Description & Facts: Los Angeles is a huge city with several district articles containing sightseeing, restaurant, nightlife and accommodation listings consider printing them all. This article is about the city of Los Angeles. For the Los Angeles Metropolitan area see Los Angeles County. The city of Los Angeles also known as the "City of Angels" or simply L.A. is the largest city in California. Located on a broad basin in Southern California, it's surrounded by vast mountain ranges, deep valleys, forests, desert and miles of coastline on the Pacific Ocean. The metropolitan area is the second largest in the United States in terms of population, containing over 17 million people who hail from all parts of the globe and speak over a hundred different languages. The metropolitan area is centered in Los Angeles County, but stretches into Orange County, Ventura County, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County. Los Angeles is an important center of culture, business, media, and international trade, but is most famous for being the center of the world's entertainment industry, which forms the base of its global status.