1.
County (United States)
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In the United States, an administrative or political sub-division of a state is a county, which is a region having specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The term county is used in 48 U. S. states, while Louisiana and Alaska have functionally equivalent subdivisions called parishes, most counties have subdivisions which may include municipalities and unincorporated areas. Others have no divisions, or may serve as a singular consolidated city-county. Some municipalities are in multiple counties, New York City is uniquely partitioned into multiple counties/boroughs, the U. S. federal government uses the term county equivalent to describe non-county administrative or statistical areas that are comparable to counties. Alaskas Unorganized Borough is divided into 11 census areas that are equivalent to counties. As of 2013, the United States has 3,007 counties and 137 county equivalents for a total of 3,144 counties, the number of counties per state ranges from the 3 counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas. Counties have significant governmental functions in all states except Rhode Island and Connecticut, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has removed most government functions from eight of its 14 counties. The county with the largest population, Los Angeles County, counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the workload in Jamestown. Americas oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia, in Northampton County, maryland established its first county, St. Marys, in 1637, and Massachusetts followed in 1643. When independence came, the framers of the Constitution did not provide for local governments, rather, they left the matter to the states. Subsequently, early state constitutions generally conceptualized county government as an arm of the state, in some states, these powers are partly or mostly devolved to the counties smaller divisions usually called townships, though in New York, New England and Wisconsin they are called towns. The county may or may not be able to override its townships on certain matters, the newest county in the United States is the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado, established in 2001 as a consolidated city-county. The newest county-equivalents are the Alaskan boroughs of Skagway established in 2007, Wrangell established in 2008, there are 40 consolidated city-counties in the U. S. Similarly, some of Alaskas boroughs have merged with their principal cities creating unified city-boroughs. Some such consolidations and mergers have created cities that rank among the geographically largest cities in the world, see also, #County names, regarding Louisiana. Independent cities, These are cities that legally belong to no county, Washington, D. C. outside the jurisdiction of any state, has a special status. The city of Washington comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, when founded in 1801, the District consisted of two counties and three cities. In 1846, Alexandria County – including the then–City of Alexandria – was given back to Virginia, in 1871, the three remaining entities – the City of Washington, Georgetown City, and Washington County – were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress
2.
Downtown Los Angeles
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Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, as well as a diverse residential neighborhood of some 58,000 people. A2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs, Downtown Los Angeles is known for its government buildings, parks, theaters and other public places. The earliest known settlements in the area of what is now Downtown Los Angeles was by the Tongva, on September 4,1781, the city was founded by a group of settlers who trekked north from present-day Mexico. Land speculation increased in the 1880s, which saw the population of the city explode from 11,000 in 1880 to nearly 100,000 by 1896. Infrastructure enhancements and the laying of a street grid eventually brought development south of the settlement into what is today the Civic Center. By 1920, the private and municipal rail lines were the most far-flung and most comprehensive in the world in mileage. By this time, an influx of residents and aggressive land developers had transformed the city into a large metropolitan area. Rail lines connected four counties with over 1,100 miles of track, during the early part of the 20th century, banking institutions clustered around South Spring Street, forming the Spring Street Financial District. The Los Angeles Stock Exchange was also located on the corridor from 1929 until 1986 before moving into a new building across the Harbor Freeway, Broadway became the nightlife, shopping and entertainment district of the city, with over a dozen theater and movie palaces built before 1932. Numerous specialty stores also flourished including those in the business which gave rise to the Downtown Jewelry District. Among these early jewelers included the Laykin Diamond Company and Harry Winston & Co. both of which found their beginnings in the Alexandria Hotel at 5th and Spring Streets. The Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal opened in May,1939, unifying passenger service among local, regional. It was built on a scale and would be one of the last of the Great Railway Stations built in the United States. Following World War II, suburbanization, the development of the Los Angeles freeway network, many corporate headquarters slowly dispersed to new suburbs or fell to mergers and acquisitions. The once-wealthy Bunker Hill neighborhood became a haven for low-income renters, the drastic reduction in the number of residents in the area further reduced the viability of streetfront businesses that would be able to attract pedestrians. For most Angelenos, downtown became a destination as they would come into the area for a particular objective. This period saw the clearing and upzoning of the neighborhood as well as the shuttering of the Angels Flight funicular railway in 1969. Angels Flight resumed operation in 1996 for a period of five years, on March 15,2010, the railway once again opened for passenger service following extensive upgrades to brake and safety systems
3.
Venice, Los Angeles
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Venice is a residential, commercial and recreational beachfront neighborhood on the Westside of the Californian city of Los Angeles. Venice was founded in 1905 as a resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it merged with Los Angeles, today, Venice is known for its canals, beaches, and the circus-like Ocean Front Walk, a two-and-a-half-mile pedestrian-only promenade that features performers, mystics, artists and vendors. Venice, originally called Venice of America, was founded by tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a resort town,14 miles west of Los Angeles. He and his partner Francis Ryan had bought two miles of oceanfront property south of Santa Monica in 1891 and they built a resort town on the north end of the property, called Ocean Park, which was soon annexed to Santa Monica. After Ryan died, Kinney and his new partners continued building south of Navy Street, tourists, mostly arriving on the Red Cars of the Pacific Electric Railway from Los Angeles and Santa Monica, then rode the Venice Miniature Railway and gondolas to tour the town. But the biggest attraction was Venices mile-long gently sloping beach, cottages and housekeeping tents were available for rent. The population soon exceeded 10,000, the town drew 50,000 to 150,000 tourists on weekends. Attractions on the Kinney Pier became more amusement-oriented by 1910, when a Venice Miniature Railway, Aquarium, Virginia Reel, Whip, Racing Derby, and other rides and game booths were added. Since the business district was allotted only three streets, and the City Hall was more than a mile away, other competing business districts developed. Unfortunately, this created a political climate. Kinney, however, governed with a hand and kept things in check. When he died in November 1920, Venice became harder to govern, with the amusement pier burning six weeks later in December 1920, and Prohibition, the towns tax revenue was severely affected. The Kinney family rebuilt their amusement pier quickly to compete with Ocean Parks Pickering Pleasure Pier, when it opened it had two roller coasters, a new Racing Derby, a Noahs Ark, a Mill Chutes, and many other rides. By 1925 with the addition of a coaster, a tall Dragon Slide, Fun House. Several hundred thousand tourists visited on weekends, in 1923 Charles Lick built the Lick Pier at Navy Street in Venice, adjacent to the Ocean Park Pier at Pier Avenue in Ocean Park. Another pier was planned for Venice in 1925 at Leona Street, for the amusement of the public, Kinney hired aviators to do aerial stunts over the beach. One of them, movie aviator and Venice airport owner B. H. DeLay and he also initiated the first aerial police in the nation, after a marine rescue attempt was thwarted
4.
