Okay, so the title is a little bit of bait and switch, because not only is there no record of one person who named the city of angels in 1781, historians can’t even decide what the original Spanish language name was…
The most popular theory, that appears to be backed up by a map from 1785, is ” El Pueblo de la Reyna de los Angeles” (or The Town of the Queen of the Angels). But other historians argue that the real name is ” El Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles Sobre el Rio de Porciuncula” (or the town of the Queen of Angels on the Porciuncula River). They even have competing plaques, and the one with the longer name features the first names of the 11 founders. The Founders Plaque.
Regardless, the point of this post was to look even deeper. You see the county of Los Angeles has some 149 distinct neighborhoods in it. And in many cases, LA is second in population of certain minority and ethnics groups to their own country’s capital cities. Each of those neighborhoods and communities have names, and with that many, it’s more than Thai Town, Little Italy, Old Filipino Town or even Boys Town.
So this map I’ve posted below lists the origins, as far as we know it, of 35 of the odder named, significant communities in the LA area. And by the way, Hollywood is part of the City of Los Angeles, while West Hollywood is it’s own municipality. Just to confuse things even further…
