Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and

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. It includes the

Los Angeles metropolitan 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 Co ...

, 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 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. 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 M ...

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 world' ...

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 ...

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 ce ...

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 language, Spanish for "Louis of Toulouse, St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state ...

and Ventura 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 ...

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. sta ...

are located on Southern California's eastern border with Arizona, 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 traver ...

Constituent metropolitan areas

Southern California includes the heavily built-up urban area which stretches along the Pacific coast from Ventura 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 Cou ...

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 ...

(the contiguous urban area in fact continuing into

Tijuana, Mexico Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

), and inland to 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 ...

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 Jacint ...

(

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 land a ...

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

(

and

counties, with 13.3 million people), the

(

and

counties, including the

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 Oxnar ...

(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 ...

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 region. Bakersfield's populat ...

metro area with 0.9 million, and the Santa Barbara,

, 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 enoug ...

(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 enoug ...

) is larger still, extending northeast into

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

and south across the Mexican border into

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Significance

Within Southern California are two major cities,

and

, 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. Three Arch Bay Photo Taken by pilot D Ramey Logan

Three Arch Bay Photo Taken by pilot D Ramey Logan

The counties of

, and

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 atmosphere ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

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, train, ...

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 conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

(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 (company), conglom ...

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 a ...

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

and

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. ...

. 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 comp ...

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 equi ...

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 d ...

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. Histo ...

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 "RVC ...

and

Body Glove Body Glove is an American brand of watersports apparel and accessories that was founded in 1953 by twin brothers Bill and Bob Meistrell. The brothers are often credited with inventing the first practical wetsuit in the early 1950s at the back o ...

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 documen ...

; 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 fr ...

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, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds, 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 Islan ...

, Boost Mobile Pro, and the

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 sailboats, ...

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 b ...

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 fr ...

, 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 ...

was held in San Diego's Mission Bay in 1974. Since then, Southern California, and

in particular, have become a mecca for

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 Mar ...

. 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, 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 L ...

, and their ski resorts, like Bear Mountain, Snow Summit,

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, Cal ...

. The inland desert city of

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

, and

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 northwe ...

as geographical landmarks for the northern boundary. Wpdms shdrlfi020l tehachapi mountains

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–Am ...

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 Legislatu ...

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 ...

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. Li ...

. 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 the ...

. This territory was to include a portion of the much larger Tulare County 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 Mis ...

. The proposal was sent to Washington, D.C. with a strong advocate in Senator Milton Latham. 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 operat ...

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 throu ...

in 1860 and the subsequent

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

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 identi ...

, 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 f ...

divided the state into five regions for the purpose of issuing stay-at-home orders. The Southern California region consists of the following counties:

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 ...

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 (Japanes ...

, Santa Barbara and Ventura. 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 Sta ...

. 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,

, and Riverside-

, 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 ...

metropolitan region, created by the urban area spilling over into

. 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 Californi ...

, 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 O ...

. 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 ...

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 ...

have as much connection with the

as they do with the

. 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. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas, Riverside-San Bernardino area as a separate

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...

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 sh ...

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 ...

, 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 Valle ...

, and the

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 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 hal ...

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 ...

-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 A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...

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 ...

, 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)". 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 identif ...

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 an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

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 a ...

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 tange ...

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, which ...

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 Mountai ...

(Los Angeles, San Bernardino, & Ventura Counties) * Antelope Hills (Kern County) *

(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 (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) *

(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 area ...

(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 ...

(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, California. Buena Vista Lake was the second largest of several similar lakes in the Tulare Lake basin, and was fed ...

(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 (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) *

(Riverside County) *

(San Bernardino, Riverside, Imperial, & San Diego Counties) *

(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 Conejo ...

(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 eas ...

(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 Mounta ...

(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 Nort ...

(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 Cal ...

(San Luis Obispo County) * El Mirage Lake (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 (Kern County) *

(Imperial County) * Irish Hills (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 ...

