Santa Catalina Island

Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is 22 miles (35 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) across at its greatest width. The island is located about 22 miles (35 km) south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is 2,097 feet (639 m) Mt. Orizaba, at 33°22′29.7″N 118°25′11.6″W.

One of the Channel Islands of California archipelago, Catalina lies within Los Angeles County. Most of the island is administered by the Catalina Island Conservancy.

The total population as of the 2000 census was 3,696 persons, almost 85 percent of whom live in the island's only incorporated city, Avalon (pop. 3,127, with another 195 south of town, outside of the city limits). The second center of population is the unincorporated village of Two Harbors, in the north, with a population of 298. Development occurs also at the smaller settlements of Rancho Escondido and Middle Ranch. The remaining population is scattered over the island between the two population centers. The island has an overall population density of 49.29/mi² (19.03/km²).

About a million tourists visit the island every year.

The use of motor vehicles on the island is restricted; there is a limit on the number of registered cars, which translates into a 25-year-long wait list to bring a car to the island. Most residents move around via golf cart. Bicycles are a very popular mode of transport there. 

The Catalina Island Museum, located in the historic Catalina Casino building, is also an attraction as it is the keeper of the island's cultural heritage with collections numbering over 100,000 items and including over 7,000 years of Native American history, over 10,000 photographs and images, a large collection of Catalina-made pottery and tile, ship models, and much more.

The Sunset Strip

The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile-and-a-half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. The Strip is probably the best-known portion of Sunset, embracing a premier collection of boutiques, restaurants, rock clubs, and nightclubs that are on the cutting edge of the entertainment industry. It is also known for its trademark array of huge, colorful billboards and has developed notoriety as a hangout for rock stars, movie stars and other entertainers.

Glamour and glitz defined the Strip in the 1930s and the 1940s, as its renowned restaurants and nightclubs became a playground for the rich and famous. By the early 1960s, the Strip lost favor with the majority of movie people, but its restaurants, bars and clubs continued to serve as an attraction for locals and tourists. In the 1960's and 1970's the Strip became a haven for music groups. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Byrds, Love, The Seeds, Frank Zappa, and many others played at clubs. Many musicians lived or stayed at the hotel for the easy access to the live music venues on Sunset Boulevard.

In November 1984, voters in West Hollywood passed a proposal on the ballot to incorporate and the area became an independent city. Increasingly, the western end of the Strip is occupied by office buildings, mostly catering to the entertainment industry, and expensive hotels.

The Hollywood Walk of Fame

The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California. The stars are permanent public monuments to achievement in the entertainment industry, bearing the names of a mix of actors, musicians, directors, producers, musical and theatrical groups, fictional characters, and others.

The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust.

According to a 2003 report by the market research firm NPO Plog Research, the Walk attracts about 10 million visitors annually — more than Sunset Strip, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Queen Mary, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — and has played an important role in making tourism the largest industry in Los Angeles County.

The Walk of Fame runs 1.3 miles (2.1 km) east to west on Hollywood Boulevard from North Gower Street to North La Brea Avenue, plus a short segment of Marshfield Way that runs diagonally between Hollywood and La Brea; and 0.4 miles (0.7 km) north to south on Vine Street between Yucca Street and Sunset Boulevard.[2]

As of November 8, 2011 the Walk consists of 2,454 stars.[3] These are spaced at 6-foot (1.8 m) intervals, each consisting of a coral-pink terrazzo five-point star rimmed with brass (not bronze, an oft-repeated inaccuracy)[4] inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background. In the upper portion of the pink star field, the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the lower half of the star field, a round inlaid brass emblem indicates the category of the honoree's contributions. The emblems symbolize five categories within the entertainment industry:

• Classic film camera representing motion pictures
•  Television receiver representing broadcast television
•  Phonograph record representing audio recording or music
•  Radio microphone representing broadcast radio
•  Comedy/tragedy masks representing theatre/live performance 

Of all the stars on the Walk to date, 47% have been awarded in the motion pictures category, 24% in television, 17% in audio recording, 10% in radio, and less than 2% in the live performance category. An average of twenty new stars are added to the Walk each year.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits.

