Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Southern California shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Southern California offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Southern California at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Southern California? Wrong! If the Southern California is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Southern California then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Southern California? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Southern California and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Southern California wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Southern California then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Southern California site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Southern California, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Southern California, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.



Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles, California and San Diego, California, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, behind only the BosWash Region in the Eastern United States. Southern California also contains a plethora of diverse landscapes including towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, vast deserts, scenic islands, large swaths of forest, and a breathtaking rugged coastline with miles of sandy beaches.

Counties usually associated with Southern California are Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, California, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, Imperial County; also in some cases Santa Barbara County. On the west is the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the US-Mexico border between the United States and Mexico; to the east are the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert Deserts and the Colorado River at the state's border with Arizona and Nevada. To the north is the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, which separates the region from the rest of the state.

.

Significance Within its boundaries is a major Global city, Los Angeles, and three of the list of metropolitan areas by population.The three metropolitan areas are: 1) Greater Los Angeles Area (the second largest in the US), 2) Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario (also know as the Inland Empire (California)) and 3) San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos - see: Metropolitan Statistical Area Its counties of Los Angeles County, California, Orange County, California, San Diego County, California, San Bernardino County, California, and Riverside County, California are in the top 15 most populous counties in the United States. The region is also home to Los Angeles International Airport, the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume,World's busiest airports by passenger traffic and the 2nd by international passenger volume,Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport, Ontario International Airport, John Wayne International Airport, and San Diego International Airport. Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' busiest commercial port, and the adjacent Port of Long Beach. Also of note in the region is the Freeway system of Los Angeles, which is the world's busiest. Six of the seven lines of the commuter rail system, Metrolink, run out of Downtown Los Angeles, connecting Los Angeles, Ventura County, California, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego Counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly, the nation's first suburb-to-suburb commuter rail line.

The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Riverside, University of California, Santa Barbara, and University of California, San Diego campuses), eleven California State University campuses (California State University, Bakersfield, California State University, Channel Islands, California State University, Fullerton, California State University, Long Beach, California State University, Los Angeles, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California State University, Northridge, California State University, San Bernardino, San Diego State University, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and California State University, San Marcos campuses), as well as private institutions such as the University of Southern California, the University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount University, Chapman University, the Claremont Consortium of Colleges, Pepperdine University, and California Institute of Technology.

Southern California is also the entertainment (cinema of the United States, television in the United States, and music of the United States) capital of the world and is home to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, the center of the motion picture industry. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company (which also owns American Broadcasting Company), Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures (parent company of Dreamworks), 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, and as well as Univision, Activision, and THQ. Southern California is also home to the world's largest pornography industry, located primarily in the San Fernando Valley. More than 85% of adult film and video production in North America takes place in the area.

Besides the entertainment industry, Southern California is also home to a large surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Volcom, Quicksilver, Lost Enterprises, Sector 9Sector 9 Incorporated - San Diego, CA, RVCA, and SurflineSurfline - Huntington Beach, CA are all headquartered here. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, professional surfers Rob Machado, Tom Curran, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds, and Chris Ward, and professional snowboarder Shaun White live in Southern California. Some of the world's legendary surf spots are here as well, including Trestles, Rincon Point, The Wedge (surfing), Huntington Beach, California, and Malibu, California, and it is second only to the island of Oahu in terms of famous surf breaks. Brand name skate parks including the Vans Skate Park in Orange, the Etnies Park in Lake Forest, and the YMCA Skate Park in Encinitas are in Southern California. Some of the world's biggest extreme sports events including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the US Open of Surfing are all in Southern California.

Southern California is home to many successful sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Teams that are located in the region include the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA, Los Angeles Riptide, and San Diego Chargers. Southern California also hosts a number of popular NCAA sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the SDSU Aztecs.

With inhabitants from all over the world, Southern California has always been at the forefront of popular culture as well as a pioneer of several subcultures, including the hippie movement, and various musical movements such as skate punk, hardcore punk, and West Coast Rap with its gangster/"g-funk" style. The Los Angeles area in particular has always been one of the most important areas for entertainment, the arts, architecture, and food, all of which reflects the broad influence Los Angeles has on the world's culture.