Rodeo Drive
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Rodeo Drive /roʊˈdeɪ. oʊ/ is a two-mile-long street, primarily in Beverly Hills, California, with its southern segment in the City of Los Angeles. Its southern terminus is at Beverwil Drive, and its terminus is at its intersection with Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The larger business district surrounding Rodeo, known as the Golden Triangle and they platted the street that very year, in 1906. By 1907, 75x160 foot parcels on Rodeo were selling for $1,100 each and it became a bridle path in 1912, when the Beverly Hills Hotel was built on a former lima bean field. By November 1925, similar lots were selling for between $15,000 and $30,000, almost double what theyd been selling for in September, the central part of Rodeo eventually became a business street with hardware stores, gas stations, beauty shops, and bookstores. In 1958, real estate developer Marvin Kratter bought 48,000 square feet of land at the corner of Rodeo, the acreage is across the street from the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and Kratter paid something over $2 million for it. In 1967 Fred Hayman, the father of Rodeo Drive, opened Giorgio Beverly Hills, in 1968 Aldo Gucci opened a store on Rodeo, which catalyzed the process by which the street took on its present form. Van Cleef & Arpels opened in 1969, followed by a Vidal Sassoon salon in 1970, in 1980 Carroll noted that before then There was nothing at all of an international nature on the street. Rodeo was purely local in flavor, in 1977 the Rodeo Drive Committee launched a publicity campaign designed to make everyone around the world think of Rodeo Drive as the shopping street of the rich and famous. The RDC wanted to make Rodeo Drive an economic engine for Beverly Hills, in 1976, Bijan Pakzad opened a showroom on Rodeo, which helped to solidify Rodeo Drives reputation as a luxury shopping destination. Pakzad touted his Rodeo Drive store as the most expensive in the world, the building at 332 N. Rodeo was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The Rodeo Collection, a 45 store,70,000 square foot shopping mall opened in 1983 at 421 N. Rodeo Drive, the building is only four stories high with the first floor below street level in order to satisfy local building codes. Two Rodeo Drive, another shopping center, was built in 1990. It initially housed, amongst other stores, Christian Dior and Valentino, the original developer, Douglas Stitzel, sold the property for about $200 million immediately after its completion. The shopping center was hard-hit by the early 1990s recession, with occupancy dropping to as low as 60%. By 2007 the property was financially stable again and was sold to a group of Irish investors for $275 million and it resembles a “faux-European shopping alley” and features a cobblestone street. Some architects have claimed that Two Rodeo Drive is similar to a park in the manner of Disneyland. French fashion firm Lanvin opened a store on Rodeo in 2011, in 2003, Rodeo Drive was given an $18 million makeover which included widening the streets and the addition of crosswalks
5.
Beverly Hills, California
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Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658, sometimes referred to as 90210, one of its primary ZIP codes, it was home to many actors and celebrities throughout the 20th century. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field, gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would later become Beverly Hills on August 3,1769, travelling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard. The area was settled by Maria Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828 and they called their 4,500 acres of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. in 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson and Henry Hancock. By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres and was being bought up by anglos from Los Angeles. Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker acquired most of it, at this point, the area was known as the Hammel and Denker Ranch. By 1888, Denker and Hammel were planning to build a town called Morocco on their holdings and they did not find enough to exploit commercially by the standards of the time, though. In 1906, therefore, they reorganized as the Rodeo Land and Water Company, renamed the property Beverly Hills, subdivided it, the development was named Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Beverly, Massachusetts and because of the hills in the area. The first house in the subdivision was built in 1907, although sales remained slow, Beverly Hills was one of many all-white planned communities started in the Los Angeles area around this time. Restrictive covenants prohibited non-whites from owning or renting property unless they were employed as servants by white residents and it was also forbidden to sell or rent property to Jews in Beverly Hills. Burton Green began construction on The Beverly Hills Hotel in 1911, the hotel was finished in 1912. The visitors drawn by the hotel were inclined to purchase land in Beverly Hills and that same year, the Rodeo Land and Water Company decided to separate its water business from its real estate business. The Beverly Hills Utility Commission was split off from the company and incorporated in September 1914, buying all of the utilities-related assets from the Rodeo Land. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built a mansion, finished in 1921, the glamor associated with Fairbanks and Pickford as well as other movie stars who built mansions in the city contributed to its growing appeal. By the early 1920s the population of Beverly Hills had grown enough to make the water supply a political issue, in 1923 the usual solution, annexation to the city of Los Angeles, was proposed. There was considerable opposition to annexation among such famous residents as Pickford, Fairbanks, Will Rogers, the Beverly Hills Utility Commission, opposed to annexation as well, managed to force the city into a special election and the plan was defeated 337 to 507. In 1925, Beverly Hills approved an issue to buy 385 acres for a new campus for UCLA. The cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice also issued bonds to pay for the new campus
6.
Santa Catalina Island (California)
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Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U. S. state of California in the Gulf of Santa Catalina. The island is 22 miles long and 8 miles across at its greatest width, the island is located about 22 miles south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is 2,097 feet Mt. Orizaba, Santa Catalina is part of the Channel Islands of California archipelago and lies within Los Angeles County. Catalina was originally settled by Native Americans who called the island Pimugna or Pimu, the first Europeans to arrive on Catalina claimed it for the Spanish Empire. Over the years, territorial claims to the transferred to Mexico. Since the 1970s, most of the island has been administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy and its total population in the 2010 census was 4,096 people,90 percent of whom live in the islands only incorporated city, Avalon. The second center of population is the village of Two Harbors at the islands isthmus. Development occurs also at the settlements of Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers, the Tongva called the island Pimu or Pimugna and referred to themselves as the Pimugnans or Pimuvit. Archeological evidence shows Pimugnan settlement beginning in 7000 BC, the Pimugnans had settlements all over the island at one time or another, with their biggest villages being at the Isthmus and at present-day Avalon, Shark/Little Harbor, and Emerald Bay. The Pimugnans were renowned for their mining, working and trade of soapstone which was found in quantities and varieties on the island. This material was in demand and was traded along the California coast. The first European to set foot on the island was the Portuguese explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, on October 7,1542, he claimed the island for Spain and christened it San Salvador after his ship. Over half a century later, another Spanish explorer, Sebastián Vizcaíno, vizcaino renamed the island in the saints honor. The colonization of California by the Spanish coincided with the decline of the Pimugnans because of diseases brought by them from Europe. By the 1830s, the entire native population had migrated to the mainland to work in the missions or as ranch hands for the many private land owners. Franciscan friars considered building a mission on Catalina, but abandoned the idea because of the lack of water on the island. While Spain maintained its claim on Catalina Island, foreigners were forbidden to trade with colonies, russian hunters from the Aleutian Islands, and America set up camps on Santa Catalina and the surrounding Channel Islands to hunt otters and seals around the island for their pelts
7.