(San Diego County) *

(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 I ...

(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, Wild and Scenic river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfie ...

(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, swim ...

(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 i ...

(San Diego County) * Lake Arrowhead (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 f ...

(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 Area. ...

(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 (Riverside County) * Lake Webb (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 an ...

(Riverside & San Bernardino Counties) * Little Signal Hills (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 ...

(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 Mo ...

(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 (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 ...

(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 time, ...

(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 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. Geograph ...

(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 Cl ...

(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 unincorpo ...

(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. His ...

(San Diego County) *

Palo Verde Valley The Palo Verde Valley (Spanish language, 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 t ...

(Riverside & Imperial Counties) * Palos Verdes Peninsula (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) *

(San Diego, Riverside, & Orange Counties) * Pleito Hills (Kern County) * Point Loma (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 * Point ...

(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 Californ ...

(Los Angeles & San Bernardino Counties) * Providence Mountains (San Bernardino County) * Puente 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 ...

(Kern County) * Rio Hondo (Los Angeles County) *

Rosamond Hills The Rosamond Hills are a low mountain range in the Mojave Desert, in eastern Kern County, California. The hills are located the northeastern Antelope Valley, between Rosamond and Mojave. They are bisected by California State Route 14 State ...

(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 primaril ...

(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 Gul ...

(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 Bernard ...

(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 (San Diego County) * San Emigdio Mountains (Los Angeles, Ventura, & Kern Counties) *

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

(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 betw ...

(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 mo ...

(Riverside County) * San Jacinto River (Riverside County) *

(Kern County) * San Luis Rey River (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 Californ ...

(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 (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 th ...

(Los Angeles County) * Santa Margarita River (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, ...

(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 C ...

(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 (Kern County) * Sequoia National Forest (Kern County) * Shale Hills (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 primar ...

(Kern County) * Sierra Pelona Mountains (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 aro ...

(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. The ...

(Ventura County) * Sweetwater River (San Diego County) *

(Kern & Los Angeles Counties) * Tejon Hills (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 extend fo ...

(Riverside County) * Telephone Hills (Kern County) * Temblor Range (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 ...

(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 V ...

(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 Ve ...

(Los Angeles County) *

(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 ...

* Chino Fault *

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 Souther ...

Elysian Park Fault Elysian Park Fault is an active blind thrust fault located in Central Los Angeles, California. Approximately 20 km (12.4 miles) long, the fault is believed to able to produce a destructive earthquake of magnitude 6.2–6.7, about every 500–1, ...

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 Th ...

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 Salada ...

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- ...

* Puente Hills Fault *

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 wh ...

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 sta ...

* Salinian Block *

# * San Cayetano Fault * San Felipe Fault Zone * San Gabriel Fault *

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 i ...

* Santa Maria River Fault * Santa Ynez Fault * Shoreline Fault * Ventura Fault * White Wolf Fault *

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 Shake Map Northridge 1994

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 than magnitude 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 1 ...

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

, which can produce a magnitude 8.0 event. Other faults include the San Jacinto Fault, the Puente Hills Fault, and the

. 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, see

List 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 Angele ...

. 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 occurre ...

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 Time Zone, Pacific Standard Time (PST). The 7.1–7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a Modified Mercalli intensity scale ...

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 ruptured ...

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 large ...

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, California, San Diego County in Southern California on April 21 at . The shock had a moment magnitude of 6.7 and a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli i ...

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 United ...

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 Califor ...

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 r ...

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 bisect ...

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 t ...

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 ...

# *

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 $33.5� ...

# *

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 sha ...

# *

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 ...

# *

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 wer ...

# *

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 The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to off ...

, 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 Gov ...

and an emerging Greater Sacramento 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 statistical area, metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and ...

