events including the X Games[6], Boost Mobile Pro[7], and the U.S. Open of Surfing are all in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting. The annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or "Transpac", from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachting's premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the America's Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995 and hosted three America's Cup races during that time.

Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Professional teams that are located in the region include the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA, and San Diego Chargers. Southern California also is home to a number of popular NCAA sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the San Diego State Aztecs.

Northern boundary

California counties below the sixth standard parallel
The famous Andaz West Hollywood Hotel on the Sunset Strip

There is a definition coinciding neatly with county lines uses the sixth standard parallel south[8] of Mount Diablo (144 miles south of Mt. Diablo at 35°47′28″N) which forms the northern borders of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and San Bernardino counties as the boundary. However counties most commonly thought of as making up Southern California are Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange, Riverside, Ventura, San Bernardino and Imperial. Urbanized Santa Barbara is also commonly included. The counties of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo are part of the Central Coast and Kern County is part of the Central Valley, therefore they are not generally considered part of Southern California.[citation needed]

Population, Land Area & Population Density (2008-07-01 est.)
County
Ref. 		Population
 Land
mi² 		Land
km² 		Pop.
/mi² 		Pop.
/km²
Los Angeles County[9] 9,862,049 4,060.87 10,517.61 2,428.56 937.67
Orange County[10] 3,010,759 789.40 2,044.54 3,813.98 1,472.59
San Diego County[11] 3,001,072 4,199.89 10,877.67 714.56 275.89
Riverside County[12] 2,100,516 7,207.37 18,667.00 291.44 112.53
San Bernardino County[13] 2,015,355 20,052.50 51,935.74 100.50 38.80
Kern County[14] 800,458 8,140.96 21,084.99 98.32 37.96
Ventura County[15] 797,740 1,845.30 4,779.31 432.31 166.92
Santa Barbara County[16] 405,396 2,737.01 7,088.82 148.12 57.19
San Luis Obispo County[17] 265,297 3,304.32 8,558.15 80.29 31.00
Imperial County[18] 163,972 4,174.73 10,812.50 39.28 15.17
Southern California 22,422,614 56,512.35 146,366.31 396.77 153.19
California 36,756,666 155,959.34 403,932.84 235.68 91.00

Urban landscape

Part of downtown San Bernardino

Southern California consists of a heavily developed urban environment, along with vast arid areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the second-largest urbanized region in the United States, second only to the Washington/Philadelphia/New York/Boston Northeastern Megalopolis. Whereas these cities are dense, with major downtown populations and significant rail and transit systems, much of Southern California is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, and San Bernardino, each of which is the center of its respective metropolitan area, composed of numerous smaller cities and communities.

Traveling south on Interstate 5, the main gap to continued urbanization is Camp Pendleton. The communities along Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 are so inter-related that Temecula has as much connection with SD Metro as it does with the Inland Empire. To the east, the United States Census Bureau considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, Riverside-San Bernardino Area as a separate metropolitan area from Los Angeles County. While many commute to L.A. and Orange Counties, there are some differences in development, as most of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties were developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

The Downtown Los Angeles skyline seen on a sunset October day. At 1,018 feet (310 m), 73 floors, The U.S. Bank Tower stands as the West Coast's tallest since 1989.

Regions

Divisions

Salton Sea in Imperial Valley
The Oceanside Pier in the Southern Border
Downtown Los Angeles

Southern California is divided culturally, politically, and economically into distinctive regions, each containing its own culture and atmosphere anchored usually by a city with both national and sometimes global recognition which are often the hub of economic activity for its respective region and being home to many tourist destinations. Each region is further divided into many culturally distinct areas, but as a whole combine to create the Southern California atmosphere.

Metropolitan areas

Southern California consists of one Combined Statistical Area, the Greater Los Angeles Area, and five Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

Major cities (over 200,000 inhabitants)

Disneyland in Anaheim.