Santa Monica Pier
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The Santa Monica Pier is a large double-jointed pier at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California. With an iconic entrance, the pier is popular with residents, the pier contains Pacific Park, a family amusement park with its one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art, solar paneled Ferris wheel. It also has an original carousel hippodrome from the 1920s, the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium operated by Heal the Bay, shops, entertainers, an arcade, a trapeze school, pubs. The piers west end is a location for anglers. The pier is very popular for Pokémon Go. During the summer months the pier is venue to weekly outdoor concerts, movies, Santa Monica has had several piers, however, the Santa Monica Pier is two adjoining piers that long had separate owners. The long, narrow Municipal Pier opened September 9,1909, primarily to carry sewer pipes beyond the breakers, the short, wide adjoining Pleasure Pier to the south, a. k. a. Newcomb Pier, was built in 1916 by Charles I. D. Looff and his son Arthur, the Carousel was built in 1922 on what was often referred to as a Pleasure Pier and features 44 hand-carved horses. It was rebuilt in 1990 inside the Hippodrome, the La Monica Ballroom opened on July 23,1924. Eslick with a Spanish façade and French Renaissance interior, it was the largest dance hall on the west coast, accommodating 5,000 dancers on its 15, 000-square-foot hard maple floor. Country music star Spade Cooley began broadcasting his television show from the ballroom in 1948. In the summer of 1955, the Hollywood Autocade opened at the La Monica with one-hundred famous and unusual cars, including Jack Benny’s Maxwell, the La Monica Ballroom was demolished in 1963. The Pleasure Pier thrived during the 1920s but faded during the Great Depression, during the 1930s, the pier was mainly used as a ferry landing, while most of the amusement park facilities were closed down and its attractions sold off. The bridge and entry gate to Santa Monica Pier were built in 1938 by the federal Works Project Administration, the Newcomb Pier was privately owned until it was acquired by the city in 1974. During the 1960s and 1970s various plans were proposed that would entail removal of the pier, the strangest one called for the construction of an artificial island with a 1500-room hotel. It was approved by the City Council, but citizens formed Save Santa Monica Bay to preserve the pier, the outstanding order to raze the pier was revoked by the city council in 1973. Within that same year, the Carousel and Hippodrome were memorable sets featured in the film The Sting, in the 1950s, Enid Newcomb suggested to family friend Morris Pops Gordon that his two sons, George and Eugene, purchase and operate the Pier’s arcade. George’s daughters Marlene and Joanie have kept the business within the family, in 1983, the Santa Monica Pier experienced a significant loss
8.
Angeles National Forest
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The Angeles National Forest of the U. S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County in southern California. The ANF manages a majority of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, the national forest was established in 1908, incorporating the first San Bernardino National Forest and parts of the former Santa Barbara and San Gabriel National Forests. Angeles National Forest headquarters are located in Arcadia, California, the Angeles National Forest covers a total of 700,176 acres, protecting large areas of the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains. It is located just north of the densely inhabited area of Greater Los Angeles. The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, established in 2014 and managed by the U. S. Forest Service, is largely within the Angeles National Forest, the Angeles National Forest contains five nationally designated wilderness areas. On September 30,1925, portions of the Angeles National Forest, Angeles National Forest is registered as California Historical Landmark #717, for being the first National Forest in the state. The campgrounds at Broken Blade, Twisted Arrow and Pima Loops were closed on July 26,2013 after squirrel infected with bubonic plague was discovered. During the fire, two died after driving off the Mt. Gleason County Road looking for an alternate route to get the inmates out at Camp 16. The Station Fire threatened the Mount Wilson Observatory atop Mt. Wilson, the site includes two telescopes, two solar towers, and transmitters for 22 television stations, several FM radio stations, and police and fire department emergency channels. 2012 fires Several 2012 wildfires occurred, burning hundreds of acres across the mountain range. The Angeles National Forest manages the habitats, flora and fauna ecosystems, some of the rivers with watersheds within its boundaries provide valuable non-groundwater recharge water for Southern California. The existing protected and restored native vegetation absorb and slow surface runoff of rainwater to minimize severe floods, the land within the forest is diverse, both in appearance and terrain. Elevations range from 1,200 to 10,064 ft, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the forest. Much of this National Forest is covered with dense chaparral shrub forests with oak woodlands, subsequent to the fire there was a heavy growth of poodle dog bush, apparently triggered by the fires effect on dormant seeds, that lasted for several years. The plant produces prolific lavender flowers, unfortunately, as visitors to the Forest discovered, contact with it may cause a poison-oak-like rash. Tree species for which the forest is important include bigcone Douglas-fir, Coulter pine, the National Forest also contains some 29,000 acres of old growth, with, Jeffrey pine forests and mixed conifer forests, and lodgepole pine the most abundant types. Los Angeles County has declared that passes are not required on county-maintained roads, there are also many other areas that do not require the pass. Castaic Lake is located 7 miles north of Magic Mountain Amusement Park in Valencia, California, County Department of Parks and Recreation Elizabeth Lake is located approximately 10 miles west of Palmdale, California, on Elizabeth Lake Rd. savetheeastfork
9.
Vasquez Rocks
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Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park is a 932-acre park located in the Sierra Pelona Mountains, in northern Los Angeles County, California. It is located in the town of Agua Dulce between the suburbs of Santa Clarita and Palmdale, the area is also visible from the Antelope Valley Freeway. The rock formations were formed by erosion during uplift about 25 million years ago. The Tataviam people were living here when the Spanish arrived and their language was probably a Takic Uto-Aztecan language. They lived in grass huts within villages, with the coming of the Spanish missions, some members of this people were forced to work there. They eventually began speaking Spanish and inter-marrying with other tribes, the last of the Tataviam died in 1916. In 1873 and 1874, Tiburcio Vásquez, one of Californias most notorious bandits and his name has since been associated with this geologic feature. The land and rock formations were acquired piece-meal by Los Angeles County beginning with a donation of 40 acres in 1971 with more parcels being added through 2001, the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the park. Vasquez Rocks was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 because of its significance as a site for the Shoshone. Approximately 25 million years ago, the collision of the North American, energetic erosion of the highland along with uplift and volcanism caused debris flow sediments to be distributed in alluvial fans into a rapidly subsiding rift known as the Soledad Basin. These sediments were buried and lithified through the Miocene and became exposed more recently via activity along the San Andreas fault system, the strata are now highly tilted, are disconnected from their source area and are deformed and offset by the later fault activity. The distinctive hogback ridges of steeply inclined strata serve to demonstrate the significant fault activity in the area. These sedimentary rocks, named the Mint Canyon Formation, were laid down about 8-15 million years ago, in the upper layers, many animal fossils have been found, including camels, horses and rodents. In 1935, Universal Pictures assigned Stanley Bergerman as executive producer on the film Werewolf of London, Bergerman suggested Vasquez Rocks as the filming location used to portray Tibet. Since then, Vasquez Rocks has been used repeatedly in motion pictures, television series, the site once held the exterior façade of the fort in the 1950s television series The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Even after the series ended, the façade could still be there until around 1964-65. It was finally torn down because the rickety wooden stairs leading up to a rampart became a danger to those risking climbing them, vazquez Rocks is prominently seen in a 1963 episode of Outer Limits called The Zanti Misfits. The prominent rock formation has been nicknamed Kirks Rock due to being featured in several Star Trek episodes, each time representing a different planet
10.
Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve
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Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is a state-protected reserve of California, USA, harboring the most consistent blooms of California poppies, the state flower. The reserve is located in the westside of Antelope Valley in northern Los Angeles County,15 miles west of Lancaster. The reserve is at an elevation ranging from 2,600 to 3,000 feet above sea level in the Mojave Desert climate zone, the reserve is administered by the California Department of Parks and Recreation. Other wildflowers within the reserve include the owls clover, lupine, goldfields, cream cups, the intense blooming season for the California poppy falls usually within late winter to early spring, during the months of mid-February through mid-May. Blooming seasons are dependent on the amount of rainfall during the winter to spring seasons. Within the reserve, there are 7 miles of trails, including a section for wheelchair access. In order to keep the fields in a natural state. The park service also excludes sheep and cattle grazing the hillsides. Until the early 1970s sheep once grazed the buttes in the western Antelope Valley, pronghorn grazed long before then, until the railroad first arrived in 1876. With the exception of service dogs, pets are prohibited from the reserve, under California state law, visitors are also prohibited from taking flowers away from the reserve. Since 1994, controlled fires are used to regulate dead brush, exotic species, the reserve is located 7 miles east of Arthur B
11.
Seal of Los Angeles County, California
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The first Seal of the County of Los Angeles was established in 1887 and has been changed three times since then. It is used on official county documents, vehicular decals, on buildings and it is also featured prominently on the countys flag. The current seal was adopted in 2016, based on a design from 2004, the words “County of Los Angeles, California” surround the seal. The woman stands on the shore of the Pacific Ocean with the San Gabriel Mountains, on her right, there are the engineering instruments of a triangle and a caliper, a Spanish galleon, and a tuna. On her left, the images of The Hollywood Bowl with two stars above it, the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, and the championship cow Pearlette, the original 1887 county seal displayed grapes, surrounded by the words Board of Supervisors — Los Angeles Co. County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn designed a new seal, which was drawn by Millard Sheets and it included an image of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit trees, and the symbols of a cross and oil derricks. In 2004, the seal was altered, a short time later, on May 25,2004, the ACLU alleged that the seals cross was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. The Boards new seal had also voluntarily eliminated Pomona and the oil derricks, in the current seal, the stars and an image of the Hollywood Bowl replaced the oil towers. The cross was removed, and replaced with an image of the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel, County buildings and older county vehicles still use old seals, probably due to lack of effort in removing the seals. Uniformed county officers issued badges before 2004 did not receive new badges when the seal was updated, and thus continue to wear the older design. Occasionally, when a new seal is adopted, old ones may continue to be used until they are no longer due to wear. The cross on the mission was removed during renovation, the ACLU of Southern California expressed opposition, alleging the action would violate both the Californian and United States Constitution. A federal lawsuit was filed against Los Angeles County on February 6,2014, in April 2016, the addition of the cross to the seal was ruled unconstitutional by a U. S. District Court judge. Flag of the City of Los Angeles List of U. S. county and city insignia Los Angeles County Seal — Old, archived from the original on December 23,2015
12.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
13.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
14.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
15.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held 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 yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
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Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
17.
Queen of Heaven
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Queen of Heaven is a title given to the Virgin Mary by Christians mainly of the Roman Catholic Church, and also, to some extent, in Eastern Orthodoxy and Anglicanism. The title is a consequence of the First Council of Ephesus in the century, in which the Virgin Mary was proclaimed theotokos. The Catholic teaching on this subject is expressed in the papal encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, the Eastern Orthodox Churches do not share the Catholic dogma, but themselves have a rich liturgical history in honor of Mary. Queen of Heaven is one of many Queen titles used of the Virgin Mary. The title derived in part from the ancient Catholic teaching that Mary, at the end of her life, was bodily and spiritually assumed into heaven. Work of human Redemption as Mother and cooperator, she remains forever associated to Him, with an unlimited power. Ad caeli reginam states that the principle on which the royal dignity of Mary rests is her Divine Motherhood. So with complete justice St. John Damascene could write, When she became Mother of the Creator, in the Hebrew Bible, under some Davidic kings, the gebirah, the Great Lady, usually the Mother of the King, held great power as advocate with the king. In 1 Kings 2,20, Solomon said to his Mother Bathsheba, seated on a throne at his right, Make your request, Mother, Most sees here a sort of type of Mary. In the New Testament, the title has several biblical sources, at the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel announces that. Will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will be without end. The biblical precedent in ancient Israel is that the mother of the king becomes the queen mother, Marys queenship is a share in Jesus’ kingship. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth, then another sign appeared in heaven, an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. In the Hebrew Bible the term queen of heaven appears in a context unrelated to Mary and this title was probably given to Asherah, a Caananite idol and goddess worshipped in ancient Israel and Judah. For a discussion of queen of heaven in the Hebrew Bible, in the fourth century St. Ephrem called Mary “Lady” and “Queen. ”Later Church fathers and doctors continued to use the title. A text probably coming from Origen gives her the title domina and that same title also appears in many other early writers, e. g. Jerome, and Peter Chrysologus. The first Mariological definition and basis for the title of Mary Queen of Heaven developed at the Council of Ephesus, the Council fathers specifically approved this version against the opinion, that Mary is only the mother of Jesus. Nobody had participated in the life of her son more, than Mary, the word Queen appears about the sixth century, and is common thereafter
18.
