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Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and
Within Southern California are two major cities, 
The counties of
Southern California is generally considered the area of California south of the latitude 35°45', approximately one-third of the state, formed by the northern boundaries of 
Following the acquisition of the territory of California by the United States, several pro-slavery politicians attempted to arrange the division of Alta California at 36 degrees, 30 minutes, the line of the Missouri Compromise. Instead, the passing of the
Southern California consists of a heavily developed urban environment, home to some of the largest
Most of Southern California has a
Southern California consists of one of the more varied collections of geologic, topographic, and natural ecosystem landscapes in a diversity outnumbering other major regions in the state and country. The region spans from Pacific Ocean
*
As of the 2020 United States Census, Southern California has a population of 23,762,904. Despite a reputation for high growth rates, Southern California's population has grown slower than the state average since the 2000s. This is due to California's growth becoming concentrated in the northern part of the state as result of a stronger, tech-oriented economy in the
Southern California is home to many major business districts. Central business districts (CBD) include Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown Riverside, Downtown San Bernardino, Downtown San Diego, and the South Coast Metro. Within the Los Angeles Area are the major business districts of Pasadena, California, Downtown Pasadena, Burbank, California, Downtown Burbank, Santa Monica, California, Downtown Santa Monica, Glendale, California, Downtown Glendale and Downtown Long Beach. Los Angeles itself has many business districts, such as Downtown Los Angeles and those lining Wilshire Boulevard including Mid-Wilshire, the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, Miracle Mile, Downtown Beverly Hills and Westwood, Los Angeles, Westwood; others include Century City, Los Angeles, Century City and Warner Center, Los Angeles, Warner Center in the San Fernando Valley. The area of Santa Monica and Venice (and perhaps some of Culver City) is informally referred to as "Silicon Beach" because of the concentration of financial and marketing technology-centric firms located in the region.
The San Bernardino-Riverside Area maintains the business districts of Downtown San Bernardino, Hospitality Lane District, San Bernardino, California, Hospitality Business/Financial Centre, University District, San Bernardino, University District which are in the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside.
In Orange County, has highly developed suburban business centers (also known as edge cities) including the Anaheim–Santa Ana edge city along I-5; and another, the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city that stretches from the South Coast Metro to the Irvine Business Complex; Newport Center, Newport Beach, California, Newport Center; and Irvine Spectrum. Downtown Santa Ana is an important government, arts and entertainment, and retail district.
Downtown San Diego is the CBD of San Diego, though the city is filled with business districts. These include Carmel Valley, San Diego, Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights, San Diego, Del Mar Heights, Mission Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Sorrento Mesa, and University City, San Diego, University City. Most of these districts are located in Northern San Diego and some within North County regions.
Los Angeles
* Dry Town Water Park
* Pacific Park
* Raging Waters San Dimas
* Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
* Six Flags Magic Mountain
* Universal Studios Hollywood
Orange County
* Disney California Adventure
* Disneyland Park
* Knott's Berry Farm
* Knott's Soak City
* Wild Rivers (water park)
Riverside & San Bernardino
* Castle Park (amusement park), Castle Park
* Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs
San Diego
* Sesame Place San Diego
* Belmont Park (San Diego), Belmont Park
* Legoland California
* Legoland Waterpark
* San Diego Zoo
* San Diego Zoo Safari Park
* SeaWorld San Diego
Sections of the Southern California freeway system are often referred to by names rather than by the official numbers.
:''See: :Public transportation in Southern California, Public transportation in Southern California''
*Antelope Valley Transit Authority
*Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica)
*Gold Coast Transit (Ventura County)
*Golden Empire Transit (Bakersfield)
*Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
*Metrolink (California), Metrolink
*North County Transit District (northern San Diego County)
*Omnitrans (southwestern San Bernardino County)
*Orange County Transportation Authority
*Riverside Transit Agency (western Riverside County)
*San Diego Coaster (Oceanside to San Diego)
*San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
*San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority
*Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara MTD
The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, and University of California, San Diego, San Diego), 12 California State University campuses (California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, California State University, Channel Islands, Channel Islands, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Pomona, California State University, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, San Diego State University, San Diego, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo); and private institutions such as the California Institute of Technology, Azusa Pacific University, Chapman University, the Claremont Colleges (Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute), Loma Linda University, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, Pepperdine University, University of Redlands, University of San Diego and the University of Southern California.
online
*
excerpt and text search
covers military and industrial roles. *
* * * , a historical geography *
in JSTOR
* , covers 1880s–1940 * *
California Historical Society Collection, 1860–1960
– University of Southern California Libraries, USC Libraries Digital Collections
Historical Society of Southern California
{{coord, 34, 00, N, 117, 00, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Southern California, Megapolitan areas of California Regions of California
cultural region
In anthropology and geography, a cultural region, cultural sphere, cultural area or culture area refers to a geography with one relatively homogeneous human activity or complex of activities (culture). Such activities are often associated ...
that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...
. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest urban area, metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Ber ...
, the second most populous urban agglomeration
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
. The region generally contains ten of California's 58 counties: Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas
...
, Kern
KERN (1180 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Wasco- Greenacres, California, and serving the Bakersfield metropolitan area. The station is owned by American General Media. The radio studios and offices are in the American General ...
, Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
, Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
, San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
, San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
and Ventura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
counties.
The Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna.
Geography and geology
The Colorado De ...
and the Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
are located on Southern California's eastern border with Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...
, and San Bernardino County shares a border with Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
to the northeast. Southern California's southern border with Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
is part of the Mexico–United States border
The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trav ...
.
Constituent metropolitan areas
Southern California includes the heavily built-up urban area which stretches along the Pacific coast fromVentura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
through Greater Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino ...
down to Greater San Diego
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
(the contiguous urban area in fact continuing into Tijuana, Mexico
Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...
), and inland to the (US) and < ...
Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...
and Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
(Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...
area). It encompasses eight metropolitan areas (MSAs), three of which together form the Greater Los Angeles Combined Statistical Area
Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...
(CSA) with over 18 million people, the second-biggest CSA after the New York CSA. These three MSAs are: the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest urban area, metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Ber ...
(Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
and Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
counties, with 13.3 million people), the Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...
(Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
and San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
counties, including the Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
cities, with 4.3 million people), and the Oxnard–Thousand Oaks–Ventura metropolitan area
Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.
Ventura County comprises the Oxna ...
(0.8 million people). In addition, southern California contains the San Diego metropolitan area
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
with 3.3 million people, Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley (California), Central Valley r ...
metro area with 0.9 million, and the Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
, and El Centro (Imperial County) metropolitan areas.
The Southern California Megaregion
A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enou ...
(or megalopolis
A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enou ...
) is larger still, extending northeast into Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the List of United States cities by population, 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the U.S. state, state of Neva ...
, Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
and south across the Mexican
Mexican may refer to:
Mexico and its culture
*Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America
** People
*** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants
*** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...
border into Tijuana
Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...
.
(US) and < ...
Significance
Within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
and San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, as well as three of the country's largest metropolitan areas. With a population of approximately 4 million, 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 approximately 1.4 million is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation.
The counties of Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
, Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
, and San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
are the five most populous in the state, and are among the top 15 most populous counties in the United States.
The motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
, television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...
and music industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, trai ...
are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
, a district of Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, which is synonymous with the neighborhood name. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
(which owns ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
), Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...
, Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
and Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...
. Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony also run major record companies.
Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans
Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the co ...
, Volcom
Volcom is a lifestyle brand that designs, markets, and distributes boardsports-oriented products. Volcom is headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, U.S. The brand is known for its trademark ''stone'' logo, its slogan ''True to This'', and the '' ...
, Quiksilver
Quiksilver is a brand of surf-inspired apparel and accessories that was founded in 1969 in Torquay, Australia, but is now based in Huntington Beach, California. It is one of the world's largest brands of surfwear and boardsport-related e ...
, No Fear
No Fear is an American lifestyle clothing brand that was created in 1989 by Mark Simo, Brian Simo, Boris Said, and Marty Moates. No Fear Inc. products are sold at various retail stores ancompany owned stores It also offers No Fear energy dr ...
, Stüssy
Stüssy ( ) is an American privately held fashion house founded in the early 1980s by Shawn Stussy. It benefited from the surfwear trend originating in Orange County, California, but was later adopted by the skateboard and hip hop scenes.
His ...
, RVCA
RVCA is a Costa Mesa, California–based clothing company owned by Boardriders.
Etymology
The logotype for RVCA portrays the letter A without a crossbar, resembling an uppercase lambda (Λ). The 'V' character is really a "U". Occasionally "RV ...
and Body Glove are all headquartered here. Skateboarder Tony Hawk
Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...
; surfers Rob Machado
Robert Edward Machado (born October 16, 1973) is an Australian-born American professional surfer.
Early life
Machado attended San Dieguito High School. He describes himself in interviews, vlogs and social media as a " soul surfer," or f ...