, 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 as a city or tow ...

s, one international

, 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

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 Imperial County is a county on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, making it the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat is El Centro. Imperial is the ...

and San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos metropolitan area form the Southern Border Region. North of Greater Los Angeles are the Santa Barbara,

, and

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

* Santa Barbara * Ventura

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 Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousan ...

. 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 Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is a ...

, Downtown Riverside,

Downtown San Bernardino Downtown San Bernardino is a district in the city of San Bernardino, California, in San Bernardino County, United States. It is home to city and county government buildings, and to the city's central business district. The downtown area of San B ...

Downtown San Diego Downtown San Diego is the city center of San Diego, California, the eighth largest city in the United States. In 2010, the Centre City area had a population of more than 28,000. Downtown San Diego serves as the cultural and financial center and ...

, and the

South Coast Metro The South Coast Metro is a district in Orange County, California within the cities of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. The area is a dense mix of residential, office, and retail developments that spreads out from the South Coast Plaza mall. It forms pa ...

. Within the Los Angeles Area are the major business districts of Downtown Pasadena, Downtown Burbank, Downtown Santa Monica, Downtown Glendale and

Downtown Long Beach Downtown Long Beach is the heart of Long Beach, California, United States, and is the location for most of the city's major tourist attractions and municipal services. It is also the location for numerous businesses. There are many hotels and rest ...

. Los Angeles itself has many business districts, such as

and those lining

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...

including

Mid-Wilshire Mid-Wilshire is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. It is known for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Miracle Mile shopping district. Geography City of Los Angeles bound ...

, the Miracle Mile, Downtown Beverly Hills and Westwood; others include

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

and

Warner Center Warner Center is a master-planned neighborhood and business district development in the Canoga Park and Woodland Hills neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California.Station 84(Woodland Hills) an(Canoga Park) serve Warner C ...

in the

. 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

, Hospitality Business/Financial Centre, 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 Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

along I-5; and another, the

South Coast Plaza–John Wayne Airport edge city The South Coast Metro is a district in Orange County, California within the cities of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa. The area is a dense mix of residential, office, and retail developments that spreads out from the South Coast Plaza mall. It forms p ...

that stretches from the

to the Irvine Business Complex; Newport Center; and

Irvine Spectrum Irvine Spectrum is a district in southeastern Irvine, Orange County, California, centered on the Irvine Spectrum Center shopping and lifestyle center. It is also an edge city, a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a t ...

Downtown Santa Ana Downtown Santa Ana (DTSA), also called Downtown Orange County, is the historic city center of Santa Ana and the county seat of Orange County, California. It is the institutional center for the city of Santa Ana as well as Orange County, a reta ...

is an important government, arts and entertainment, and retail district.

is the CBD of San Diego, though the city is filled with business districts. These include Carmel Valley, Del Mar Heights,

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Miss ...

Rancho Bernardo Rancho Bernardo is a master-planned community in the northern hills of the city of San Diego, California. Geography The topography of Rancho Bernardo consists of canyons and rolling hills that have large bedrock outcroppings. The major floral bio ...

, Sorrento Mesa, and 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 Dry Town Water Park is a waterpark located in Palmdale, California that opens each year from the Memorial Day weekend in May through Labor Day in September. The park features a 35-foot tower structure that holds three waterslides with a three fo ...

Pacific Park Pacific Park is an oceanfront amusement park located in Santa Monica, California. The park, located on the Santa Monica Pier, looks directly out on the Pacific Ocean, in the direction of Catalina Island. It is the only amusement park directly l ...

* Raging Waters San Dimas *

Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Hurricane Harbor is a chain of water parks that are part of the Six Flags theme park chain. Although the parks are not identical, common features include a variety of body slides, speed slides, tube slides, wave pools, lazy rivers, and shopping ...

* Six Flags Magic Mountain *

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...

Orange County *

Disney California Adventure Disney California Adventure Park, commonly referred to as California Adventure or by its acronym DCA, is a theme park located at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Park ...

