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This Week in LA History: Los Angeles Became L.A. Inc.
The city is incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850.
Spanish governor Felipe de Neve founded Los Angeles on September 4, 1781. Forty years later, the city became a part of Mexico during the Mexican War of Independence. It was not until 1848, after the Mexican-American War, that Los Angeles became a part of the United States, and just two years later it was incorporated as an American city. (California was granted statehood by the union five months later.)
Since its incorporation, Los Angeles has gained many achievements. The city is currently ranked sixth on the Global Cities Index and ninth on the Global Economic Power Index. According to Forbes magazine, the “City of Angels” is also the city of singles; it’s currently ranked as the eighth best city for bachelors and bachelorettes. Two local universities, UCLA and USC, rank within the top 25 on U.S. News & World Report’s list of the nation’s best. Los Angeles is also one of only seven cities to have hosted the Summer Olympic Games more than once, has 90 stage theaters, more than 300 museums, the third-largest airport in the world, and boasts a diverse population with more than 88 mini-cities and communities.
Now approaching its 232nd birthday, Los Angeles continues to grow and thrive as one of the foremost major metropolitan areas in the world—but you already knew that.