LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second-largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A., it is rated an alpha world city having an estimated population of 3.8 million and spanning over 1,214.9 square km in Southern California. Los Angeles is one of the world's most prominent centers of culture, technology, and international trade. The city and its immediate vicinity lead the world in producing popular entertainment — such as motion picture, television, video games and recorded music — which forms the base of Los Angeles' international fame and global status.

The flag of Los Angeles, California consists of a background of three notched stripes of green, gold and red. The colors represent olive trees (green), orange groves (gold) and vineyards (red). The flag was designed by Roy E. Silent and E.S. Jones in 1931 for the Los Angeles sesquicentennial. The city seal is shown in the center of the flag.

The shield of the seal is encircled by the legal name of the city and its date of founding (1781). Inside the circle, flanking the shield, are grapes, olives, and oranges, major crops of California, on their plants. These are also symbolized in the colors of the Flag of Los Angeles. The fruit are on a field or, bordered with a 77-bead rosary.

You may have more luck on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills where the expensive shops are. Julia Roberts or Barbara Streisand are likely to go there to do their shoppings

Celebrities don’t only work in LA, they also live in and around the city. Most celebrities’ homes are in Beverly Hills, an area near LA. It’s a place where the stars can feel safe: the Beverly Hills police is sure to turn up seconds after a call.

Holmby Hills. Owlwood
Built in 1936, this Italian style mansion has a guest cottage where Marilyn Monroe was an occasional guest in the early 1950s. The estate was later the home of Tony Curtis, and then Sonny and Cher.

Beverly Hills. Pickfair
The legendary estate of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks
Pickfair was home to a timeless romance, and was second only to the White House for hosting internationally renowned notables: Chaplin and Valentino, Albert Einstein, the King and Queen of Siam. . .

The stars’ addresses are not a secret, and the public can drive past celebrities’ homes, but you are unlikely to stop a star from the window of your car or a tourist bus.

Hollywood celebrities don't spend their lives hiding in their homes. Like everyone else, they enjoy going out shopping, and when they do, they are often spotted by fans. Naturally, some shops are more popular than others with the Hollywood set, and if you know exactly where they shop, you can increase your chance of spotting your favorite star.

Or try Hollywood Boulevard with its world-famous movie theatres like Mann’s Chinese Theatre, the Egyptian Theatre and the 3,300-seat Kodak Theatre.

Mann's Chinese Theatre is an iconic. The theatre opened May 18, 1927. It has since been home to many premieres, birthday parties, corporate junkets and two Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theatre's most famous traits are the autographed cement blocks that reside in the forecourt, which bear the signatures and markings of many of Hollywood's most revered stars and starlets.

The Kodak Theatre is a live theatre in the Hollywood and Highland retail. Since its opening on November 9, 2001, the theatre has been the home of the annual Academy Awards Ceremonies (The Oscars), which were first held there in March 2002, and is the first permanent home for the awards.

Every year, usually in February, celebrities are sure to come for the most invent in show biz: Oscar night. On that day the prestigious Academy Awards, called “Oscars”, are presented for the year’s best achievements in the film word.

The new Hollywood & Highland center right across the street, it's hard for the swarms of tourists to fail to notice the Hollywood Wax Museum. Here you can see wax figures of stars. There is often a large crowd of spectators milling out front of this museum, watching the antics of a costumed employee, dressed like Frankenstein, putting on a show to lure customers in from the Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Wax Museum isn't a complete disappointment. It offers almost 220 wax figures.

You’ll be surprised to find out that the “red carpet” area is actually a huge shopping mall called Hollywood and Highlands, which is full of shops and restaurants. This place attracts a lot of tourists who like to imagine that star directors like Quentin Tarantino will turn up for a cup of coffee just before the Oscar. They are unlikely to do so, because on the big day all the shops are closed and public can’t even go in.

If you don’t look down, Hollywood Boulevard looks like an ordinary street. There are no architectural masterpieces, it’s not very clean and it’s full of little souvenir shops. In the evening teenagers often come to sing and dance here. They pay no attention to the tourists and the stars in concrete.

Tourists can visit some more sights in Los Angeles.

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheatre at 2301 North Highland Avenue in Hollywood, that is used primarily for music performances. The "bowl" in this context is the natural cavity in the earth into which the amphitheater is built, rather than the shape of the bandshell. It officially opened on July 11, 1922 on the site of a natural amphitheater formerly known as the Daisy Dell, and has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since then. The Bowl is also home to a second resident ensemble, the "Hollywood Bowl Orchestra".

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. It seats 2,265 people and serves (among other purposes) as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. It was opened on October 23, 2003.

Griffith Observatory is located in Los Angeles. Sitting on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in L.A.'s Griffith Park, it commands a view of the Los Angeles Basin, including downtown Los Angeles to the southeast, Hollywood to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. The observatory is a popular tourist attraction that features an extensive array of space- and science-related displays

Capitol Records is a major United States-based record label owned by EMI. Capitol's parent EMI is one of the "big four" music companies. Its headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Among the more famous artists who have recorded for Capitol Records are Nat King Cole, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Duran Duran, the Beastie Boys, Coldplay, and Radiohead.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park that has hosted two Olympics and is home to the University of Southern California Trojans football team. The Coliseum was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.

LA is famous for one of its suburbs, Hollywood, which is the capital of world movie production.

The Hollywood Sign is a famous landmark in the Hollywood Hills, spelling out the name of the area in 15.2 m high white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923. The letters on the sign today are 1.5 m shorter than the original.

The biggest and most successful film studios – Disney, Universal, fox, Warner Bros, Paramount, Columbia, MGM – are here. These are star factories. A lot of famous stars have been through the gates pf these

20th Century Fox is one of the six major American film studios. It is the media conglomerate controlled by Rupert Murdoch. The company was founded in 1935.

Warner Bros. is one of the world's largest producers of film and television entertainment. Warner Bros. has several subsidiary companies, including Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Warner Bros. Animation, Warner Home Video, and DC Comics. Warner owns half of The CW Television Network.

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a major American motion picture production and distribution company, based in Hollywood. Founded in 1912, it is the oldest running movie studio in Hollywood, beating Universal Studios by a month. Paramount is owned by media conglomerate Viacom

MGM is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of film and television programs. From the end of the silent film era through World War II, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the most prominent motion picture studio in Hollywood, with the greatest output of all of the studios.

Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. was originally an American film and television production company. It is now part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Established in 1924, Columbia is tied with MGM for the fifth-oldest American movie studio still in operation.

The Walt Disney Company is the third largest media and entertainment corporation in the world. Founded on October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt and Roy Disney as a small animation studio, it has become one of the biggest Hollywood studios, and owner of eleven theme parks and several television networks, including the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).