, Timmy Curran
Tim Curran (born August 14, 1977) is a musician and retired professional surfer. During his successful surfing career, he was one of the best surfers on the World Championship Tour, and was consistently in contention for the world championship. ...
, Bobby Martinez
Bobby Martinez (born May 26, 1982) is a professional surfer from Santa Barbara, California.
Career
Martinez began surfing at age 6. When he was old enough, he joined the National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) where he went on to win a ...
, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds
Dane Reynolds (born September 7, 1985 in Long Beach, California) is an American professional surfer from Ventura, California. He is known for his "go for broke" style of surfing that includes many experimental and aerial maneuvers.
Biography ...
, and Chris Ward live in Southern California. Some of the most famous surf locations are in Southern California as well, including Trestles, Rincon, The Wedge
A wedge is a triangular-shaped simple machine.
Wedge, The Wedge, or Wedges may also refer to:
Common meanings
* Wedge (footwear), a type of shoe
* Wedge (golf), a type of golf club
Culture Fictional characters
* Wedge (''Transformers''), an ...
, Huntington Beach
Huntington Beach is a seaside city in Orange County in Southern California, located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. The city is named after American businessman Henry E. Huntington. The population was 198,711 during the 2020 census, maki ...
and Malibu. Some of the world's largest action sports
Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...
events, including the X Games
The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...
, Boost Mobile Pro
The Hurley Pro at Trestles is a World Surf League Men's Championship Tour event held in Trestles, California. It debuted in the 2000 ASP World Tour, initially sponsored by Billabong,U.S. Open of Surfing
The U.S. Open of Surfing is a week-long surfing competition held annually during the summer in Huntington Beach, California. Generally held on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier, the U.S. Open is part of the qualification process for the ...
, are held in Southern California. The region is also important to the world of yachting
Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called '' yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboat ...
with premier events including the annual Transpacific Yacht Race
The Transpacific Yacht Race (Transpac) is a biennial offshore yacht race held in odd-numbered years starting off the Pt. Fermin buoy in San Pedro, California and ending off Diamond Head in Hawaii, a distance of around . In even-numbered years the ...
, or ''Transpac'', from Los Angeles to Hawaii. The San Diego Yacht Club
San Diego Yacht Club is a yacht club located in San Diego Bay. It is located in Point Loma across from a spit of land known as Shelter Island.
Facilities
The San Diego Yacht Club facility has a main dining room and outdoor deck seating, a ba ...
held the America's Cup
The America's Cup, informally known as the Auld Mug, is a trophy awarded in the sport of sailing. It is the oldest international competition still operating in any sport. America's Cup match races are held between two sailing yachts: one ...
, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995 and hosted three America's Cup races during that time. The first modern-era triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...
was held in San Diego's Mission Bay in 1974. Since then, Southern California, and San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
in particular, have become a mecca for triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...
and multi-sport racing, products, and culture.
Southern California is home to many sports franchises and networks such as Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Ma ...
.
Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its beaches. Some of southern California's most popular beaches are Malibu, Laguna Beach
Laguna Beach (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a seaside resort city located in southern Orange County, California, in the United States. It is known for its mild year-round climate, scenic coves, environmental preservation efforts, and ...
, La Jolla
La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781.
La Jolla is surrounded on ...
, Manhattan Beach, and Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of ...
. Southern California is also known for its mountain resort communities, such as Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is a snow and rain fed lake, having no other means of tributaries or mechanical replenishment. At a surface elevation of , it ...
, Lake Arrowhead Lake Arrowhead or Arrowhead Lake may refer to:
United States Bodies of water
* Arrowhead Lake (Idaho)
* Lake Arrowhead Reservoir, California
* Lake Arrowhead, Georgia
* Lake Arrowhead (Maine)
Communities
* Arrowhead Lake, Cumberland County, New J ...
, and Wrightwood
Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,525 at the 2010 census, up from the population of 3,837 at the 2000 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Lo ...
, and their ski resorts, like Bear Mountain, Snow Summit
Snow Summit is a ski resort that was established in 1952 and is in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. It is located by Big Bear Lake along with its sister resort Bear Mountain; these two resorts which operate under the same man ...
, Snow Valley Mountain Resort
Snow Valley Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in Running Springs, California, United States. It is the oldest continually operating ski resort in Southern California and is also one of four ski resorts in the San Bernardino National Fores ...
, and Mountain High
Mountain High resort is a winter resort in the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County in California. Mountain High is one of the most-visited resorts in Southern California. The resort is located along State Route 2 west of Wrightwood, Cali ...
. The inland desert city of Palm Springs
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...
is also popular.
Northern boundary
Southern California is generally considered the area of California south of the latitude 35°45', approximately one-third of the state, formed by the northern boundaries of San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
, Kern
KERN (1180 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Wasco- Greenacres, California, and serving the Bakersfield metropolitan area. The station is owned by American General Media. The radio studios and offices are in the American General ...
, and San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
counties, which are not exactly a straight line. Another definition for Southern California uses Point Conception
Point Conception ( Chumash: ''Humqaq'') is a headland along the Gaviota Coast in southwestern Santa Barbara County, California. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north- ...
and the Tehachapi Mountains
The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwes ...
as geographical landmarks for the northern boundary.
Following the acquisition of the territory of California by the United States, several pro-slavery politicians attempted to arrange the division of Alta California at 36 degrees, 30 minutes, the line of the Missouri Compromise. Instead, the passing of the Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850 that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican– ...
enabled California to be admitted to the Union as a free state, preventing the southern half California from becoming its own separate slave state
In the United States before 1865, a slave state was a state in which slavery and the internal or domestic slave trade were legal, while a free state was one in which they were not. Between 1812 and 1850, it was considered by the slave states ...
.
Subsequently, Californians (dissatisfied with inequitable taxes and land laws) and pro-slavery Southerners in the lightly populated "cow counties" of southern California attempted three times in the 1850s to achieve a separate statehood or territorial status separate from Northern California. The last attempt, the Pico Act of 1859, was passed by the California State Legislature
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislatur ...
and signed by State Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...
John B. Weller
John B. Weller (February 22, 1812August 17, 1875) was the fifth governor of California from January 8, 1858 to January 9, 1860 who earlier had served as a congressman from Ohio and a U.S. senator from California, and minister to Mexico.
Lif ...
. It was approved overwhelmingly by nearly 75 percent of voters to form the proposed Territory of Colorado
The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Colorado.
The territory was organized in th ...
. This territory was to include a portion of the much larger Tulare County
Tulare County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 473,117. The county seat is Visalia. The county is named for Tulare Lake, once the largest freshwater lake west of the Great Lakes. ...
and all of San Luis Obispo County
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 282,424. The county seat is San Luis Obispo.
Junípero Serra founded the Missio ...
. The proposal was sent to Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
with a strong advocate in Senator Milton Latham
Milton Slocum Latham (May 23, 1827 – March 4, 1882) was an American politician, who served as the sixth governor of California and as a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator. Latham holds the distinction of having the shortest governorship in ...
. However, the secession crisis following the election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
of Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
in 1860 and the subsequent American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...
led to the proposal never coming to a vote.
In 1900, the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' defined Southern California as including "the seven counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura and Santa Barbara." This definition left out San Luis Obispo and Kern counties.
Southern California was the name of a proposed new state which failed to get on the 2018 California ballot. The ballot measure proposed splitting the existing state into three parts.
In December 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
, the state government led by Governor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California fro ...
divided the state into five regions for the purpose of issuing stay-at-home orders. The Southern California region consists of the following counties: Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas
...
, Inyo Inyo may refer to:
Places California
* Inyo County, California
* Inyo National Forest, USA
* The Inyo Mountains
* The Mono–Inyo Craters
Other uses
* Japanese for yin and yang
Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concep ...
, Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
, Mono
Mono may refer to:
Common meanings
* Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease"
* Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono
* Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single
Music Performers
* Mono (Japanese ...
, Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
, Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
, San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
, San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
, Santa Barbara and Ventura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
. Kern County was grouped with other counties of the San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...
, California's central agricultural valley.
Urban landscape
Southern California consists of a heavily developed urban environment, home to some of the largest urban areas
An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, ...
in the state, along with vast areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the third most populated megalopolis in the United States, after the Great Lakes Megalopolis and the Northeast Megalopolis
The Northeast megalopolis, also known as the Northeast Corridor, Acela Corridor, Boston–Washington corridor, or BosWash, is the world's largest megalopolis in terms of economic output and the second most populous megalopolis in the United St ...
. Much of Southern California is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
, San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
, and Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
-San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
, each of which are the centers of their respective metropolitan areas, composed of numerous smaller cities and communities. The urban area is also host to an international San Diego–Tijuana
San Diego–Tijuana is an international transborder agglomeration, straddling the border of the adjacent North American coastal cities of San Diego, California, United States and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The 2012 population of the re ...
metropolitan region, created by the urban area spilling over into Baja California
Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...