LACMA is the largest encyclopedic museum west of Chicago and attracts nearly one million visitors annually. Its holdings include more than 100,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present. In addition to art exhibits, the museum features film and concert series throughout the year.

LACMA's more than 100,000 objects are divided among its numerous departments by region, media, and time period and are spread amongst the various museum buildings.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art was established as a museum in 1961. Prior to this, LACMA was part of the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art, founded in 1910 in Exposition Park near the University of Southern California. In 1965, the museum moved to a new Wilshire Boulevard complex as an independent, art-focused institution, the largest new museum to be built in the United States after the National Gallery of Art.

This is introduction for my Work

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state and the one of most popular city there is Los Angeles.

Los Angeles has an area of 468.67 square miles and located in Southern California. It was founded on September 4, 1781. Los Angeles is the name of Spanish origin that means “city of angels”. Often known by its initials LA, the city has population  more than 17 million people.

 It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California become a part of the United States.

Los Angeles is a world center of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, technology, and education. It is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. Los Angeles has been ranked the third richest city and fifth most powerful and influential city in the world.

The theme of my report is “What tourist attractions Los Angeles is famous for?”. There are some reasons I exactly chose Los Angeles. The first reason is that the theme of my report must to be connected with Olympic Games. I should say that Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics. In these Olympic Games took part more than 140 countries.

Secondly, Los Angeles is one of the most beautiful cities in the world with a big number of tourist attractions. I'm interested to know more about this amazing city.

To answer the question of my report it's necessary to investigate the following issues:

·         Pacific Park

·         The Getty Center

·         The Grove

·         Olvera Street

·         Griffith Park

·         Santa Catalina Island

·         The Hollywood Walk of Fame

·         The Sunset Strip

·         The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

I think that my work will be of interest to pupils and students on the lessons of geography, culture and English.

Griffith Park

 Griffith Park is a large municipal park at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The park covers 4,310 acres (1,740 ha) of land, making it one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is the second-largest city park in California, after Mission Trails Preserve in San Diego, and the tenth largest municipally owned park in the United States. It has also been referred to as the Central Park of Los Angeles, but it is much larger and with a much more untamed, rugged character than its New York City counterpart.

The 9-hole Roosevelt Golf Course, two 18-hole golf courses, a baseball field, athletic fields, along with several basketball and tennis courts are on the grounds. The park also has a swimming pool which is open during the summer months.

With its wide variety of scenes and nearby proximity to Hollywood and Burbank, many different production crews found new ways and angles to film the same spots and make them look different. One would be hard pressed to find a spot in Griffith Park which has not been filmed or taped.

The Griffith Observatory sits atop the southern slope of Mount Hollywood. It was featured prominently in the 1955 classic Rebel Without a Cause. A bronze bust of the film's star James Dean is on the grounds just outside the dome. Other movies filmed here include The Terminator and The Rocketeer. The area of the park around the Observatory also appears as a location in the role-playing video game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, which is set in Los Angeles. All  places in this park were filmed in various films like:  "Future's End",  "River Road Tunnel", " Who Framed Roger Rabbit " and many others. 

The Grove

The Grove in Los Angeles is a boutique outdoor shopping mall located across the street from the famous Los Angeles Farmer's Market.  As you enter the shopping mall, you can get an overview by hopping on a unique, double decker tram ride that moves on a track back and forth through the shopping center. This ride (which is free) is a fun way to see what's in store for your day of shopping and dining. Built on an historic undercarriage from a 1950’s Boston street car, it travels the ¼ mile track between The Grove and The Farmers Market in 6 minutes.

Every 30 minutes the dancing fountain comes alive with songs and a water show in which the water dances in rhythmic patterns to the tunes of famouse singers. A 30-foot-long ellipse of 32 pulsing water jets and an inner ring with eight arching and swaying columns of water join together to create a water dance that reaches heights of 60 feet.

Another feature of the shopping mall attraction is The Spirit of Los Angeles, a commissioned work by sculptor De L’Esprie. The statue stands 18 feet high atop a 22 foot hand limestone column and includes a bronze statue of a male and a female angel soaring skyward.

There, in the Grove, you can find everything what you want and need.