Newcomer's Handbook For Moving To And Living In Los Angeles: Including Santa Monica, Pasadena, Orange County, And The San Fernando Valley (Newcomer's Handbooks)

Moving to Los Angeles has never been easier!

Expanded to include Orange County, the fourth edition of the Newcomer’s Handbook® for Moving to and Living in Los Angeles extensively covers communities from Santa Clarita to Newport Beach, from Malibu to Pasadena, and neighborhoods and cities in-between.

The fourth edition also presents essential sections on Finding a Place to Live, Moving and Storage, Money Matters, Getting Settled, Helpful Services, Childcare and Education, Shopping for the Home, Cultural Life, Sports and Recreation, Greenspace and Beaches, Places of Worship, Volunteering, Transportation, Emergency Preparedness, Temporary Lodgings, and Quick Getaways. In addition, a handy calendar of LA events, a listing of LA-related guidebooks, fiction, and nonfiction, and a directory of useful phone numbers and web sites round out this indispensable book. A set of six maps—an LA overview, plus five area maps—guide the reader to communities, freeways, and points of interest.

In addition to being thoroughly fact-checked, updated, and revised, the fourth edition includes such new material as:

• Orange County communities, focusing on Newport Beach, Irvine, and Tustin • An Immigrant Newcomers section • A Literary Life section • A thorough discussion of intrastate and interstate moves and consumer complaints

Welcome to El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles (in English, the Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels). That s the name the Spanish gave to this city in 1781 when 44 settlers made their home in what is now downtown Los Angeles. Today, LA is a multi-ethnic, multicultural society as diverse as any city in the world. The city is so large you can fit St. Louis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Manhattan all within the municipal boundaries! People from more than 140 countries live in Los Angeles County, including the largest population of Mexican, Armenian, Korean, Filipino, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan communities outside their respective home nations. Los Angeles ranks as the second largest city in the nation behind New York City; the County of Los Angeles alone would rank as the ninth most populated state. It s safe to say that with 9.8 million people living in LA County, there is indeed something for everyone.

For decades, people around the world have been attracted to Los Angeles for its promises of fame and fortune, and excellent year-round weather. While only a sliver of the population is famous and wealthy, the good weather here is no myth. Average temperatures range from 58 degrees Fahrenheit in December to 76 degrees in September, and it s not uncommon to have an 80-degree day at the beach in February, while much of the rest of the country shivers under a layer of snow.

Greater Los Angeles s traffic and other negatives like crime and racial tensions are perhaps as famous now as her pluses. But as someone once said of LA, "If this is hell, why is it so popular?" For those who choose to call Los Angeles "home," she welcomes you with a wealth of opportunities.