.
Travelling south on Interstate 5
Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Calif ...
, the main barrier to continued urbanization is Camp Pendleton
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...
. The cities and communities along Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Cana ...
and Interstate 215 are so interrelated that Temecula
Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a t ...
and Murrieta
Murrieta is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The population of Murrieta was 110,949 as of the 2020 census. Murrieta experienced a 133.7% population increase between 2000 and 2010, making Murrieta one of the f ...
have as much connection with the San Diego metropolitan area
San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...
as they do with the Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...
. To the east, the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy
An economy is an area of th ...
considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, Riverside-San Bernardino area
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...
as a separate metropolitan area from Los Angeles County. Newly developed exurbs
An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing density, and growth. It ...
formed in the Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...
, north of Los Angeles, the Victor Valley
The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California.
It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valley, ...
, and the Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
with the Imperial Valley
, photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg
, photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image.
, map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg
, map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
. Also, population growth was high in the Bakersfield-Kern County, Santa Maria Santa María is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, in languages such as Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Santa Maria or Santa María may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* "Santa Maria" (Tatjana song), released 1995
* "Santa Mari ...
and San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
areas.
Climate
Most of Southern California has a Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on th ...
-like climate, with warm and dry summers, mild and wet winters, where cool weather and freezing temperatures are rare. Southern California contains other types of climates, including semi-arid
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi- ...
, desert and mountain
A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...
, with infrequent rain and many sunny days. Summers are hot or warm, and dry, while winters are mild, and rainfall is low to moderate depending on the area. Rain is infrequent, but is often heavy when it does occur, making flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...
s an aspect of living in Southern California. This climatic pattern was alluded to in the hit song "It Never Rains (In Southern California)
"It Never Rains (In Southern California)" is a 1990 song recorded by the American R&B group Tony! Toni! Toné!. This song peaked at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B Singles chart in 1990 for two weeks, and thirty-four on the Hot 100.
Mu ...
". While snow is very rare in lower elevations, mountains above receive plentiful snowfall in the winter.
Since the first decade of the 21st century, droughts
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
and wildfires
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...
have increased in frequency as a result of climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...
.
Natural landscape
Southern California consists of one of the more varied collections of geologic, topographic, and natural ecosystem landscapes in a diversity outnumbering other major regions in the state and country. The region spans from Pacific Ocean islands
An island or isle is a piece of subcontinental land completely surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island in a river or a lake island may be cal ...
, shoreline
A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past ...
s, beaches, and coastal plain
A coastal plain is flat, low-lying land adjacent to a sea coast. A fall line commonly marks the border between a coastal plain and a piedmont area. Some of the largest coastal plains are in Alaska and the southeastern United States. The Gulf Co ...
s, through the Transverse
Transverse may refer to:
*Transverse engine, an engine in which the crankshaft is oriented side-to-side relative to the wheels of the vehicle
*Transverse flute, a flute that is held horizontally
* Transverse force (or ''Euler force''), the tangen ...
and Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, whic ...
with their peaks, and into the large and small interior valleys, to the vast deserts of California
The Deserts of California, collectively known as the California Deserts, are a region of California made up of distinct deserts that each have unique ecosystems and habitats. The region is home to a sociocultural and historical "Old West" collecti ...
.
:Introductory categories include:
* Beaches of southern California
* Mountain ranges of Southern California
* Rivers of Southern California
* Deserts of California
* Parks in Southern California
Geography
Geographic features
* Angeles National Forest
The Angeles National Forest (ANF) 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 ...
(Los Angeles, San Bernardino, & Ventura Counties)
* Antelope Hills (Kern County)
* Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...
(Los Angeles & Kern Counties)
* Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County)
* Bacon Hills
The Bacon Hills are a low mountain range of the Transverse Ranges System, located in western Kern County, California.
They are on the southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the ...
(Kern County)
* Baldwin Hills Baldwin Hills may refer to:
Places
* Baldwin Hills (mountain range), Los Angeles County, California, U.S.
* Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California, U.S.
* Baldwin Village, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in South Lo ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Ballona Wetlands
Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (pronunciation: "Bah-yo-nuh" or "Buy-yo-nah"
) is a protected area that once served as the natural estuary for neighboring Ballona Creek. The site is located in Los Angeles County, California, just south of ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Big Bear Lake
Big Bear Lake is a reservoir in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is a snow and rain fed lake, having no other means of tributaries or mechanical replenishment. At a surface elevation of , it ...
(San Bernardino County)
* Bissell Hills
The Bissell Hills are a mountain range in the Mojave Desert, in southeastern Kern County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total are ...
(Kern County)
* Black Hills
The Black Hills ( lkt, Ȟe Sápa; chy, Moʼȯhta-voʼhonáaeva; hid, awaxaawi shiibisha) is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk P ...
(Kern County)
* Bolsa Chica Estuary (Orange County)
* Buena Vista Hills (Kern County)
* Buena Vista Lake
Buena Vista Lake was a fresh-water lake in Kern County, California, in the Tulare Lake Basin in the southern San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of ...
(Kern County)
* Cajon Pass
Cajon Pass (; Spanish: ''Puerto del Cajón'' or ''Paso del Cajón'') is a mountain pass between the San Bernardino Mountains to the east and the San Gabriel Mountains to the west in Southern California. Created by the movements of the San Andre ...
(San Bernardino County)
* Calico Mountains (San Bernardino County)
* Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey ...
(Santa Barbara, Ventura & Los Angeles Counties)
* Castaic Lake
Castaic Lake ( Chumash: ''Kaštiq'') is a reservoir formed by Castaic Dam on Castaic Creek, in the Sierra Pelona Mountains of northwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, near the town of Castaic.
The California Office of En ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Chino Hills
The Chino Hills are a mountain range on the border of Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties, California, with a small portion in Riverside County. The Chino Hills State Park preserves open space and habitat in them.
Geography
The C ...
(Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside & San Bernardino Counties)
* Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
(Riverside County)
* Colorado Desert
California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna.
Geography and geology
The Colorado De ...
(San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, & San Diego Counties)
* Colorado River
The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...
(San Bernardino, Riverside & Imperial Counties, Baja California & Sonora)
* Conejo Valley
The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Communities in the Conej ...
(Los Angeles & Ventura Counties)
* Cucamonga Valley
The Cucamonga Valley is a region of southwestern San Bernardino County and northwestern Riverside County, in southern California. It is located below the San Gabriel Mountains in the Inland Empire region.
Geography
It is a region of the eastern ...
(San Bernardino & Riverside Counties)
* Cuyamaca Mountains
The Cuyamaca Mountains (Kumeyaay: ''‘Ekwiiyemak''), locally the Cuyamacas, are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System, in San Diego County, southern California. The mountain range runs roughly northwest to southeast. The Laguna Mountai ...
(San Diego County)
* Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the hottest place on Earth.
Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the point of lowest elevation in North Am ...
(San Bernardino & Inyo Counties)
* Diablo Range
The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California, United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley ...
(Kern County)
* Elk Hills
The Elk Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in western Kern County, California.
They are near and east of the Elkhorn Hills in San Luis Obispo County, California
San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San ...
(Kern County)
* Elkhorn Hills
The Elkhorn Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in eastern San Luis Obispo County, California.
They are near the Elk Hills on the east in Kern County, California
Kern County is a county located in the U.S. state of Calif ...
(San Luis Obispo County)
* El Mirage Lake
El Mirage Lake is a dry lake bed in the northwestern Victor Valley of the central Mojave Desert, within San Bernardino County, California.
The lake is located about west-northwest of the town of Adelanto and north of Highway 18 in San Bernar ...
(San Bernardino County)
* El Paso Mountains
The El Paso Mountains are located in the northern Mojave Desert, in central Southern California in the Western United States.
Geography
The range lies in a southwest-northeasterly direction east of Highway 14, and north of the Rand Mountains and ...
(Kern County)
* Greenhorn Mountains
The Greenhorn Mountains are a mountain range of the Southern Sierra Nevada, in California. They are protected within the Sequoia National Forest.
Geography
The range is located in eastern Kern County and Tulare County. They are east of the San ...
(Kern County)
* High Desert (Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, & San Bernardino Counties)
* Horned Toad Hills
The Horned Toad Hills (also known as Tehachapi Mountains) are a low mountain range in the Mojave Desert, in southeastern Kern County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nea ...
(Kern County)
* Imperial Valley
, photo = Salton Sea from Space.jpg
, photo_caption = The Imperial Valley below the Salton Sea. The US-Mexican border runs diagonally across the lower left of the image.
, map_image = Newriverwatershed-1-.jpg
, map_caption = Map of Imperial ...
(Imperial County)
* Irish Hills
Irish Hills is an area of land located roughly in southeastern Jackson County and northwest Lenawee County in Southeast Michigan. It was named after the numerous Irish immigrants who settled there from 1830 until 1850.