Disneyland Park Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

* Knott's Berry Farm *

Knott's Soak City Knott's Soak City is a seasonal water park owned and operated by Cedar Fair located in Buena Park, California. The Knott's Soak City name was previously used for two other water parks in Southern California, since sold to SeaWorld Parks & Enterta ...

* Wild Rivers (water park) Riverside & San Bernardino * Castle Park *

Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs Wet'n'Wild Palm Springs is a defunct water park located in Palm Springs, California. The park operated under Cedar Fair's ownership as Knott's Soak City until 2013 when CNL Lifestyle Properties acquired it. The park plans to reopen in 2022 after ...

San Diego * Sesame Place San Diego *

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905. It is operated by the non-profit New York Racin ...

Legoland California Legoland California Resort is a theme park, miniature park, and aquarium located in Carlsbad, California, based on the Lego toy brand. Opening on March 20, 1999, it was the third Legoland park to open and the first outside of Europe. The park ...

* Legoland Waterpark *

San Diego Zoo The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a p ...

San Diego Zoo Safari Park The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, originally named the San Diego Wild Animal Park until 2010, is an 1,800 acre (730 ha) zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California, near Escondido. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in S ...

* SeaWorld San Diego

Vineyard-Winery American Viticultural Area (AVA) districts

California wine California wine production has a rich viticulture history since 1680 when Spanish Jesuit missionaries planted '' Vitis vinifera'' vines native to the Mediterranean region in their established missions to produce wine for religious servic ...

AVA-

American Viticultural Area An American Viticultural Area (AVA) is a designated wine grape-growing region in the United States, providing an official appellation for the mutual benefit of wineries and consumers. Winemakers frequently want their consumers to know about t ...

s in southern California: *

South Coast AVA The South Coast AVA is an American Viticultural Area in the state of California that encompasses grape-growing regions in five counties of Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego. This large appellati ...

Cucamonga Valley AVA The Cucamonga Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in San Bernardino County, California. It is in the Cucamonga Valley region of the Pomona Valley, about west of San Bernardino. Cucamonga Valley is a warm climate for viniculture, with ...

** Malibu-Newton Canyon AVA ** Ramona Valley AVA ** Saddle Rock-Malibu AVA **

Temecula Valley AVA The Temecula Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in the Temecula Valley, located in southwestern Riverside County, California. History Winemaking in the Temecula area was revived in the late 1960s with plantings made by the Brookside ...

Leona Valley AVA Leona Valley AVA is an American Viticulture Area (AVA) in northeastern Los Angeles County, California. It is located in Leona Valley within the Sierra Pelona Mountains of Southern California. The Leona Valley American Viticulture Area was est ...

Central Coast AVA The Central Coast AVA is a large American Viticultural Area in the U.S. state of California that spans from Santa Barbara County in the south to the San Francisco Bay Area in the north. The boundaries of the Central Coast include portions of six ...

Arroyo Grande Valley AVA The Arroyo Grande Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in San Luis Obispo County, California. It is part of the larger Central Coast AVA with the area composrd of sedimentary and volcanic soils over a layer of bedrock known as the ...

Edna Valley AVA The Edna Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area located in San Luis Obispo County, California encompassing the rural town of Edna, which is south of the county seat San Luis Obispo and north of the small coastal town Arroyo Grande. It is ...

** San Pasqual Valley AVA ** Santa Maria Valley AVA ** Santa Ynez Valley AVA ** Sta. Rita Hills AVA ** York Mountain AVA

Shopping malls

* South Coast Plaza *

Westfield Century City Westfield Century City (formerly known as the Century Square Shopping Center) is a two-level, 1.3 million-square-foot outdoor shopping mall in the Century City commercial district in Los Angeles, California. A property of the Westfield Corporati ...

* Citadel Outlets * Fashion Valley *

Westfield Topanga & The Village Westfield Topanga & The Village is a shopping mall in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It spans and houses anchor stores Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Macy's, and Target. History Opened on February 10, 1964, Topanga Plaza ...