County seat
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A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is used in the United States, Canada, Romania, China, in the United Kingdom and Ireland, county towns have a similar function. In the United States, counties are the subdivisions of a state. Depending on the state, counties may provide services to the public, impose taxes. Some types of subdivisions, such as townships, may be incorporated or unincorporated. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government is known as the seat of its respective county, a county seat is usually, but not always, an incorporated municipality. The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia, likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey, though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township, in some of the colonial states, county seats include or formerly included Court House as part of their name. Most counties have only one county seat, an example is Harrison County, Mississippi, which lists both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats. The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult, there have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of pride for the towns involved. There are 36 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states, Coffee County, for example, the official county seat is Greensboro, but an additional courthouse has been located in nearby High Point since 1938. For example, Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County, Florida, in New England, the town, not the county, is the primary division of local government. Historically, counties in this region have served mainly as dividing lines for the judicial systems. Connecticut and Rhode Island have no county level of government and thus no county seats, in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maine the county seats are legally designated shire towns. County government consists only of a Superior Court and Sheriff, both located in the shire town. Bennington County has two towns, but the Sheriff is located in Bennington. In Massachusetts, most government functions which would otherwise be performed by county governments in other states are performed by town governments. As such, Massachusetts has dissolved many of its county governments, two counties in South Dakota have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county
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Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the Board are officially nonpartisan, and are elected by constituents of their respective districts, as of 2016, they are, Supervisors are elected to four-year terms by a vote of Los Angeles County citizens who reside in the supervisorial district. Supervisors must reside and be voters in the district they represent, supervisorial terms begin the first Monday in December after the election. To curb the powers of the five supervisors, Los Angeles County voters passed Measure B in March 2002 with a majority of 64%, if a supervisor fills a vacancy, the unexpired term counts towards the term limit if there are more than two years left to serve. The provisions of the measure were not retroactive, meaning that the term limit clock for supervisors who were serving at the time the measure passed would start with the next election. Don Knabe, Mike Antonovich, and Yvonne Brathwaite Burke could continue to serve until 2016, while Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County is divided into 5 supervisorial districts, with each Supervisor representing a district of approximately 2 million people. Los Angeles County follows usual California practice in that it did not subdivide into separate counties or increase the number of supervisors as its population soared after 1920. The only county with more than five supervisors is San Francisco, as a result, the concentration of local administrative power in each county supervisor is high, each one represents more than 2 million people. Despite the Countys diverse population, the Board had lacked any Latino representation until 1991, a local nickname some use for the Board is the five little kings. Unseating an incumbent supervisor is extraordinarily difficult, due largely to the prohibitive cost of mounting a challenge in districts of such enormous geographical. Like other elected officials, supervisors enjoy built-in advantages of incumbency, the chair of the Board of Supervisors has the option of calling himself or herself mayor. The title has drawn criticism as it can lead to confusion with the mayor of the city of Los Angeles. However, those who support the use of the say that all five members of the Board of Supervisors act as mayors or chief executives for the millions of people who live in unincorporated areas. Only Mike Antonovich used the title when chairing the Board, primarily to represent and promote Los Angeles County when dealing with international diplomacy. Otherwise, all other chairs have used the chair, chairman, or chairwoman. Members of the Board of Supervisors also sit on the board of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the change was made in response to several candidates either dropping out or declining to accept the position to replace former Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen. The Board meets every Tuesday at 9,30 a. m. at the Board Hearing Room at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles, on Tuesdays following a Monday holiday, Board meetings begin after lunch, at 1,00 p. m. Board meetings are conducted in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order, the Brown Act, the Chief Executive Officer, the County Counsel and the Executive Officer, or their deputies, attend each Board meeting
20.
Hilda Solis
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Hilda Lucia Solis is an American politician and a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 1st district. Solis previously served as the 25th United States Secretary of Labor from 2009 to 2013, Solis was raised in La Puente, California, by immigrant parents from Nicaragua and Mexico. She earned degrees from the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, returning to her native state, she was elected to the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees in 1985, the California State Assembly in 1992, and the California State Senate in 1994. She was the first Hispanic woman to serve in the State Senate, Solis sought to pass environmental justice legislation. She was the first female recipient of the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in 2000. Solis defeated a long-time Democratic incumbent as part of getting elected to the U. S. House of Representatives in 2000 and she was reelected easily to four subsequent terms. In December 2008, President-elect Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Solis as the next U. S. Secretary of Labor. She took office after being confirmed by the United States Senate in February 2009, there she focused on workplace safety issues and on strengthening compliance with wage and hour laws. In January 2013, Solis stepped down from her post as Labor Secretary, returning to the area of her upbringing, in April 2014, Solis formally announced a campaign for a seat on the non-partisan Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Solis won the seat outright in a June 3 election and was sworn in on December 1, Solis was born in Los Angeles, California, as the daughter of immigrant parents who had met in citizenship class and married in 1953, Juana Sequeira and Raul Solis. Her father was a Teamsters shop steward in Mexico and, after coming to the United States, there he again organized for the Teamsters, to gain better health care benefits for workers, but also contracted lead poisoning. Her mother worked for over 20 years on the line of Mattel once her children were all of school age, belonged to the United Rubber Workers. She stressed the importance of education and was a devout Roman Catholic, hilda Solis is the third oldest of seven siblings and grew up in a tract home in La Puente, California. She had to raise her youngest siblings, and later said of her childhood. We had to very quickly. Maybe she should follow the career of her sister and become a secretary. ”However, another counselor did encourage her to attend college. She took her sisters to the library to get them to follow her lead. She graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and she then earned a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Southern California in 1981
21.
Mark Ridley-Thomas
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Mark Ridley-Thomas is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 2nd District. He served as a California State Senator, representing the 26th district from 2006 to 2008 and was a California State Assemblyman representing the 48th district from 2002 until 2006 and he was Chairman of the Assembly Democratic Caucus. Before his six years in the Legislature, he was on the Los Angeles City Council from 1991 to 2002, as of 2016 he is the sole male member of the board of supervisors. Ridley-Thomas is a graduate of Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles and earned a degree in Social Relations. Ridley-Thomas went on to earn a Ph. D. in Social Ethics, after a brief stint as a high-school teacher, Ridley-Thomas served for a decade as executive director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference of Greater Los Angeles. During that period he also hosted a public affairs program on Pacifica Radio station KPFK-FM in Los Angeles, Ridley-Thomas is married to Avis Ridley-Thomas, who was the administrator of the Dispute Resolution Center in the office of the Los Angeles City Attorney. She recently retired from The City of Los Angeles and they have twin sons, Sebastian and Sinclair, who are both graduates of Morehouse College. Ridley-Thomas was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 1991, during his tenure on the council, he empaneled the Eighth District Empowerment Congress, a forerunner of the modern Neighborhood Council. He was also the president pro tem of the council, serving as the acting Mayor of Los Angeles on several occasions, in his 2002 election, he defeated his Republican opponent, Gerard T. Robinson, with more than 80% of the vote. He also sponsored a law that aided redevelopment in Exposition Park as part of an effort to attract a team. In 2006, Ridley-Thomas announced that he was running for the California State Senate and he defeated his opponent in the Democratic primary, Marvin C McCoy, with more than 87% of the vote and faced no Republican opposition in the general election. He was also one of the lawmakers who called for tourists to boycott the LAX Hilton because of its efforts to overturn a city ordinance that would grant a living wage to airport-area hotel workers. He also served on the Senate Appropriations, Energy, Utilities and Communications, Health, on October 25,2007, Ridley-Thomas announced that he would be running for the Second District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors being vacated by Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. His most formidable opponent was former LAPD police chief Bernard C, Parks, the member of the Los Angeles City Council who replaced Ridley-Thomas when he was elected to the State Assembly. Ridley-Thomas was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the labor unions, numerous elected officials. Ridley-Thomas had a larger margin of victory one-on-one against Parks. Ridley-Thomas became the first black man elected to the Los Angeles County Board. In 2012 Ridley-Thomas ran for his term as Supervisor
22.