Today it is known ...
(San Luis Obispo County)
* In-Ko-Pah Mountains
The In-Ko-Pah Mountains are one of the Peninsular Ranges located near the U.S. border with Mexico in southern California, west of the Jacumba Mountains. The range, which lies in a north-south direction, is located just north of Interstate 8, and ea ...
(San Diego County)
* Inland Empire
The Inland Empire (IE) is a metropolitan area and region inland of and adjacent to coastal Southern California, centering around the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside, and bordering Los Angeles County to the west. It includes the cities ...
(Riverside & San Bernardino Counties)
* Jacumba Mountains
The Jacumba Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges system, located in eastern San Diego County, Southern California, near the U.S. border with Mexico.
The mountain range lies in a northwest-southeasterly direction, east of the In- ...
(San Diego County)
* Jawbone Canyon
Jawbone Canyon is a geographic feature in the Mojave Desert and a Bureau of Land Management area located in Kern County, California, north of Mojave on CA 14 near Cantil, CA. The area is a popular destination for hikers and off road vehicle e ...
(Kern County)
* Kern River
The Kern River, previously Rio de San Felipe, later La Porciuncula, is an #Endangered River Status, Endangered, National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an are ...
(Kern County)
* La Jolla Cove
La Jolla Cove is a small cove with a beach that is surrounded by cliffs in La Jolla, San Diego, California. Point La Jolla forms the south side of the cove. The area is protected as part of a marine reserve and is popular with snorkelers, swi ...
(San Diego County)
* Laguna Mountains
The Laguna Mountains are a mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System in eastern San Diego County, southern California. The mountains run in a northwest/southeast alignment for approximately .
The mountains have long been inhabited by the ...
(San Diego County)
* Lake Arrowhead Lake Arrowhead or Arrowhead Lake may refer to:
United States Bodies of water
* Arrowhead Lake (Idaho)
* Lake Arrowhead Reservoir, California
* Lake Arrowhead, Georgia
* Lake Arrowhead (Maine)
Communities
* Arrowhead Lake, Cumberland County, New J ...
(San Bernardino County)
* Lake Casitas
Lake Casitas is a reservoir in Ventura County, California, built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and completed in 1959. The project provides drinking water and water for irrigation. A secondary benefit is flood control. It was the ven ...
(Ventura County)
* Lake Elsinore
Lake Elsinore is a natural freshwater lake in Riverside County, California, located east of the Santa Ana Mountains and fed by the San Jacinto River. Originally named ''Laguna Grande'' by Spanish explorers, it was renamed for the town of Elsino ...
(Riverside County)
* Lake Isabella
Lake Isabella also called Isabella Lake, is a reservoir in Kern County, California, United States created by the earthen Isabella Dam. It was formed in 1953 when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dammed the Kern River at the junction of its two ...
(Kern County)
* Lake Perris
Lake Perris is an artificial lake completed in 1973. It is the southern terminus of the California State Water Project, situated in a mountain-rimmed valley between Moreno Valley and Perris, in what is now the Lake Perris State Recreation Are ...
(Riverside County)
* Lake Piru
Lake Piru () is a reservoir located in Los Padres National Forest and Topatopa Mountains of Ventura County, California, created by the construction in 1955 of the Santa Felicia Dam on Piru Creek, which is a tributary of the Santa Clara River ...
(Ventura County)
* Lakeview Mountains
The Lakeview Mountains are a range of low mountains encompassing approximately of land in western Riverside County, Southern California, at the northern end of the Peninsular Ranges System.
Geography
The Lakeview Mountains are bordered:
*on the ...
(Riverside County)
* Lake Webb
Webb Lake is a lake in the town of Weld, Maine, Weld in Franklin County, Maine, Franklin County, Maine.
Webb Lake is publicly accessible via a boat launch in Mount Blue State Park and has several fish species, including brook trout. The lake's p ...
(Kern County)
* Little San Bernardino Mountains
The Little San Bernardino Mountains are a short mountain range of the Transverse Ranges, located in southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast from the San Bernardino Mountains through San Bernardino a ...
(Riverside & San Bernardino Counties)
* Little Signal Hills
The Little Signal Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in southeastern Kern County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents acro ...
(Kern County)
* Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is a sedimentary basin located in Southern California, in a region known as the Peninsular Ranges. The basin is also connected to an anomalous group of east-west trending chains of mountains collectively known as the T ...
(Los Angeles & Orange Counties)
* Los Angeles River
, name_etymology =
, image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg
, image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge
, image_size = 300
, map = LARmap.jpg
, map_size ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Los Padres National Forest
Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Mon ...
(Kern, Los Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, & Ventura Counties)
* Lost Hills
The Lost Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, near Lost Hills, California and Interstate 5 in western Kern County, California.
They contain the Lost Hills Oil Field, the largest oil field in Kern County, and are located in ...
(Kern County)
* Low Desert
The Low Desert is a common name for any desert in California that is under 2,000 feet (609.6 m) in altitude. These areas include, but are not exclusive to, the Colorado Desert and Yuha Desert, in the Southern California portion of the Sonoran De ...
(Imperial, San Diego, Riverside & San Bernardino Counties)
* Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily i ...
(Los Angeles, Kern & San Bernardino Counties)
* Mojave River
The Mojave River is an intermittent river in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave Desert in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Most of its flow is underground, while its surface channels remain dry most of the ti ...
(San Bernardino County)
* Mount San Antonio
Mount San Antonio, commonly referred to as Mount Baldy or Old Baldy, is a summit in the San Gabriel Mountains on the border of Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties of California. Lying within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and A ...
(Los Angeles County)
* New River (Imperial County, Mexicali Municipality)
* Nine Sisters
The Nine Sisters or the Morros are a chain of twenty-three, although typically only nine are included, volcanic mountains and hills in western San Luis Obispo County, Southern California. They run between Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.
Geography
...
(San Luis Obispo County)
* Ojai Valley
Ojai ( ; Chumash: ''’Awhaỳ'') is a city in Ventura County, California. Located in the Ojai Valley, it is northwest of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. The valley is part of the east–west trending Western Transverse Ranges and is ...
(Ventura County)
* Orange Coast
The Orange Coast is the string of cities and neighborhoods fronting the Pacific Coast in Orange County, California. From northwest to southeast, these cities are Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Cleme ...
(Orange County)
* Oxnard Plain
The Oxnard Plain is a large coastal plain in southwest Ventura County, California, United States surrounded by the mountains of the Transverse ranges. The cities of Oxnard, Camarillo, Port Hueneme and much of Ventura as well as the unincorpor ...
(Ventura County)
* Palomar Mountain
Palomar Mountain ( ; es, Monte Palomar ) is a mountain ridge in the Peninsular Ranges in northern San Diego County. It is famous as the location of the Palomar Observatory and Hale Telescope, and known for the Palomar Mountain State Park.
Hist ...
(San Diego County)
* Palo Verde Valley
The Palo Verde Valley (Spanish: ''Valle de Palo Verde'') is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley, next to the eastern border of Southern California with Arizona, United States. It is located on the Colorado Desert within the Sonoran Desert ...
(Riverside & Imperial Counties)
* Palos Verdes Peninsula
The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the S ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Panamint Range
The Panamint Range is a short rugged fault-block mountain range in the northern Mojave Desert, within Death Valley National Park in Inyo County, eastern California. Dr. Darwin French is credited as applying the term Panamint in 1860 during his ...
(Inyo County)
* Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, whic ...
(San Diego, Riverside, & Orange Counties)
* Pleito Hills
The Pleito Hills are a low mountain range of the Transverse Ranges System, located in southwestern Kern County, California.
The range is between the San Emigdio Mountains and the San Joaquin Valley, west of the Interstate 5—Highway 99 junction a ...
(Kern County)
* Point Loma
Point Loma ( Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community within the city of San Diego, California. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
(San Diego County)
* Point Mugu
Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...
(Ventura County)
* Point of Rocks
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Points ...
(Kern County)
* Pomona Valley
The Pomona Valley is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area between the San Gabriel Valley and San Bernardino Valley in Southern California. The valley is approximately east of downtown Los Angeles.
History
On March 1, 1893 the California ...
(Los Angeles & San Bernardino Counties)
* Providence Mountains
The Providence Mountains are found in the eastern Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, U.S. The range reaches an elevation of at Edgar Peak and is home to the Mitchell Caverns Natural Preserve in the Providence Mountains State ...
(San Bernardino County)
* Puente Hills
The Puente Hills are a chain of hills, one of the lower Transverse Ranges, in an unincorporated area in eastern Los Angeles County, California, in the United States. The western end of the range is often referred to locally as the Whittier Hills.
...
(Los Angeles County)
* Pyramid Lake (Los Angeles County)
* Rand Mountains
The Rand Mountains are located in the Mojave Desert northeast of California City and southwest of the town of Randsburg.