* Ontario Mills * Glendale Galleria *

FIGat7th FIGat7th is an open-air shopping mall located in the Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles. It is nestled between two office skyscrapers, 777 Tower and Ernst & Young Plaza. Some of its current retailers include Target, Starbucks Coffee, Mo ...

Transportation

:''See: Transportation in Southern California'' Southern California is home to

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the ...

, the second-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume (see

World's busiest airports by passenger traffic The world's busiest airports by passenger traffic are measured by total passengers (data from Airports Council International), defined as passengers enplaned plus passengers deplaned plus direct-transit passengers. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta ...

) and the third-busiest by international passenger volume (see Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic);

San Diego International Airport San Diego International Airport , formerly known as Lindbergh Field, is an international airport northwest of Downtown San Diego, California, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.. US Feder ...

, the busiest single-runway airport in the world;

Van Nuys Airport : ''For the United States Air Force use of the airport (1942–1990), see Van Nuys Air National Guard Base'' Van Nuys Airport is a public airport in the Van Nuys neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. The airport is operated by Los Angeles ...

, the world's busiest

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

airport; major commercial airports at

, Orange County,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Burbank and

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

; and numerous smaller commercial and general aviation airports. Six of the seven lines of the

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

system, Metrolink, run out of

, connecting Los Angeles, Ventura, 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 Port of Los Angeles is a seaport managed by the Los Angeles Harbor Department, a unit of the City of Los Angeles. It occupies of land and water with of waterfront and adjoins the separate Port of Long Beach. Promoted as "America's Port", ...

, the country's busiest commercial port; the adjacent

Port of Long Beach The Port of Long Beach, also known as the Harbor Department of the City of Long Beach, is a container port in the United States, which adjoins Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for US–Asian trade, the port occupies of land with ...

, the country's second busiest container port; and the

Port of San Diego The Port of San Diego is a seaport in San Diego, California. It is located on San Diego Bay in southwestern San Diego County, California, and is a self-supporting district established in 1962 by an act of the California State Legislature. In addi ...

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'' * Antelope Valley Transit Authority *

Big Blue Bus Big Blue Bus (stylized, big blue bus) is a municipal bus service serving the city of Santa Monica and the greater Westside region of Los Angeles County. The service, operated by the city of Santa Monica, was founded on April 14, 1928 and thro ...

(Santa Monica) *

Gold Coast Transit Gold Coast Transit District, formerly known as South Coast Area Transit (SCAT), is a local bus operator in western Ventura County, California, serving Ventura, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Ojai, and the adjoining areas of unincorporated Ventura County. ...

(Ventura County) *

Golden Empire Transit Golden Empire Transit is the operator of mass transportation in Bakersfield, California. There are 16 routes serving Greater Bakersfield, which includes both the City of Bakersfield and adjacent unincorporated communities. Since 2005, nearly th ...

(Bakersfield) *

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

* Metrolink * North County Transit District (northern San Diego County) *

Omnitrans Omnitrans, stylized as "OmniTrans," is a public transportation agency in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The largest transit operator within San Bernardino County, it serves the San Bernardino Valley. The agency was established ...

(southwestern San Bernardino County) *

Orange County Transportation Authority The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for ...

Riverside Transit Agency The Riverside Transit Agency (RTA) is the main transit agency for western Riverside County, California, United States. RTA provides both local and regional services throughout the region with 39 fixed-routes (including RapidLink Gold Line), 9 Com ...

(western Riverside County) * San Diego Coaster (Oceanside to San Diego) *

San Diego Metropolitan Transit System The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (''SDMTS'' or often simply ''MTS'') is a public transit service provider for Central, South, Northeast and Southeast San Diego County. The agency directly operates a large transit system that includes ...

San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority The San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority is the provider of intercity mass transportation in San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a county on the Central Coast of C ...