Sheila Kuehl
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Sheila James Kuehl is an American politician and former child actor, currently the member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the 3rd District. In 1994, she became the first openly gay California legislator and in 1997, Kuehl most recently served as a Democratic member of the California State Senate, representing the 23rd district in Los Angeles County and parts of southern Ventura County. A former member of the California State Assembly, she was elected to the Senate in 2000 and she was elected to her supervisorial post in 2014. In her capacity as Supervisor, she sits on the Metro Board, First 5 LA. Kuehl was born Sheila Ann Kuehl in Tulsa, Oklahoma and her father was an airplane construction worker. He was Catholic and her mother was Jewish, as a child actress she performed under the stage name Sheila James. At age seven Kuehls parents noticed that she loved to try to play piano, Kuehls parents agreed to pay for lessons when a door-to-door salesmen came to their home selling Saturday classes for tap-dancing, ballet, and singing lessons at Meglin Studios. Her parents would accompany her by bus for tap-dancing lessons at the studio every Saturday, as the tap instructors wife taught drama classes for an additional 50 cents, Kuehls parents signed her up for those as well. The classes would have recitals on Monday nights to showcase what they had learned, at one recital Kuehl played an assistant in a skit called The Old Sleuth where she sat under a table listening for clues. To indicate she was listening Kuehl made faces which caused the audience to laugh, the skit was ruined but the drama teacher, Mrs. Meglin was impressed. Kuehl later recalled that Meglin told her mother The kid’s pretty funny, and my mother said, Oh, yeah, she can read, she skipped two grades, she’s really very good. Mrs. Meglin said, There’s a radio series holding interviews…at an agent’s office on Sunset Boulevard, would you be interested in taking her to the interview. All she has to do is read… So we went for the interview and there were like 150 or 200 kids there, and I was called back…and eventually I got the part in what probably was the last family radio series before it went all music and news. Airing in the adjacent studios was the popular drama The Cisco Kid, Kuehl would later cite her interaction with the other NBC radio talent as influential in forming her professionalism and comedy skills. The show centred around Singleton playing Penny Williamson a widow selling real estate in a town to support two daughters. Due to her talent exhibited on radio, Kuehls agent convinced her parents to bring her to auditions for a television role. Kuehl later recalled The same 200 kids I think were there for the interview and I was called back and called back and called back, and beginning in 1950, I did that series for six years. Kuehl was signed to play Jackie, Stuart Erwins tomboy daughter, after The Stu Erwin Show ended Kuehl continued to work as an actress while going to school
23.
Janice Hahn
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Janice Kay Hahn is the incumbent member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for the Fourth District. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the Representative from Californias 44th congressional district from 2011 to 2016 and she was previously a Los Angeles City Councilwoman representing the 15th district from 2001-11. From 1997-99 she served as a representative on the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission. On July 12,2011, Hahn won an election for Congress to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Jane Harman. She defeated Republican Craig Huey, a Tea Party-backed direct marketer from the Torrance area, in February 2015, Hahn announced she was retiring from Congress to run for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. In the November 8 general election, Hahn defeated Steve Napolitano to succeed Don Knabe to become the next Los Angeles Supervisor from District 4 and she was sworn in on December 5,2016. Hahn was born in Los Angeles and raised in a politically involved family and she is the daughter of Ramona Belle and Kenneth Frederick Hahn, a 40-year Los Angeles County Supervisor who started his career in elective politics as a Los Angeles City Councilman. Her uncle, Gordon Hahn, was a member of the California Assembly and her brother, James Hahn, served as Los Angeles City Controller from 1981–85, City Attorney from 1985 until 2001, and Mayor of Los Angeles from 2001 until 2005. Hahns maternal grandparents served as missionaries in Japan in the 1920s and 1930s, Hahn attended Abilene Christian University in Texas, earning a bachelor of science in education in 1974. She taught at the Good News Academy, a school in Westchester from 1974-78. Hahn was elected to represent the Fifteenth District on the Los Angeles Charter Reform Commission, in 1998, U. S. Congresswoman Jane Harman declined to run for re-election, choosing instead to run for Governor of California. Hahn then won the Democratic nomination to succeed Harman, but lost the election to Republican State Assemblyman Steven T. Kuykendall 49%-47%. Hahn served on the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 15th District, the 15th District encompasses the San Pedro Harbor and includes the ethnically diverse communities of Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, San Pedro, Watts and Wilmington. She was reelected to her third and final term in November 2009 and she has been called one of the most pro-labor members of the City Council, and a consistent opponent of layoffs and furloughs for city workers. Hahn walked the lines with unionized dockworkers in 2002. After the Bush administration suggested it would intervene in the dispute by using government troops to operate the ports. Theres no room for the federal government, theres only one reason for them to get involved, and thats to break the union, she said. Hahn cites her efforts to clean up the Port of Los Angeles as one of her main accomplishments while on the City Council
24.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
25.
Pacific Time Zone
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The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC−7 and is based on the mean solar time of the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States and Canada, this zone is generically called the Pacific Time Zone. Specifically, it uses Pacific Standard Time when observing standard time, most of Canada uses daylight saving time. In Mexico, the UTC−8 time zone is known as the Northwest Zone, the largest city in the Pacific Time Zone is Los Angeles, the citys metropolitan area is the largest in the zone. The following states or areas are part of the Pacific Time Zone, California Washington Oregon – all, except for most of Malheur County, nevada Idaho Panhandle – the northern half of Idaho, north of the Salmon River. The town of Hyder, Alaska, is officially in the Alaska Time Zone, however, most of the town observes the Pacific Time because of strong connections with nearby Stewart, British Columbia, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. The United States Post Office in Hyder strictly adheres to Alaska Time, in Canada, the Pacific Time Zone includes most of British Columbia, all of Yukon, and the townsite of Tungsten. In Mexico, the state of Baja California lies completely within the Pacific Time Zone and this does not include the state of Baja California Sur, which is south of Baja California. Through 2006, the time changed to daylight time at 02,00 LST to 03,00 LDT on the first Sunday in April. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time each adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007, in Mexico, beginning in 2010, the portion of the country in this time zone uses the extended dates, as do some other parts. The vast majority of Mexico, however, still uses the old dates
26.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
27.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
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North American Numbering Plan
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The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses 25 distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean and the U. S. territories. Not all North American countries participate in the NANP, each participating country forms a regulatory authority that has plenary control over local numbering resources. The FCC also serves as the U. S. regulator, Canadian numbering decisions are made by the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium. The NANP divides the territories of its members into numbering plan areas which are encoded numerically with a telephone number prefix. Each telephone is assigned a telephone number unique only within its respective plan area. The telephone number consists of a central office code and a four-digit station number. The combination of a code and the telephone number serves as a destination routing address in the public switched telephone network. For international call routing, the NANP has been assigned the calling code 1 by the International Telecommunications Union. The North American Numbering Plan conforms with ITU Recommendation E.164, from its beginnings in 1876 and throughout the first part of the 20th century, the Bell System grew from essentially local or regional telephone systems. These systems expanded by growing their subscriber bases, as well as increasing their service areas by implementing additional local exchanges that were interconnected with tie trunks and it was the responsibility of each local administration to design telephone numbering plans that accommodated the local requirements and growth. As a result, the Bell System as a developed into an unorganized system of many differing local numbering systems. The diversity impeded the efficient operation and interconnection of exchanges into a system for long-distance telephone communication. The new numbering plan was accepted in October 1947, dividing most of North America into 86 Numbering Plan Areas. Each NPA was assigned a Numbering Plan Area code, often abbreviated as area code and these codes were first used by long-distance operators to establish long-distance calls between toll offices. The first customer-dialed direct call using area codes was made on November 10,1951, from Englewood, New Jersey, to Alameda, California. Direct distance dialing was introduced across the country and by the early 1960s most areas of the Bell System had been converted and it was commonplace in cities. In the following decades, the system expanded to all of the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda. By 1967,129 area codes had been assigned, mexican participation was planned, but implementation stopped after two area codes had been assigned and Mexico opted for an international numbering format, using country code 52
