Happy 238th birthday, Los Angeles (video)

Eric Garcetti; Crystal Quintero, Xochitl, CC Liu, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit

L.A. River, fmrly. Porciuncula, to the Pacific

Beloved Latino-Jewish Mayor Eric Garcetti oversees Los Angeles (Spanish Los Ángeles or "The Angels," short for El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciuncula  or "The City of Our Lady Queen of the Angels on the Porciuncula River," originally Tongva Village) on its 238th birthday. It was born September 4, 1781.

• The Native Americans of ancient Los Angeles
• Buddhism has been in Los Angeles for a century+
• Buddhism arrived in California before Christianity
• Buddhism in the West

Spain's Mexican ranches of Los Angeles

Officially this is the City of Los Angeles, and it is only a small part of the much larger Los Angeles County, known by its initials L.A., which seem to stand for "Latin America." Once a part of Mexico under Spanish imperial rule, it is in many ways still blended with nearby neighbor Mexico to the south.

L.A. is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the U.S., after New York City, and the third most populous city in North America.

Tongva village Sa-angna, Ballona Wetlands

With an estimated population of nearly four million in a county of at least ten million, L.A. is the cultural, financial, commercial, and (because it has Hollywood) the entertainment center of Southern California -- and possibly the world. At least that's what many of its inhabitants seem to think.

The city -- which is not a desert but a concrete jungle -- is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic super diversity, its film-making industry, and sprawling suburbs. It is a megalopolis, the largest city on the West Coast of North America. It's big, the Big Orange but now with almost no Republicans. More