* Santa Barbara MTD

Communication

Telephone area codes

213 Year 213 ( CCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Calvinus (or, less frequently, year 966 ''Ab urbe cond ...

–

Central Los Angeles __NOTOC__ Central Los Angeles is the historic urban region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Geography The City of Los Angeles The Los Angeles Department of City Planning divides the city into Area Planning Commission (APC) areas, each fu ...

310 __NOTOC__ Year 310 ( CCCX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Andronicus and Probus (or, less frequently, year 1063 ''A ...

–

West Los Angeles West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...

Inglewood Inglewood may refer to: Places Australia *Inglewood, Queensland * Shire of Inglewood, Queensland, a former local government area *Inglewood, South Australia *Inglewood, Victoria *Inglewood, Western Australia Canada * Inglewood, Ontario *Inglewoo ...

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to i ...

, South Bay and Catalina Island * 323 – Overlay with 213 *

424 Year 424 ( CDXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Castinus and Victor (or, less frequently, year 1177 ''Ab urbe condit ...

– Overlay with 310 * 442 – Overlay with 760 *

562 __NOTOC__ Year 562 ( DLXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 562 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...

–

Gateway Cities The Gateway Cities Region, or Southeast Los Angeles County (also shortened to Southeast Los Angeles and Southeast LA) is an urbanized region located in southeastern Los Angeles County, California, between the City of Los Angeles proper, Orange ...

, and parts of northern Orange County *

619 __NOTOC__ Year 619 ( DCXIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 619 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

– most of

San Diego County 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 f ...

including

626 __NOTOC__ Year 626 ( DCXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 626 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

– most of

including Pasadena * 657 – Overlay with 714 * 661 –

, Santa Clarita, and

* 714 – Northern Orange County (including

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most ...

, Santa Ana, and

) * 760 – Northern San Diego County (including Oceanside and Escondido), Imperial County,

Blythe The name Blythe ( or ) derives from Old English ''bliþe'' ("joyous, kind, cheerful, pleasant"; modern ''blithe''), and further back from Proto-Germanic ''*blithiz'' ("gentle, kind"). People *Blythe (given name), including a list of people named ...

Twentynine Palms Twentynine Palms (also known as 29 Palms) is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Twentynine Palms serves as one of the entry points to Joshua Tree National Park. History Twentynine Palms was named for the palm trees found there in ...

, Barstow, and Ridgecrest *

805 __NOTOC__ Year 805 ( DCCCV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Siege of Patras: Local Slavic tribes of the Peloponnese lay siege to ...

– Santa Barbara, Ventura and

Counties * 818 – Eastern

Crescenta Valley The Crescenta Valley is a small inland valley in Los Angeles County, California, lying between the San Gabriel Mountains on the northeast and the Verdugo Mountains and San Rafael Hills on the southwest. It opens into the San Fernando Valley at t ...

including

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

and Burbank * 820 – Overlay with 805 *

840 __NOTOC__ Year 840 ( DCCCXL) was a leap year starting on Thursday in the Julian calendar, the 840th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 840th year of the 1st millennium, the 40th year of the 9th century, and the ...

– Overlay with 909 * 858 – Overlay with 619 * 909 – Southwestern

San Bernardino County San Bernardino County (), officially the County of San Bernardino, is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California, and is located within the Inland Empire area. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 2,181, ...

, eastern

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, and portions of northwestern

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

* 949 – Southern Orange County (including Irvine,

Newport Beach Newport Beach is a coastal city in South Orange County, California. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries however today, it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws ...

Laguna Niguel Laguna Niguel () is a city in Orange County, California, United States. The name Laguna Niguel is derived from the words "Laguna" (Spanish for "lagoon") and "Niguili" (the name of a Native American village once located near Aliso Creek). As of ...