History
The mountains were the location of the Rand Mining District, with the mining towns of Randsburg, Red Mountain, and J ...
(Kern County)
* Rio Hondo (Los Angeles County)
* Rosamond Hills (Kern County)
* Saddleback Valley
Saddleback Valley refers to the flat and foothill areas west-southwest of the Saddleback double peak of the Santa Ana Mountains and east-northeast of the hilly Crystal Cove State Park in southern Orange County, California. The region primarily ...
(Orange County)
* Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of the U.S. state of California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough that stretches to the Gu ...
(Imperial & Riverside Counties)
* San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...
(All Counties)
* San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a high and rugged mountain range in Southern California in the United States. Situated north and northeast of San Bernardino and spanning two California counties, the range tops out at at San Gorgonio Mountain ...
(San Bernardino County)
* San Bernardino National Forest
The San Bernardino National Forest is a United States National Forest in Southern California encompassing of which are federal. The forest is made up of two main divisions, the eastern portion of the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Berna ...
(Riverside & San Bernardino Counties)
* San Bernardino Valley
The San Bernardino Valley ( es, Valle de San Bernardino) is a valley in Southern California located at the south base of the Transverse Ranges. It is bordered on the north by the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains; ...
(San Bernardino County)
* San Diego Bay
San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port located in San Diego County, California near the U.S.–Mexico border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of ...
(San Diego County)
* San Diego River
The San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California. It originates in the Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian, then flows to the southwest until it reaches the El Capitan Reservoir, the largest reservoir in the river's ...
(San Diego County)
* San Emigdio Mountains
The San Emigdio Mountains are a part of the Transverse Ranges in Southern California, extending from Interstate 5 at Lebec and Gorman on the east to Highway 33–166 on the west. They link the Tehachapis and Temblor Range and form the southern ...
(Los Angeles, Ventura, & Kern Counties)
* San Fernando Valley (Los Angeles County)
* San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Transverse Ranges and lies between ...
(Los Angeles & San Bernardino Counties)
* San Gabriel River (Los Angeles County)
* San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
(Los Angeles County)
* San Jacinto Mountains
The San Jacinto Mountains (''Avii Hanupach''Munro, P., et al. ''A Mojave Dictionary''. Los Angeles: UCLA. 1992. in Mojave) are a mountain range in Riverside County, located east of Los Angeles in southern California in the United States. The mou ...
(Riverside County)
* San Jacinto River (Riverside County)
* San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...
(Kern County)
* San Luis Rey River
The San Luis Rey River is a river in northern San Diego County, California.
The river's headwaters are in the Palomar Mountain Range and Cleveland National Forest, near Palomar Mountain and the Santa Rosa Mountains. The river mouth, on the Pacif ...
(San Diego County)
* San Pedro Bay (Los Angeles County)
* San Rafael Mountains
The San Rafael Mountains are a mountain range in central Santa Barbara County, California, U.S., separating the drainages of the Santa Ynez River and the Santa Maria River. They are part of the Transverse Ranges system of Southern California ...
(Santa Barbara County)
* Santa Ana Mountains
The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riverside ...
(Orange & Riverside Counties)
* Santa Ana River
The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, before cutting throug ...
(San Bernardino, Riverside & Orange Counties)
* Santa Ana Valley
The Santa Ana Valley is located in Orange County, California and is bisected by the Santa Ana River. The valley is home to most of Orange County's central business districts. The cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Irvine, Orang ...
(Orange County)
* Santa Catalina Island (Los Angeles County)
* Santa Clara River (Ventura County)
* Santa Clara River Valley
The Santa Clara River Valley is a rural, mainly agricultural, valley in Ventura County, California that has been given the moniker Heritage Valley by the namesake tourism bureau. The valley includes the communities of Santa Paula, Fillmore, Piru ...
(Ventura County)
* Santa Clarita Valley
The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) is part of the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. The valley was part of the Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant. Located in Los Angeles County, its main population center is the ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Santa Margarita River
The Santa Margarita River which with the addition of what is now Temecula Creek, was formerly known as the Temecula River, is a short intermittent river on the Pacific coast of southern California in the United States, approximately U.S. Geologic ...
(Riverside, Orange & San Diego Counties)
* Santa Monica Bay
Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Santa Monica Mountains
The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...
(Los Angeles & Ventura Counties)
* Santa Rosa Mountains (Riverside, Imperial & San Diego Counties)
* Santa Susana Mountains
The Santa Susana Mountains are a transverse range of mountains in Southern California, north of the city of Los Angeles, in the United States. The range runs east-west, separating the San Fernando and Simi valleys on its south from the Santa ...
(Los Angeles & Ventura Counties)
* Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America. It is the westernmost range in the Transverse Ranges.
The range is a large fault block of Cenozoic age create ...
(Santa Barbara & Ventura Counties)
* Santa Ynez Valley
The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Val ...
(Santa Barbara County)
* Scodie Mountains
The Scodie Mountains are a sub-mountain range of the Southern Sierra Nevada rising from the Mojave Desert, and located in Kern County, California.
Geography
The range lies in an east–west direction directly west of the desert town of Ridgecrest ...
(Kern County)
* Sequoia National Forest
Sequoia National Forest is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains of California. The U.S. National Forest is named for the majestic Giant Sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees which populate 38 distinct groves within the boundar ...
(Kern County)
* Shale Hills
The Shale Hills are a low mountain range in the interior California Coast Ranges, in western Kern County, California.
References
California Coast Ranges
Mountain ranges of Kern County, California
Mountain ranges of Southern California
(Kern County)
* Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...
(Kern County)
* Sierra Pelona Mountains
The Sierra Pelona, also known as the Sierra Pelona Ridge or the Sierra Pelona Mountains, is a mountain ridge in the Transverse Ranges in Southern California. Located in northwest Los Angeles County, the ridge is bordered on the north by the San A ...
(Los Angeles & Kern Counties)
* Simi Hills
The Simi Hills are a low rocky mountain range of the Transverse Ranges in eastern Ventura County and western Los Angeles County, of southern California, United States.
Geography
The Simi Hills are aligned east-west and run for , and average ar ...
(Los Angeles & Ventura Counties)
* Simi Valley
Simi Valley (; Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in the valley of the same name in the southeast region of Ventura County, California, United States. Simi Valley is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. T ...
(Ventura County)
* Sweetwater River (San Diego County)
* Tehachapi Mountains
The Tehachapi Mountains (; Kawaiisu: ''Tihachipia'', meaning "hard climb") are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States. The range extends for approximately in southern Kern County and northwes ...
(Kern & Los Angeles Counties)
* Tejon Hills
The Tejon Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in southern Kern County, California. The highest point of the hills is Comanche Mountain, at in elevation.
They are completely within property owned by the Tejon Ranch corpo ...
(Kern County)
* Temescal Mountains
Temescal Mountains, also known as the Sierra Temescal ( Spanish for "sweat lodge range"), are one of the northernmost mountain ranges of the Peninsular Ranges in western Riverside County, in Southern California in the United States. They exte ...
(Riverside County)
* Telephone Hills
The Telephone Hills are a low mountain range in the interior California Coast Ranges, in western Kern County, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents ...
(Kern County)
* Temblor Range
The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County ...
(Kern & San Luis Obispo Counties)
* Tijuana River
, name_etymology =
, image = Presa Tij 1.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Dam on the Tijuana River in Mexico.
, map = Tijuana River Basin.svg
, map_size = 250
, map_caption ...
(San Diego County)
* Topatopa Mountains
The Topatopa Mountains are a mountain range in Ventura County, California, north of Ojai, Santa Paula, and Fillmore. They are part of the Transverse Ranges of Southern California.
Etymology
A name for the mountains was first inscribed within th ...
(Ventura County)
* Turtle Mountains (San Bernardino County)
* Ventura River
The Ventura River, in western Ventura County in southern California, United States, flows from its headwaters to the Pacific Ocean. The smallest of the three major rivers in Ventura County, it flows through the steeply sloped, narrow Ventura ...
(Ventura County)
* Verdugo Mountains
The Verdugo Mountains, also known as the Verdugo Hills or simply The Verdugos, are a small, rugged mountain range of the Transverse Ranges system in Los Angeles County, California. Located just south of the western San Gabriel Mountains, the Ver ...
(Los Angeles County)
* Victor Valley
The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California.
It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valley, ...
(San Bernardino County)
Geology
List of major fault zones
Note: Plate boundary faults are indicated with a (#) symbol. *Brawley Seismic Zone
The Brawley Seismic Zone (BSZ), also known as the Brawley fault zone, is a predominantly extensional tectonic zone that connects the southern terminus of the San Andreas Fault with the Imperial Fault in Southern California. The BSZ is named fo ...
* Chino Fault The Chino Fault extends along the eastern Chino Hills range region, from Corona in Riverside County to the Los Serranos, Chino Hills area of San Bernardino County in Southern California.