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Area code 213
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Area code 213 is a California telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan. It contains downtown Los Angeles and its environs, and is an enclave area code, in that it is completely surrounded by area code 323. By area, it is one of the smallest area codes in the nation, Area code 213 was one of the three original area codes assigned to California in 1947. Initially it covered the third of the state from the Central Coast to the Mexican border. The numbering plan area was extended to the north in 1950, merging the southern portion of the Central Valley, including Bakersfield, as a result of southern Californias rapid expansion during the second half of the 20th century, the plan area 213 was split on numerous occasions. The first area split became necessary in 1951, when most of the southern portion, including Orange County, in 1957,213 was restricted to Los Angeles County, with most of the old 213s northern and western portion becoming area code 805. In 1984, the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley became area code 818, in 1991, West Los Angeles and the South Bay became area code 310. The 213 area code was reduced to its current size in 1998, despite Southern Californias continued rapid growth and the proliferation of cell phones and pagers,213 was not projected to be exhausted until 2050. This change is planned to effect on August 1,2017. An American hip-hop supergroup from Long Beach, California consisting of Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Area code 213 is referenced in Warren G and Nate Doggs song Regulate, Dr. Dres Still D. R. E. The Electric Six song Im the Bomb, LL Cool Js song Going Back to Cali, Whitney Houstons song Its Not Right but Its Okay and it is also referenced in Area Codes by Ludacris featuring Nate Dogg. The Los Angeles Clippers mascot, Chuck the Condor, has the jersey number 213, List of California area codes List of NANP area codes NANPA Area Code Map of California California Public Utilities Commissions Report on the 213 Area Code
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Area codes 310 and 424
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Area code 310 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 213 on November 2,1991. Area code 424 is an overlay of 310 that became effective on July 26,2006 and it is the area code that covers the West Los Angeles and South Bay areas of Los Angeles County, including Santa Catalina Island. It also includes a portion of Ventura County. Area code 424 is the first non-mobile area code overlay in Southern California, therefore, callers in the 310 area code are no longer able to dial a seven-digit number even if they are dialing within the same area code. On January 25,1997 area code 310 was split, creating area code 562 for the southeast portion of Los Angeles County and a portion of Orange County. The south and east portions of 310, roughly the Gateway Cities area of Los Angeles County from Long Beach to Whittier, in lieu of executing an additional split, a new area code, the 424 overlay for the entire 310 region, was first announced in early 1999. Previously, several proposals had been made to split 310 at Imperial Highway, the South Bay below the boundary would have received area code 424. South Bay governments and businesses opposed such a move, since it would require changes to business cards, stationery, signage. Championed by Los Angeles Times columnist Robert Scheer in the papers Santa Monica insert section, responding to the controversy, the California Assembly passed the Consumer Area Code Relief Act of 1999 on September 9,1999, and the 424 overlay was tabled. Having been staved off nearly seven years, the 424 overlay was finally implemented on July 26,2006, on December 31,2005, customers began dialing 1 + area code + seven-digit number whenever a call is placed from the 310 area code. After July 26,2006, customers were required to use the new dialing procedure for all calls, List of California area codes List of NANP area codes North American Numbering Plan NANPA Area Code Map of California
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Area code 323
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Area code 323 is a California telephone area code. It covers, roughly, the area of central Los Angeles, including Hollywood, but it excludes Downtown Los Angeles and its immediately adjoining neighborhoods such as Koreatown, Echo Park,323 also includes several gateway cities of the region, including Bell and Huntington Park. 323 was created in a split from area code 213 on June 13,1998, area code 323 is projected to exhaust in 2017. The plan necessitates ten-digit dialing in the overlay area, cities in the 323 area code
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Area code 562
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Area code 562 is a California telephone area code that was split from area code 310 on January 25,1997. It is the code for much of southeastern Los Angeles County, California. Prior to November 2,1991, this region had been part of area code 213, on that date, most of the western and southern portions of the old 213 region became area code 310. On January 25,1997, the portion of the old 310 territory split again to become the 562 area code. Overlays were a new concept at the time, and met considerable resistance due to the need for ten-digit dialing. com,562 Area Code Area 562 Directory
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Area codes 747 and 818
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Area code 818 is a California telephone area code that consists largely of the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California. It was split from area code 213 on January 7,1984, on June 14,1997, area code 818 was split again, with area code 626 having been created for most of the San Gabriel Valley. Area code 747 is an overlay of 818 that became effective on May 18,2009, after the standardization of American telephone area codes in 1947, almost all of Los Angeles County used the 213 area code. The 818 area code entered service on January 7,1984, Area code 626 was split from it on June 14,1997. In November 1999, it was proposed that at some date, a new 747 area code would split from 818. Public hearings were held, and the public sentiment was for an overlay rather than the split. The new 747 area code would be used for numbers associated with new service, on April 24,2008, the CPUC decided that area code 747 would overlay area code 818 effective May 18,2009. From that date, new numbers could be assigned to the new area code, callers within the 818 and 747 area codes would be required to dial 1 plus the area code for all calls. There was a period starting October 11,2008 during which callers could still complete calls using the seven-digit number. Beginning April 18,2009, calls would need to be dialed with 1 plus the area code, the first telephone number block to be assigned to area code 747 became effective on October 11,2009. Bell Canyon North Ranch Oak Park The 747 area code conflicted with 10-digit Session Initiation Protocol addresses on some VoIP networks such as Gizmo5. Because of this conflict, some outgoing calls from VoIP networks using a 10-digit SIP address could have be mistaken for calls originating from the actual 747 area code and these addresses are no longer in use as Gizmo5 service was discontinued as of April 3,2011. In the movie Go, Ronna tells Claire not to go 818 on me when she acts reluctant to do some of the films illegal/dangerous activities, List of California area codes List of NANP area codes North American Numbering Plan NANPA Area Code Map of California
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Area code 909
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Area code 909 is a California telephone area code that covers far eastern Los Angeles County and southwestern San Bernardino County. The 909 area code was split from area code 714 on November 14,1992, western Riverside County was split off from 909 into area code 951 on July 17,2004. Originally on that date, the area retaining the 909 area code was to be overlaid by a new area code 752. However, this plan was shelved prior to the 909/951 split. 909 still covers small portions of Corona, Riverside, and Moreno Valley, under the traditional NANPA plan,909 was the worst area code for pulse dialers, in contrast to area codes such as 212 and 213. Area code 909 also has the distinction of being the second to last new area code with a 0 as the digit to go online. The 909 by Jim Stewart is a 2003 novel that chronicles the trials, in 2004, KROQ-FM released a charity album entitled Christmas Time in the 909, which included a track of the same name by Greenbrier Lane. In 2009, the episode Stark Raving Dad of The Simpsons reaired on the Fox network for the first time since 1993, in honor of Michael Jacksons death. However, the 2009 airing blanked out the 1-909- prefix now that it described not only an area code but a legitimate phone number, making this a very accidental use. The article noted that the noun 909-er had entered the popular culture as a term of abuse. List of California area codes List of NANP area codes North American Numbering Plan North American Numbering Plan Administration NANPA Area Code Map of California
