Los Angeles, CA | San Diego, CA

5 Themes of Geography

By: Rachel Turrentine

     

     Los Angeles and San Diego are both largely populated cities in Southern California. There are overall similarities between the two of them such as having similar climates, being near the beach, and are both very urban areas. Although both cities are highly populated and there are many things to do crammed into both cities, San Diego has more of small town feel by comparison while people can be more easily consumed by the chaos of Los Angeles. The cost of living in Los Angeles tends to be slightly higher in comparison to San Diego. For example, according to Numbeo consumer prices are 3.74% higher and rent prices are 9.87% higher in Los Angeles in comparison to San Diego. In contrast, San Diego is built around a major freeway system while Los Angeles uses a few major freeways that pass through it such as the 405 (which the San Diego Freeway consists of its full length) and the 110. As a result of having two different freeway systems, Los Angeles in known for having heavy traffic at just about any time of the day. These are just a few of the similarities and differences between the two cities and I’ll more specifically be comparing and contrasting the two in a breakdown of each of the five themes of geography.

                                                                 Location

    Both Los Angeles and San Diego are located in Southern California. Los Angeles’s absolute location is 34..0522° N, 118.2437° W.  The city of Los Angeles is home to many famous tourist attractions and points of interest. Some of these places include Hollywood- the center of the nation’s film and television industry, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Muscle Beach, Griffith Park and Griffith Observatory, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Santa Monica Pier, Los Angeles City Hall, the Hollywood, the Aquarium of the Pacific, RMS Queen Mary,  the Getty Villa, LA Zoo, Little Tokyo, Dodger Stadium, The Broad, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Boulevard and the Hollywood Bowl. Los Angeles is also home to an array of well known museums including the Hollywood Wax Museum, LACMA, Natural History Museum, Petersen Automotive Museum, Grammy Museum at LA Live, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, and many others. It is also the location of two widely known and rival schools; the University of Southern California (USC) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). The city has a seemingly endless amount of attractions for the people who haven’t lived in it their entire lives, and even then it’s not very hard to find something to do. San Diego’s absolute location is 32.7157° N, 117.1611° W. It is less than 20 miles from the border of Mexico.  In comparison to LA’s seemingly endless amount of attractions, San Diego has it’s fair share as well. I have lived in LA my whole life but have only been to San Diego a handful of times. Luckily there are many websites that offer a lot of information on some of the most highly recommended attractions and places to visit. San Diego is known for its beaches and warm weather. A couple of the places that will ring a bell to most people when they think of San Diego are  La Jolla Cove, Sunset Cliffs,  and the San Diego Zoo. The website “TripAdvisor” lists other places such as Balboa Park, Mission Beach, Point Loma, Old Town San Diego, Coronado Bridge, Sea World, Maritime Museum of San Diego, San Diego Bay Walk, Little Italy and Seaport Village. When it comes to the diversification of activities, Los Angeles seems to take the win. Both cities have their fair share of points of interests but when comparing the two San Diego seems to revolve more around beach activities, water sports and parks due to its location while Los Angeles’s “vibe” is more consumed by the Hollywood celebrity feel.

   

Place

    When it comes to climate; Los Angeles and San Diego are very similar. Los Angeles’s annual weather averages range between a temperature of 22°C (72°F) and 13°C (55°F).  The warmest month of the year tends to be July and the coldest and most rainy is January (receiving an average of 79mm of rain). The Pacific Coast of LA is the warmest in September where the sea temperature averages out to be  20°C (68°F) (Holiday Weather). The weather in Los Angeles never seems to be very consistent, many people that live in LA often describe the weather as being “bipolar.” One day the sun could be shining and it could be a nice warm day and the next it could be chilly and overcast. Los Angeles experiences a wide range of weather conditions, getting just about everything aside from snow- but even the snowfall is within reach in a matter of a 2-3 hour drive! According to Los Angeles Times article from September 27th, 2010 “L.A.’s Hottest Day Ever,” “The National Weather Service's thermometer for downtown Los Angeles headed into uncharted territory at 12:15 p.m. Monday, reaching 113 degrees for the first time since records began being kept in 1877.” In comparison, San Diego’s annual weather averages range between a temperature of  23°C (73°F) and 14°C (57°F). These temperatures are very similar to Los Angeles’s; only differing ever so slightly by a matter of a degree or two. Similarly to Los Angeles, San Diego’s coldest month of the year is January. However February is the month that receives the most rainfall- averaging at 53mm. Just a month behind LA, San Diego’s hottest month is August and is evidently the month where the ocean is the warmest at an average of  20°C (68°F) (Holiday Weather). The warmest water temperature averages out to be the same for both Los Angeles and San Diego, however the water is warmest for San Diego in August, which is a month before Los Angeles. The reason for this is because of the effects on the weather from cool ocean breezes and the movement of the California Current.