Geology
The Chino Fault and Whittier Fault are the two uppe ...
* Elsinore Fault Zone
The Elsinore Fault Zone is a large right-lateral strike-slip geological fault structure in Southern California. The fault is part of the trilateral split of the San Andreas fault system and is one of the largest, though quietest faults in Southe ...
* Elysian Park Fault
* Garlock Fault
The Garlock Fault is a left-lateral strike-slip fault running northeast–southwest along the north margins of the Mojave Desert of Southern California, for much of its length along the southern base of the Tehachapi Mountains.
Geography
Stretc ...
* Hosgri Fault
* Imperial Fault Zone
The Imperial Fault Zone is a system of geological faults located in Imperial County in the Southern California region, and adjacent Baja California state in Mexico. It cuts across the border between the United States and Mexico.
Geology
...
* Laguna Salada Fault
The Laguna Salada Fault is a geological fault between the United States and Mexico. About long, it straddles the Imperial County- California– Baja California border.
Earthquakes 1892
According to some seismologists the 1892 Laguna Sala ...
* Newport–Inglewood Fault
The Newport–Inglewood Fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault in Southern California. The fault extends for from Culver City southeast through Inglewood and other coastal communities to Newport Beach at which point the fault extends east- ...
* Peninsular Ranges
The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Coast Ranges, whic ...
* Puente Hills Fault
The Puente Hills Fault (also known as the Puente Hills Thrust Fault System) is an active geological fault that is located in the Los Angeles Basin in California. The thrust fault was discovered in 1999 and runs about in three discrete sections ...
* Raymond Fault
The Raymond Fault is a fault across central Los Angeles County and western Ventura County in Southern California.
San Gabriel Valley area
The eastern end of the Raymond Fault branches from the San Andreas Fault in the San Gabriel Mountains ...
* Rose Canyon Fault
The Rose Canyon Fault is a right-lateral strike-slip fault running in a north-south direction through San Diego County, California.Hart, E.W., Bryant, W.A., Wills, C.J., Treiman, J.A., and Kahle, J.E."Summary Report: Fault Evaluation Program, 1987 ...
* Salton Trough
The Salton Trough is an active tectonic pull-apart basin, or graben. It lies within the Imperial, Riverside, and San Diego counties of southeastern California, United States and extends south of the Mexico–United States border into the state ...
* Salinian Block
The Salinian Block or Salinian terrane is a geologic terrane which lies west of the main trace of the San Andreas Fault system in California. It is bounded on the south by the Big Pine Fault in Ventura County and on the west by the Nacimiento Fau ...
* San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...
#
* San Cayetano Fault
The San Cayetano Fault is an east-west trending thrust fault in Ventura County, Southern California. It stretches for , north of the city of Ventura, near the Topatopa Mountains, Piru, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Sulphur Springs, and Ojai.
Geology
T ...
* San Felipe Fault Zone
The San Felipe Fault Zone (also known as the Agua Caliente or Murrieta Hot Springs fault zone) is an active Quaternary fault zone made up of continuous right-lateral fault strands].Janecke, S. U., Dorsey, R. J., Forand, D., Steely, A. N., Kirby, S. ...
* San Gabriel Fault
The San Gabriel Fault is a geological fault in Los Angeles County, California, running about southeastward from the Ridge Basin in the Sierra Pelona- San Emigdio Mountains juncture area to the western San Gabriel Mountains that forms their sout ...
* San Jacinto Fault Zone
The San Jacinto Fault Zone (SJFZ) is a major strike-slip fault zone that runs through San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial Counties in Southern California. The SJFZ is a component of the larger San Andreas transform system and is ...
* Santa Maria River Fault
Santa Maria River Fault is a tectonic fault in Santa Barbara County, California.
It roughly corresponds with the Santa Maria River, until veers south towards Santa Ynez. It passes just north of the city of Santa Maria, California
Santa Mar ...
* Santa Ynez Fault
Santa Ynez Fault is a left-reverse fault in Santa Barbara County of California. Its length is at least 130 km., running through Santa Ynez and north of nearby Santa Barbara. The Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a port ...
* Shoreline Fault
* Ventura Fault
Ventura Fault also Ventura-Pitas Point Fault is an offshore and onshore fault system of Southern California, beginning around Santa Barbara coming onshore in Ventura with an eastward heading, its extension is unknown but presumed to head for Sa ...
* White Wolf Fault
The White Wolf Fault is a fault in southern California, located along the northwestern transition of the Tejon Hills and Tehachapi Mountains with the San Joaquin Valley. It is north of the intersection of the San Andreas Fault and the Garlock ...
* Whittier Fault
The Whittier Fault is a geologic fault located in eastern Los Angeles County in Southern California, that is one of the two upper branches of the Elsinore Fault Zone, with the Chino Fault the second.
Geology
The Whittier Fault is a right-la ...
* Yorba Linda Fault
The Yorba Linda Fault or Yorba Linda Trend is a fault system that extends from northeast Yorba Linda, California to the southeastern portion of the Chino Hills and Chino Hills (city), in San Bernardino County, California.
The fault was discove ...
Earthquakes
Each year, Southern California has about 10,000 earthquakes. Nearly all of them are so small that they are not felt. Only several hundred have been greater thanmagnitude
Magnitude may refer to:
Mathematics
*Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction
*Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object
*Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector
*Order of ...
3.0, and only about 15–20 have been greater than magnitude 4.0. The magnitude 6.7 1994 Northridge earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximately ...
was particularly destructive, causing a substantial number of deaths, injuries, and structural collapses as well as the most property damage of any earthquake in U.S. history at an estimated $20 billion.
Many faults are able to produce a magnitude greater than 6.7 earthquake, such as the San Andreas Fault
The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal) ...
, which can produce a magnitude 8.0 event. Other faults include the San Jacinto Fault
The San Jacinto Fault Zone (SJFZ) is a major strike-slip fault zone that runs through San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, and Imperial Counties in Southern California. The SJFZ is a component of the larger San Andreas transform system and is ...
, the Puente Hills Fault
The Puente Hills Fault (also known as the Puente Hills Thrust Fault System) is an active geological fault that is located in the Los Angeles Basin in California. The thrust fault was discovered in 1999 and runs about in three discrete sections ...
, and the Elsinore Fault Zone
The Elsinore Fault Zone is a large right-lateral strike-slip geological fault structure in Southern California. The fault is part of the trilateral split of the San Andreas fault system and is one of the largest, though quietest faults in Southe ...
. The United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) has released a California earthquake forecast, which models earthquake occurrence in California.
=List of earthquakes
= This is a partial list of earthquakes in Southern California. For a full list, seeList of earthquakes in California
The earliest known California earthquake was documented in 1769 by the Spanish explorers and Catholic missionaries of the Portolá expedition as they traveled northward from San Diego along the Santa Ana River near the present site of Los Angeles ...
.
Note: Earthquakes with epicenters in the Los Angeles Metro Area are marked with the (#) symbol. Other earthquakes mentioned means shaking was felt.
* 1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake
The 1812 San Juan Capistrano earthquake, also known simply as the Capistrano earthquake or the Wrightwood earthquake, occurred on December 8 at in Alta California. At the time, this was a colonial territory of the Spanish Empire. Damage occurred ...
* 1812 Ventura earthquake
The 1812 Ventura earthquake (also known as the Santa Barbara earthquake) occurred on the morning of December 21 at 11:00 Pacific Standard Time (PST). The 7.1–7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a Modified Mercalli intensity scale rating of X (''Ext ...
* 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake
The 1857 Fort Tejon earthquake occurred at about 8:20 a.m. ( Pacific time) on January 9 in central and Southern California. One of the largest recorded earthquakes in the United States, with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9, it ruptur ...
* 1892 Laguna Salada earthquake
The 1892 Laguna Salada earthquake occurred at . It had an estimated moment magnitude of 7.1–7.2 and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The shock was centered near the Mexico–United States border and takes its name from a larg ...
* 1899 San Jacinto earthquake
The 1899 San Jacinto earthquake occurred on Christmas morning (December 25) at 04:25 local time in Southern California. The estimated moment magnitude 6.7 earthquake had an epicenter located 10 miles southeast of San Jacinto. The earthquake had ...
* 1918 San Jacinto earthquake
The 1918 San Jacinto earthquake occurred in extreme eastern San Diego County in Southern California on April 21 at . The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent''). Several injuries and one death occ ...
* 1933 Long Beach earthquake
The 1933 Long Beach earthquake took place on March 10 at south of downtown Los Angeles. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach, California, on the Newport–Inglewood Fault. The earthquake had a magnitude estimated at 6.4 , and a ...
