Los Angeles Facts

Los Angeles's original name from 1781 was 'El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Río Porciúncula' - a 55-character mouthful that Spanish settlers thankfully shortened over time.

During the 1994 Northridge earthquake blackout in Los Angeles, emergency services received calls from concerned residents about strange silvery clouds in the sky. Many were seeing the Milky Way clearly for the first time in their lives.

A memorial tree was planted in Los Angeles' Griffith Park in honor of Beatles guitarist George Harrison. It was killed by an infestation of beetles.