Human Environment Interaction

        Humans have a huge impact on both the city of Los Angeles and San Diego because they are both very urbanized cities. They both have a lot of industrialization- especially Los Angeles. Another major impact that humans have on the environment is pollution. Being the top two most populated cities in California, more people means more pollution. The city of Los Angeles is known for its “heavy LA traffic” and with 4 million people driving through it, it creates a lot of air pollution. According to an article titled “Los Angeles area’s quality the deadliest in the nation, researchers say” by The Press-Enterprise, “Researchers believe that hundreds of people die each year because of Southern California’s poor air quality. Pollution levels routinely exceed the levels deemed safe by health professionals.In the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale area, about 1,341 people are estimated to die each year because of bad air.That makes the L.A. area’s air quality the deadliest in the nation.” Even though these numbers and this research makes sense given the dense population of people living in on crowded city, the statistics are still unsettlingly shocking to read and to know how big of a negative impact people can have on the environment. As for San Diego’s pollution levels, an article titled “SD no longer on worst air pollution list’ by The San Diego Union-Tribune, reports that San Diego’s pollution levels have actually been improving in the last couple of years. “For the first time since the American Lung Association started reporting on air quality across the nation, the San Diego metropolitan area is not ranked among the 25 most polluted regions.The group puts together an annual “State of the Air” report, which looks at levels of ozone and particle pollution.Gas molecules that make up ozone can damage lung tissue.The American Lung Association has backed various legislative measures designed to improve air quality. Among them are Senate Bill 350, which sets new goals for reducing petroleum use and increasing renewable power, and Senate Bill 32, which establishes new benchmarks for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the national level, the association would like to see the Environmental Protection Agency strengthen its air quality standards for ozone.” The article claims with the help of the American Lung association and new developing programs to help bring the pollution levels down, San Diego’s air levels have improved. Just as humans have an impact on the Earth, the Earth has an impact on humans as well. However humans have much more control over how they’re affecting the planet because obviously the Earth does not make it’s own choices. However the geography of both San Diego and Los Angeles plays a role in how the land can be industrialized and what kind of resources can be taken from it.

                                                                  Movement

Los Angeles and San Diego are the top two most highly populated cities in California. According to Los Angeles Times in an article titled “Los Angeles hits a milestone: 4 million people and counting,” the city’s population has reached over 4 million people this year. A recent state report recorded that 42,470 new people were added to the city’s population from 2016 to 2017 and the new total population for this year is 4,041,707. 4 million people living in one city is a huge amount and leaves Los Angeles as the “dominant population center in California.” San Diego holds second place as the next most populated city in California, and even then, by comparison to Los Angeles, San Diego only has a population of 1,406,318. A very significant decrease in population from LA to San Diego, while San Diego still has a very high and respectable amount of people living in it. The people in Los Angeles have programs to help support the city as needed, with all of the people living in it it is important to manage natural resources as much as possible. According to the UCCE, “ The University of California Cooperative Extension's Natural Resources Program provides research-based information, tools and training to serve as the basis for sound natural resource management in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.” These programs include watershed management-conservation and restoration of aquatic, riparian, and upland habitats- environmental literacy, and maintaining and improving the health of ecosystems that are damaged by invasive species. Likewise, San Diego has very similar programs and contributions to protecting and helping keep the city clean and healthy. An article by The Port of San Diego states “Our participation involves the promotion of ecologically minded development decisions, furthering public awareness, the management of sensitive habitats and invasive species and support of related scientific research.”

Regions

            Los Angeles is a huge melting pot of people made up of many different ethnicities and cultural practices. Some of the different regions in Los Angeles include China town-Originally at the site of Union Station, the original Chinatown was where a large group Chinese immigrants were said to have first settled in Los Angeles. Olvera Street- a place celebrated in honor of the Mexican heritage of LA. Korea Town, Little Tokyo, Little Armenia, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia, Historic Fillipinotown, Pico-Robertson (a center for the Jewish community) and Leimert Park (a center for African American art and culture) (The Culture Trip). San Diego does not have as much as a cultural diversity but it does have similar regions such as Little Italy. According to “Open Data Network”  The last measured GDP per capita for San Diego Metro Area (CA) was $57,955 in 2013. San Diego Metro Area (CA) experienced.an average growth rate of 1.08% from our first statistic recorded in 2001. For Los Angeles the last measured GDP per capita for Los Angeles Metro Area (CA) was $59,092 in 2013. Los Angeles Metro Area (CA) experienced an average growth rate of 1.19% from our first statistic recorded in 2001. If past trends continue, we forecast the GDP per capita to be $62,171 by 2018.

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