#
* 1940 El Centro earthquake
The 1940 El Centro earthquake (or 1940 Imperial Valley earthquake) occurred at 21:35 Pacific Standard Time on May 18 (05:35 UTC on May 19) in the Imperial Valley in southeastern Southern California near the international border of the Unite ...
* 1948 Desert Hot Springs earthquake
The 1948 Desert Hot Springs earthquake occurred on December 4 at 3:43 p.m. Pacific Standard Time with a moment magnitude of 6.4 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). The shock was felt from the central coast of Californ ...
* 1971 San Fernando earthquake
The 1971 San Fernando earthquake (also known as the 1971 Sylmar earthquake) occurred in the early morning of February 9 in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. The unanticipated thrust earthquake had a magnitude of ...
#
* 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake
The 1979 Imperial Valley earthquake occurred at 16:16 Pacific Daylight Time (23:16 UTC) on 15 October just south of the Mexico–United States border. It affected Imperial Valley in Southern California and Mexicali Valley in northern Baja Calif ...
* 1968 Borrego Mountain earthquake
The 1968 Borrego Mountain earthquake occurred on April 8, at 18:28 PST, near the unincorporated community of Ocotillo Wells in San Diego County. The moment magnitude () 6.6 strike-slip earthquake struck with a focal depth of . Damage was re ...
* 1986 North Palm Springs earthquake
The 1986 North Palm Springs earthquake occurred on July 8 at with a moment magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of VII (''Very strong''). The shock occurred in a complex setting along the San Andreas Fault Zone where it bisects ...
* 1987 Superstition Hills earthquakes
The 1987 Superstition Hills and Elmore Ranch earthquakes were a pair of earthquakes measuring 6.0 and 6.5 that rattled the Imperial Valley of California. The earthquakes caused damage in Southern California and Mexico, but was limited due to the ...
* 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake
The 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake occurred in the southern San Gabriel Valley and surrounding communities of Southern California, United States, at on October 1. The moderate magnitude 5.9 blind thrust earthquake was centered several miles no ...
#
* 1991 Sierra Madre earthquake
The 1991 Sierra Madre earthquake occurred on June 28 at with a moment magnitude of 5.6 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VII (''Very strong''). The thrust earthquake resulted in two deaths, around 100 injuries, and damage estimated at $33. ...
#
* 1992 Big Bear earthquake
The 1992 Big Bear earthquake occurred at on June 28 in Big Bear Lake, California, with a moment magnitude of 6.5 and a maximum perceived intensity of VIII (''Severe'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. The earthquake occurred at a relatively sh ...
#
* 1992 Landers earthquake
The 1992 Landers earthquake occurred on Sunday, June 28 with an epicenter near the town of Landers, California, in San Bernardino County. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.3 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (''Violent'').
Earthquake
A ...
* 1994 Northridge earthquake
The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles.
The quake had a duration of approximately ...
#
* 2008 Chino Hills earthquake
The 2008 Chino Hills earthquake occurred at 11:42:15 am PDT (18:42:15 UTC) on July 29 in Southern California. The epicenter of the magnitude 5.4 earthquake was in Chino Hills, c. east-southeast of downtown Los Angeles. Though there w ...
#
* 2010 Baja California earthquake
The 2010 Baja California earthquake (also known as 2010 Easter earthquake, 2010 Sierra El Mayor earthquake, or 2010 El Mayor – Cucapah earthquake) occurred on April 4 (Easter Sunday) with a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intens ...
* 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes
The 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes (more commonly referred to in scientific literature as the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence) of July 4 and 5 occurred north and northeast of the town of Ridgecrest, California located in Kern County and ...
Population
As of the 2020 United States Census, Southern California has a population of 23,762,904. Despite a reputation for high growth rates, Southern California's population has grown slower than the state average since the 2000s. This is due to California's growth becoming concentrated in the northern part of the state as result of a stronger, tech-oriented economy in the Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
and an emerging Greater Sacramento
The Greater Sacramento area refers to a metropolitan region in Northern California comprising either the U.S. Census Bureau defined Sacramento–Roseville–Arden-Arcade metropolitan statistical area or the larger Sacramento–Roseville combine ...
region.
Southern California consists of one Combined Statistical Area
Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...
, eight Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...
s, one international metropolitan area, and multiple metropolitan divisions. The region is home to two extended metropolitan areas that exceed five million in population. These are the Greater Los Angeles Area
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino ...
at 17,786,419, and San Diego–Tijuana
San Diego–Tijuana is an international transborder agglomeration, straddling the border of the adjacent North American coastal cities of San Diego, California, United States and Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. The 2012 population of the re ...
at 5,105,768. Of these metropolitan areas, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana metropolitan area, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area, and Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura metropolitan area form Greater Los Angeles; while the El Centro metropolitan area and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos metropolitan area form the Southern Border Region. North of Greater Los Angeles are the Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
, and Bakersfield
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley (California), Central Valley r ...
metropolitan areas.
Cities
Los Angeles (with a population of approximately 3.9 million people) and San Diego (at nearly 1.4 million people) are the two largest cities in all of California and are among the top eight largest cities in the United States. In Southern California, there are also 14 cities with more than 200,000 residents and 48 cities over 100,000 residents. Many of Southern California's most developed cities lie along or in close proximity to the coast, with the exception of San Bernardino and Riverside.Counties
*Imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texas
...
*Kern
KERN (1180 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Wasco- Greenacres, California, and serving the Bakersfield metropolitan area. The station is owned by American General Media. The radio studios and offices are in the American General ...
*Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
*Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
* Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum ...
*Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
*San Bernardino
San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cens ...
*San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
*San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
* Santa Barbara
*Ventura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
Literature
Southern California is home to most popular and famous literature in the region. These books include California by Kevin Starr, Malibu Farm Cookbook by Helene Henderson, L.A. Noir by John Buntin, The Mountains of California by John Muir, The New California Wine by Jon Bonné, and My Hollywood by Mona Simpson. Most of them are well received and nominated for rewards.Economy
Industries
Southern California has a diverse economy and is one of the largest economies in the United States. It is dominated by and heavily dependent upon the abundance of petroleum, as opposed to other regions where automobiles are not nearly as dominant, due to the vast majority of transport that runs on this fuel. Southern California is famous for tourism and the entertainment industry. Other industries include software, automotive, ports, finance, biomedical, and regional logistics. The region was a leader in the housing bubble from 2001 to 2007 and has been heavily impacted by the housing crash. Since the 1920s, motion pictures, petroleum, and aircraft manufacturing have been major industries. In one of the richest agricultural regions in the U.S., cattle and citrus were major industries until farmlands were turned into suburbs. Although military spending cutbacks have had an impact, aerospace continues to be a major factor.Major central business districts
Southern California is home to many major business districts. Central business districts (CBD) include Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown Riverside, Downtown San Bernardino, Downtown San Diego, and the South Coast Metro. Within the Los Angeles Area are the major business districts of Pasadena, California, Downtown Pasadena, Burbank, California, Downtown Burbank, Santa Monica, California, Downtown Santa Monica, Glendale, California, Downtown Glendale and Downtown Long Beach. Los Angeles itself has many business districts, such as Downtown Los Angeles and those lining Wilshire Boulevard including Mid-Wilshire, the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, Miracle Mile, Downtown Beverly Hills and Westwood, Los Angeles, Westwood; others include Century City, Los Angeles, Century City and Warner Center, Los Angeles, Warner Center in the San Fernando Valley. The area of Santa Monica and Venice (and perhaps some of Culver City) is informally referred to as "Silicon Beach" because of the concentration of financial and marketing technology-centric firms located in the region.
The San Bernardino-Riverside Area maintains the business districts of Downtown San Bernardino, Hospitality Lane District, San Bernardino, California, Hospitality Business/Financial Centre, University District, San Bernardino, University District which are in the cities of San Bernardino and Riverside.
In Orange County, has highly developed suburban business centers (also known as edge cities) including the Anaheim–Santa Ana edge city along I-5; and another, the South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city that stretches from the South Coast Metro to the Irvine Business Complex; Newport Center, Newport Beach, California, Newport Center; and Irvine Spectrum. Downtown Santa Ana is an important government, arts and entertainment, and retail district.
Downtown San Diego is the CBD of San Diego, though the city is filled with business districts. These include Carmel Valley, San Diego, Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights, San Diego, Del Mar Heights, Mission Valley, Rancho Bernardo, Sorrento Mesa, and University City, San Diego, University City. Most of these districts are located in Northern San Diego and some within North County regions.