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Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
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GDP
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Gross Domestic Product is a monetary measure of the market value of all final goods and services produced in a period. Nominal GDP estimates are used to determine the economic performance of a whole country or region. The OECD defines GDP as a measure of production equal to the sum of the gross values added of all resident and institutional units engaged in production. ”An IMF publication states that GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services - that is. Total GDP can also be broken down into the contribution of industry or sector of the economy. The ratio of GDP to the population of the region is the per capita GDP. William Petty came up with a concept of GDP to defend landlords against unfair taxation during warfare between the Dutch and the English between 1652 and 1674. Charles Davenant developed the method further in 1695, the modern concept of GDP was first developed by Simon Kuznets for a US Congress report in 1934. In this report, Kuznets warned against its use as a measure of welfare, after the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, GDP became the main tool for measuring a countrys economy. The switch from GNP to GDP in the US was in 1991, the history of the concept of GDP should be distinguished from the history of changes in ways of estimating it. The value added by firms is relatively easy to calculate from their accounts, but the value added by the sector, by financial industries. GDP can be determined in three ways, all of which should, in principle, give the same result and they are the production approach, the income approach, or the expenditure approach. The most direct of the three is the approach, which sums the outputs of every class of enterprise to arrive at the total. The income approach works on the principle that the incomes of the factors must be equal to the value of their product. This approach mirrors the OECD definition given above, deduct intermediate consumption from gross value to obtain the gross value added. Gross value added = gross value of output – value of intermediate consumption, value of output = value of the total sales of goods and services plus value of changes in the inventories. The sum of the value added in the various economic activities is known as GDP at factor cost. GDP at factor cost plus indirect taxes less subsidies on products = GDP at producer price, for measuring output of domestic product, economic activities are classified into various sectors. Subtracting each sectors intermediate consumption from gross output gives the GDP at factor cost, adding indirect tax minus subsidies in GDP at factor cost gives the GDP at producer prices
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United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
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Delaware
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Delaware is a state located in the Mid-Atlantic and/or Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, to the northeast by New Jersey, the state takes its name from Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, an English nobleman and Virginias first colonial governor. Delaware occupies the portion of the Delmarva Peninsula and is the second smallest, the sixth least populous. Delaware is divided into three counties, the lowest number of counties of any state, from north to south, the three counties are New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. While the southern two counties have historically been agricultural, New Castle County has been more industrialized. Before its coastline was explored by Europeans in the 16th century, Delaware was inhabited by groups of Native Americans, including the Lenape in the north. It was initially colonized by Dutch traders at Zwaanendael, near the present town of Lewes, Delaware was one of the 13 colonies participating in the American Revolution. On December 7,1787, Delaware became the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, the Delaware Indians, a name used by Europeans for Lenape people indigenous to the Delaware Valley, also derive their name from the same source. The surname de La Warr comes from Sussex and is of Anglo-Norman origin and it came probably from a Norman lieu-dit La Guerre. This toponymic could derive from the Latin word ager, from the Breton gwern or from the Late Latin varectum, the toponyms Gara, Gare, Gaire also appear in old texts cited by Lucien Musset, where the word gara means gore. It could also be linked with a patronymic from the Old Norse verr, Delaware is 96 miles long and ranges from 9 miles to 35 miles across, totaling 1,954 square miles, making it the second-smallest state in the United States after Rhode Island. Delaware is bounded to the north by Pennsylvania, to the east by the Delaware River, Delaware Bay, New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean, small portions of Delaware are also situated on the eastern side of the Delaware River sharing land boundaries with New Jersey. The state of Delaware, together with the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the definition of the northern boundary of the state is unusual. Most of the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania was originally defined by an arc extending 12 miles from the cupola of the courthouse in the city of New Castle and this boundary is often referred to as the Twelve-Mile Circle. This is the only nominally circular state boundary in the United States, to the west, a portion of the arc extends past the easternmost edge of Maryland. The remaining western border runs slightly east of due south from its intersection with the arc, the Wedge of land between the northwest part of the arc and the Maryland border was claimed by both Delaware and Pennsylvania until 1921, when Delawares claim was confirmed. Delaware is on a plain, with the lowest mean elevation of any state in the nation. Its highest elevation, located at Ebright Azimuth, near Concord High School, the northernmost part of the state is part of the Piedmont Plateau with hills and rolling surfaces
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Rhode Island
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Rhode Island, officially the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. Rhode Island is the smallest in area, the eighth least populous, and its official name is also the longest of any state in the Union. Rhode Island is bordered by Connecticut to the west, Massachusetts to the north and east, the state also shares a short maritime border with New York. It boycotted the 1787 convention that drew up the United States Constitution, on May 29,1790, Rhode Island became the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. Rhode Islands official nickname is The Ocean State, a reference to the fact that the state has several large bays, Rhode Island covers 1,214 square miles, of which 1,045 square miles are land. Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States, the official name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four settlements. Rhode Island is now commonly called Aquidneck Island, the largest of several islands in Narragansett Bay, Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the area now known as the city of Providence. This was adjoined by the settlement of Warwick, hence the plural Providence Plantations and it is unclear how Aquidneck Island came to be known as Rhode Island, although there are two popular theories. Explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano noted the presence of an island near the mouth of Narragansett Bay in 1524, subsequent European explorers were unable to precisely identify the island that Verrazzano had named, but the Pilgrims who later colonized the area assumed that it was Aquidneck. A second theory concerns the fact that Adriaen Block passed by Aquidneck during his expeditions in the 1610s, historians have theorized that this reddish appearance resulted from either red autumn foliage or red clay on portions of the shore. The earliest documented use of the name Rhode Island for Aquidneck was in 1637 by Roger Williams, the name was officially applied to the island in 1644 with these words, Aquethneck shall be henceforth called the Isle of Rodes or Rhode-Island. The name Isle of Rodes is used in a document as late as 1646. Dutch maps as early as 1659 call the island Red Island, Williams was a theologian forced out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Seeking religious and political tolerance, he and others founded Providence Plantation as a proprietary colony. Providence referred to the concept of providence, and plantation was an English term for a colony. State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations is the longest official name of any state in the Union, advocates for excising plantation asserted that the word specifically referred to the British colonial practice of establishing settlements which disenfranchised native people. Advocates for retaining the name argued that plantation was simply an archaic English synonym for colony, the referendum election was held on November 2,2010, and the people voted overwhelmingly to retain the entire original name. It shares a maritime border with New York State between Block Island and Long Island
United States
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Los Angeles County