, and

San Clemente San Clemente (; Spanish for " St. Clement") is a city in Orange County, California. Located in the Orange Coast region of the South Coast of California, San Clemente's population was 64,293 in at the 2020 census. Situated roughly midway between ...

) * 951 – Western

including Riverside and

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 The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, University of Califor ...

campuses ( Irvine,

, Riverside, Santa Barbara, and

), 12

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

campuses (

Dominguez Hills The Dominguez Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, in southern Los Angeles County, California. They are named for the locally prominent Californio family of Manuel Dominguez, which owned Rancho San Pedro. They are between t ...

, Fullerton,

, Northridge, Pomona,

, San Marcos, and

); and private institutions such as the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Azusa Pacific University Azusa Pacific University (APU) is a private, evangelical Christian university in Azusa, California. The university was founded in 1899, with classes opening on March 3, 1900, in Whittier, California, and began offering degrees in 1939. The uni ...

Chapman University Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Sci ...

, the

Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)— Pomona College, Sc ...

(

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and international relations. CMC is a member of the Claremont Colleges c ...

Harvey Mudd College Harvey Mudd College (HMC) is a private college in Claremont, California, focused on science and engineering. It is part of the Claremont Colleges, which share adjoining campus grounds and resources. The college enrolls 902 undergraduate students ...

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

Scripps College Scripps College is a private liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California. It was founded as a member of the Claremont Colleges in 1926, a year after the consortium's formation. Journalist and philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps p ...

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna ...

and

Keck Graduate Institute Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) is a private graduate school in Claremont, California. Founded by Henry Riggs in 1997, it is the seventh and newest member of the Claremont Colleges. History Henry Riggs, then president of Harvey Mudd College, ...

Loma Linda University Loma Linda University (LLU) is a private Seventh-day Adventist health sciences university in Loma Linda, California. , the university comprises eight schools and a Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist educat ...

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. It is located on the west side of the city near Playa Vista. LMU is the parent school to Loyola Law School, which is located ...

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a private Roman Catholic research university in San Diego, California. Chartered in July 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University (comprising the College for Men and Sch ...

and the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

Parks and recreation areas

Numerous parks provide recreation opportunities and open space. Locations include: *

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument ( es, Monumento nacional Cabrillo) is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 2 ...

Carrizo Plain National Monument The Carrizo Plain ( Obispeño: ''tšɨłkukunɨtš'', "Place of the rabbits") is a large enclosed grassland plain, approximately long and up to across, in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, California, about northwest of Los Angeles. It co ...

Castle Mountains National Monument Castle Mountains National Monument is a U.S. National Monument located in the eastern Mojave Desert and northeastern San Bernardino County, in the state of California.Cesar E. Chavez National Monument **

Channel Islands National Park Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undevelope ...

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eurek ...

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of San Bernardino and Los Angeles and north of Palm Springs. It is named after the Joshua trees (''Yucca brevifolia'') native to the Mojave Desert. Origin ...

Mojave National Preserve Mojave National Preserve is a United States National Preserve located in the Mojave Desert of San Bernardino County, California, USA, between Interstate 15 and Interstate 40. The preserve was established October 31, 1994, with the passage of ...

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in t ...

*Major

State Parks State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

– ''including:'' **

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (, '' AN-zə bə-RAY-goh'') is a California State Park located within the Colorado Desert of southern California, United States. The park takes its name from 18th century Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza and ...

Crystal Cove State Park Crystal Cove State Park is a state park of California, United States, encompassing of Pacific coastline, inland chaparral canyons, and the Crystal Cove Historic District of beach houses. The park is located in Newport Beach, and is part of the ...

Cuyamaca Rancho State Park Cuyamaca Rancho State Park is a state park in Southern California, United States, located east of San Diego in the Cuyamaca and Laguna Mountains of the Peninsular Ranges. The park's feature pine, fir, and oak forests, with meadows and streams ...