Theme parks and waterparks
Los Angeles
* Dry Town Water Park
* Pacific Park
* Raging Waters San Dimas
* Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
* Six Flags Magic Mountain
* Universal Studios Hollywood
Orange County
* Disney California Adventure
* Disneyland Park
* Knott's Berry Farm
* Knott's Soak City
* Wild Rivers (water park)
Riverside & San Bernardino
* Castle Park (amusement park), Castle Park
* Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs
San Diego
* Sesame Place San Diego
* Belmont Park (San Diego), Belmont Park
* Legoland California
* Legoland Waterpark
* San Diego Zoo
* San Diego Zoo Safari Park
* SeaWorld San Diego
Vineyard-Winery American Viticultural Area (AVA) districts
:California wine AVA-American Viticultural Areas in southern California: *South Coast AVA **Cucamonga Valley AVA **Malibu-Newton Canyon AVA **Ramona Valley AVA **Saddle Rock-Malibu AVA **Temecula Valley AVA *Leona Valley AVA *Central Coast AVA **Arroyo Grande Valley AVA **Edna Valley AVA **San Pasqual Valley AVA **Santa Maria Valley AVA **Santa Ynez Valley AVA **Sta. Rita Hills AVA **York Mountain AVAShopping malls
* South Coast Plaza * Westfield Century City * Citadel Outlets * Fashion Valley Mall, Fashion Valley * Westfield Topanga & The Village * Ontario Mills * Glendale Galleria * FIGat7thTransportation
:''See: :Transportation in Southern California, Transportation in Southern California'' Southern California is home to Los Angeles International Airport, the second-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume (see World's busiest airports by passenger traffic) and the third-busiest by international passenger volume (see Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic); San Diego International Airport, the busiest single-runway airport in the world; Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport; major commercial airports at San Bernardino International Airport, San Bernardino, John Wayne Airport, Orange County, Meadows Field, Bakersfield, LA/Ontario International Airport, Ontario, Hollywood Burbank Airport, Burbank and Long Beach Airport, Long Beach; and numerous smaller commercial and general aviation airports. Six of the seven lines of the commuter rail system, Metrolink (California), Metrolink, run out of Downtown Los Angeles, connecting Los Angeles,Ventura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly.
Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the country's busiest commercial port; the adjacent Port of Long Beach, the country's second busiest container port; and the Port of San Diego.
Airports
The following table shows all airports listed by the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) as a hub airport:Freeways and highways
Sections of the Southern California freeway system are often referred to by names rather than by the official numbers.
Public transportation
:''See: :Public transportation in Southern California, Public transportation in Southern California''
*Antelope Valley Transit Authority
*Big Blue Bus (Santa Monica)
*Gold Coast Transit (Ventura County)
*Golden Empire Transit (Bakersfield)
*Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
*Metrolink (California), Metrolink
*North County Transit District (northern San Diego County)
*Omnitrans (southwestern San Bernardino County)
*Orange County Transportation Authority
*Riverside Transit Agency (western Riverside County)
*San Diego Coaster (Oceanside to San Diego)
*San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
*San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority
*Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara MTD
Communication
Telephone area codes
*Area code 213, 213 – Central Los Angeles *Area code 310, 310 – Westside (Los Angeles County), West Los Angeles, Inglewood, California, Inglewood, Santa Monica, South Bay, Los Angeles, South Bay and Santa Catalina Island, California, Catalina Island *Area code 323, 323 – Overlay with 213 *Area code 424, 424 – Overlay with 310 *Area code 442, 442 – Overlay with 760 *Area code 562, 562 – Long Beach, Gateway Cities, and parts of northernOrange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
*Area code 619, 619 – most of San Diego County including San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...
*Area code 626, 626 – most of San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley ( es, Valle de San Gabriel) is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern city limits of the city of Los Angeles, and occupying the vast majority of the eastern part ...
including Pasadena
*Area code 657, 657 – Overlay with 714
*Area code 661, 661 – Bakersfield, Santa Clarita, and Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley is located in northern Los Angeles County, California, and the southeast portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert. It is situated between the Tehachapi, Sierra Pelona, and t ...
*Area code 714, 714 – Northern Orange County (including Anaheim, Santa Ana, California, Santa Ana, and Huntington Beach)
*Area code 760, 760 – Northern San Diego County (including Oceanside, California, Oceanside and Escondido, California, Escondido), Imperial County, Coachella Valley
, map_image = Wpdms shdrlfi020l coachella valley.jpg
, map_caption = Coachella Valley
, location = California, United States
, coordinates =
, width =
, boundaries = Salton Sea (southeast), Santa Rosa Mountains (southwest), San Jacin ...
, Blythe, California, Blythe, Twentynine Palms, Victor Valley
The Victor Valley is a valley in the Mojave Desert and subregion of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino County in Southern California.
It is located east of the Mojave's Antelope Valley, north of the Cajon Pass and the San Bernardino Valley, ...
, Barstow, California, Barstow, and Ridgecrest, California, Ridgecrest
*Area code 805, 805 – Santa Barbara, Ventura
Ventura (Italian, Portuguese and Spanish for "fortune") may refer to:
Places
; Brazil
* Boa Ventura de São Roque, a municipality in the state of Paraná, southern Brazil
* Boa Ventura, Paraíba, a municipality in the state of Paraíba, in t ...
and San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...
Counties
*Area code 818, 818 – Eastern Conejo Valley
The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both southeastern Ventura County and northwestern Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It is located in the northwestern part of the Greater Los Angeles Area.
Communities in the Conej ...
, Crescenta Valley, San Fernando Valley including Glendale, California, Glendale and Burbank, California, Burbank
*Area code 820, 820 – Overlay with 805
*Area code 840, 840 – Overlay with 909
*Area code 858, 858 – Overlay with 619
*Area code 909, 909 – Southwestern San Bernardino County, eastern Los Angeles County, and portions of northwestern Riverside County
*Area code 949, 949 – Southern Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
(including Irvine, California, Irvine, Newport Beach, Laguna Niguel, and San Clemente)
*Area code 951, 951 – Western Riverside County including Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural mu ...
and Temecula
Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a t ...
Colleges and universities
The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, and University of California, San Diego, San Diego), 12 California State University campuses (California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, California State University, Channel Islands, Channel Islands, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Dominguez Hills, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California State University, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, California State University, Northridge, Northridge, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Pomona, California State University, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, San Diego State University, San Diego, California State University, San Marcos, San Marcos, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo); and private institutions such as the California Institute of Technology, Azusa Pacific University, Chapman University, the Claremont Colleges (Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute), Loma Linda University, Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, Pepperdine University, University of Redlands, University of San Diego and the University of Southern California.
Parks and recreation areas
Numerous parks provide recreation opportunities and open space. Locations include: *National Park Service **Cabrillo National Monument **Carrizo Plain National Monument **Castle Mountains National Monument **Cesar E. Chavez National Monument **Channel Islands National Park **Death Valley National Park **Joshua Tree National Park **Mojave National Preserve **Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area *Major State park, State Parks – ''including:'' **Anza-Borrego Desert State Park **Crystal Cove State Park **Cuyamaca Rancho State Park **Chino Hills State Park **Fort Tejon State Historic Park **Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area **Mount San Jacinto State Park **Malibu Creek State Park **Red Rock Canyon State Park (California) **Topanga State Park *Major State Historic Parks – ''including:'' **California Citrus State Historic Park **Presidio of Santa Barbara, El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park **La Purísima Mission State Historic Park **Los Encinos State Historic Park **Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa **Old Town San Diego State Historic Park **Rancho Los Encinos **Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park **Tule Elk State Natural Reserve **Watts Towers **Will Rogers State Historic ParkSports
Major professional sports teams in Southern California include: *NFL (American football) Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers *NBA (Basketball) Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers *MLB (Baseball) Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, San Diego Padres *NHL (Ice hockey) Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks *MLS (Soccer) LA Galaxy, Los Angeles FC *NWSL(Soccer) Angel City FC, San Diego Wave FC *WNBA(Basketball) Los Angeles Sparks Southern California also is home to a number of popular NCAA sports programs such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the San Diego State Aztecs. The Bruins and the Trojans both field football teams in NCAA Division I in the Pac-12 Conference, and there is a longtime UCLA–USC rivalry, rivalry between the schools.See also
*:History of Southern California, History of Southern California *:California ranchos, California ranchos – ''Southern California Counties categories'' *:Public transportation in Southern California, Public transportation in Southern California *California earthquake forecast *California megapolitan areas *Geography of Southern California *Largest cities in Southern California *List of regions of California#Southern California *Megaregions of the United States *San Angeles *South Coast (California), South Coast *Southern California Association of GovernmentsReferences
Further reading
* * * , focus on planning, infrastructure, water and business. * , on Henry Edwards Huntington (1850–1927), railroad executive and collector, who helped build LA and southern California through the Southern Pacific railroad and trolleys. * *online
*
excerpt and text search
covers military and industrial roles. *
* * * , a historical geography *
in JSTOR
* , covers 1880s–1940 * *
External links
California Historical Society Collection, 1860–1960
– University of Southern California Libraries, USC Libraries Digital Collections
Historical Society of Southern California
{{coord, 34, 00, N, 117, 00, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Southern California, Megapolitan areas of California Regions of California