Los Angeles or also briefly L.A., is the largest city in the US state of California. It is located on the Pacific Ocean and the Los Angeles River.

Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the United States with 3,928,864 inhabitants in the urban area after New York City and before Chicago. With 11.8 million inhabitants in agglomeration as well as over 12.8 million inhabitants in the metropolitan region (Metropolitan Statistical Area) and almost 17.8 million in the extended metropolitan area, the Greater Los Angeles Area is ranked 17th among the world’s largest metropolitan regions , The inhabitants of Los Angeles are called Angelenos.
Los Angeles is the capital and administrative seat of Los Angeles County. The city is the economic, business and cultural center of California with numerous universities, colleges, research institutes, theaters and museums. Los Angeles is the world’s largest aerospace location and is well-known for its Hollywood and music scene.
The city was officially founded on 4 September 1781 by the Spanish governor Felipe de Neve as El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles (Spanish “The Village of the Queen of the Angels”). The current name Los Angeles is a shortening of the founding name to “the angels”.
The unofficial name El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles del Porcúncula (The Village of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels of the River Portiuncula)
Contrary to the popular opinion that the original name was so, scientists from official documents of Governor Felipe de Neve, general commander Theodor de Croix and Viceroy Antonio María de Bucareli and Ursúa have found that the settlement simply called the name El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Ángeles.
The abbreviation used frequently (also colloquially speaking) is “L.A.”. Because of the Spanish importance of the city name, the city bears the nickname City of Angels.

Source: translated Wikipedia (10/2016), CC BY-S