Chino Hills State Park Chino Hills State Park is a state park of California, in the United States. It is located in the Chino Hills, foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. It is a critical link in the Chino– Puente Hills wildlife corridor, and a major botanical ...

** Fort Tejon State Historic Park ** Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area **

Mount San Jacinto State Park Mount San Jacinto State Park is in the San Jacinto Mountains, of the Peninsular Ranges system, in Riverside County, California, United States. A majority of the park is within the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. The park ...

** Malibu Creek State Park **

Red Rock Canyon State Park (California) Red Rock Canyon State Park is a state park in the U.S. state of California which features scenic desert cliffs, buttes and spectacular rock formations. The park consists of approximately within the Mojave Sector of the Tehachapi District of ...

Topanga State Park Topanga State Park () is a California state park located in the Santa Monica Mountains, within Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The park is located adjacent to the community of ...

*Major State Historic Parks – ''including:'' **

California Citrus State Historic Park California Citrus State Historic Park is an open-air museum in the state park system of California, United States, interpreting the historic cultural landscape of the citrus industry. The park’s museum exhibits and interpretive features shar ...

El Presidio de Santa Barbara State Historic Park EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American p ...

La Purísima Mission State Historic Park LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

Los Encinos State Historic Park Los Encinos State Historic Park is a state park unit of California, preserving buildings of Rancho Los Encinos. The park is located near the corner of Balboa and Ventura Boulevards in Encino, California, in the San Fernando Valley. The rancho ...

Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa ( es, Misión San Luis Obispo de Tolosa) is a Spanish mission founded September 1, 1772 by Father Junípero Serra in San Luis Obispo, California. Named after Saint Louis of Anjou, the bishop of Toulouse, the ...

** Old Town San Diego State Historic Park **

Rancho Los Encinos Rancho Los Encinos (also Rancho El Encino and Rancho Encino) was a Spanish grazing concession, and later Mexican land granted cattle and sheep rancho and travelers way-station on the El Camino Real in the San Fernando Valley, in present-day ...

Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park is a California State Park of approximately located on the boundary between Ventura and Los Angeles counties, between the communities of Chatsworth and Simi Valley. Geologically, the park is located where ...

**Tule Elk State Natural Reserve **

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artis ...

** Will Rogers State Historic Park

Sports

Major professional sports teams in Southern California include: * NFL (American football)

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

* NBA (Basketball)

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

* MLB (Baseball)

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...

* NHL (Ice hockey)

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

Anaheim Ducks The Anaheim Ducks are a professional ice hockey team based in Anaheim, California. The Ducks compete in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division, and play their home games at Honda Center ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

(Soccer)

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began p ...

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club, commonly referred to as LAFC, is an American professional Association football team based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The club ...

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

(Soccer)

Angel City FC Angel City Football Club is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in Los Angeles, California, and was announced on July 21, 2020. The team has many high-profile owners, including Becky G, Natal ...

, San Diego Wave FC * WNBA(Basketball)

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was fou ...

Southern California also is home to a number of popular NCAA sports programs such as the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) ...

, the

USC Trojans The USC Trojans are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Southern California (USC), located in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the ''Trojans'', the women's athletic teams are referred ...

, and the San Diego State Aztecs. The Bruins and the Trojans both field football teams in NCAA Division I in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

, and there is a longtime rivalry between the schools.

References

External links

California Historical Society Collection, 1860–1960
– 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 Megapolitan areas of California Regions of California

Constituent metropolitan areas

Significance

Northern boundary

Urban landscape

Climate

Natural landscape

Geography

Geographic features

Geology

List of major fault zones

Earthquakes

=List of earthquakes

Population

Cities

Counties

Literature

Economy

Industries

Major central business districts

Theme parks and waterparks

Vineyard-Winery American Viticultural Area (AVA) districts

Shopping malls

Transportation

Airports

Freeways and highways

Public transportation

Communication

Telephone area codes

Colleges and universities

Parks and recreation areas

Sports

See also

References

Further reading

External links