Population figures for California cities are 2008 State of California estimates[19]

Other cities with over 100,000 inhabitants

Ventura City Hall in Old Town Ventura
Downtown Santa Monica

Other county seats (under 100,000 inhabitants)

Counties

The City of Long Beach
South of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains
North of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains

Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura are also counties in the Central Coast.

Geographical regions

Satellite view of cismontane Southern California

Southern California is also divided into the Coastal Region (Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County) and the larger, more sparsely populated, Desert Region of the Inland Empire (San Bernardino County and Riverside County) and Imperial Valley (Imperial County). The division between the Coastal Regions and the Inland Empire winds along the backs of the coastal mountain ranges such as the Santa Ana Mountains. A related geographical term is cismontane Southern California, which refers to the portion of California on the coastal side of the Transverse and Peninsular mountain ranges. The term "Southern California" often refers to this region specifically, as opposed to largely desert areas comprising the rest of the southern portion of the state, which are referred to as transmontane Southern California.

Geographic features

View from La Jolla Cove in San Diego
Summits in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino County
File:MojaveDesert.jpg
Coachella Valley Preserve in the Colorado Desert in Riverside County
The historic Mission Inn, located in the heart of downtown Riverside.

Earthquakes

Each year the southern California area has about 10,000 earthquakes. Nearly all of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred are greater than magnitude 3.0, and only about 15-20 are greater than magnitude 4.0.[20]

Major central business districts

Downtown Long Beach skyline

The following are major central business districts in Southern California:

Transportation

File:Lax sign.jpg
One of the large LAX signs that greet visitors to LAX. This sign is at the Century Boulevard entrance to Los Angeles International Airport

Airports

The following airports currently have regularly scheduled commercial service:

Freeways

Main article: Southern California freeways

Interstate Highways

U.S. Highway system

California State Routes

Note: highway segments with names listed in italics are surface streets and not freeways.

Public transportation

Communication

Telephone area codes

Map of some major area codes in Southern California

Colleges and universities

Main article: List of colleges and universities in Southern California

Sports teams

Team Sport League Venue
Los Angeles Avengers Arena football Arena Football League Staples Center
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Baseball American League (Major League Baseball) Angel Stadium of Anaheim
Los Angeles Dodgers National League (Major League Baseball) Dodger Stadium
San Diego Padres PETCO Park
Los Angeles Clippers Basketball National Basketball Association Staples Center
Los Angeles Lakers
San Diego Chargers Football National Football League Qualcomm Stadium
Anaheim Ducks Ice hockey National Hockey League Honda Center
Los Angeles Kings Staples Center
Chivas USA Soccer Major League Soccer The Home Depot Center
Los Angeles Galaxy

See also

References

  1. ^ McWilliams, Carrey (1973). Southern California, An Island on the Land (9th ed.). Layton: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9780879050078. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ The three metropolitan areas are: 1) Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana (the second largest in the US), 2) Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario (the Inland Empire) and 3) San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos - see: United States metropolitan areas
  3. ^ http://www.csac.counties.org/images/users/1/2008population.pdf
  4. ^ Sector 9 Incorporated - San Diego, CA
  5. ^ Surfline - Huntington Beach, CA
  6. ^ X Games Take a Turn for the Better - Los Angeles Times
  7. ^ "Construction Stirs Debate on Effects on 'Perfect Wave'". The New York Times. 2006-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
  8. ^ Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District
  9. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Los Angeles County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Orange County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), San Diego County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Riverside County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), San Bernardino County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Kern County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Ventura County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Santa Barbara County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), San Luis Obispo County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ U.S. Census Bureau (2008-07-01), Imperial County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts., retrieved 2009-11-19 {{citation}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Population Estimates for Cities, Counties and the State with Annual Percent Change". California Department of Finance.
  20. ^ "USGS facts". data from Southern California Earthquake Center. Retrieved 2009-03-18.
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