Northern boundary The region's northern boundary is subject to a broader degree of interpretation than those of the West, East, and South. The most commonly used "physical" boundary between Southern California and the rest of the state is the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. A less inclusive boundary is the San Gabriel Mountains, located 10 to 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but this boundary is generally not accepted because land north of the San Gabriel Mountain Range but south of the Tehachapi Mountain Range is largely inside Los Angeles County. Depending on which of the two mountain ranges is used for the northern boundary of the region, different communities/cities and counties are included in, or excluded from, the area called "Southern California".

{|class="wikitable"!County!Population (Jan 2007 estimate)!Land Area (mi²)!Density (per mi²)|-|San Bernardino County ] || 10,331,939 || 4,061 || 2,544.2|-|Ventura County ] || 3,098,269 || 4,200 || 737.7|-|Riverside County ] || 3,098,121 || 789 || 3,926.6|-|Imperial County || 172,672 || 4,175 || 41.36|-|Southern California || 21,586,151 || 42,383 || 509|}



{|class="wikitable"!City!Population (2007 estimate)|-|Santa Barbara, California || 89,456|-|Goleta, Santa Barbara County ], Santa Barbara County || 14,123|-|Summerland, California CDP, Santa Barbara County || 1,545 (2000 Census)|-|Isla Vista CDP, Santa Barbara County ] CDP, Santa Barbara County || 2,610 (2000 Census)|-|Toro Canyon CDP, Santa Barbara County ], Santa Barbara County || 2,200 (2000 Census)|-|Southern Coast of Santa Barbara County ] || 801,648|-|SoCal boundary disputed || 971,792|}

Source : http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Estimates/E1/documents/e-1press.pdf

Urban landscape Southern California is in part a heavily developed urban environment, along with vast arid areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the second-largest urbanized region in the United States, second only to the Washington, D.C./Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/New York City/Boston, Massachusetts megalopolis (BosWash). Whereas the BosWash cities are dense, with major downtown populations and significant rail and transit systems, much of SoCal is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, and Orange County, California, each of which is the center of its respective metropolitan area, which are in turn composed of numerous other cities and communities.

Traveling south on Interstate 5 (California), the main gap to continued urbanization is Camp Pendleton. The communities along Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 (California) are so inter-related that Temecula, California has as much connection with San Diego County as it does with the Inland Empire (California). To the east, the United States Census Bureau considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas as a separate metropolitan area from Los Angeles County. While many commute to LA and Orange Counties, there are some differences in development, as most of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties was developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

skyline seen on an average hazy June Day, from the Santa Ana Freeway. At 1,018 feet, 73 Floors, The US Bank Tower stands as the West Coast of the United States's tallest since 1989.

Regions Major cities (over 200,000 inhabitants) All population information is from the 2005 estimate of the State of California.





Principal cities (over 100,000 inhabitants)

Counties South of the San Gabriel mountains

North of the San Gabriel mountains

Santa Barbara County, California, San Luis Obispo, California, and Ventura County, California are also counties in the Central Coast, California.

ZIP Codes See Southern California Zip Codes

Geographical regions Southern California is also divided into the Coastal Region (Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County) and the larger, more sparsely populated, desert Inland Empire (California) (San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Imperial County). The division between the Coastal Regions and the Inland Empire winds along the backs of the coastal mountain ranges such as the Santa Ana Mountains.A related geographical term is cismontane Southern California, which refers to the portion of California on the coastal side of the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges mountain ranges. The term "Southern California" often refers to this region specifically, as opposed to largely desert areas comprising the rest of the southern portion of the state, which are referred to as transmontane Southern California.

Geographic features , Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino County

Transportation Airports

Freeways Interstate Highways

U.S. Highway system

List of California State Routes Note: highway segments with names listed in italics are surface streets and not freeways.

Major public transit organizations

Metrolink commuter lines

Communication Telephone area codes

Sports teams {| class="wikitable"!Team!!Sport!!League!!Venue|-| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim| [American League (Major League Baseball)]|-| Los Angeles Dodgers ([Major League Baseball)]|-| San Diego Padres|-| [Los Angeles Clippers| rowspan="2" | [National Basketball Association|-| [Los Angeles Lakers| [American football| National Football League|-| [Anaheim Ducks| rowspan="2" | [National Hockey League|-| [Los Angeles Kings|-| [Chivas USA| rowspan="2" | [Major League Soccer|-| [Los Angeles Galaxy|}

See also

References

External links



Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles, California and San Diego, California, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, behind only the BosWash Region in the Eastern United States. Southern California also contains a plethora of diverse landscapes including towering mountain ranges, deep valleys, vast deserts, scenic islands, large swaths of forest, and a breathtaking rugged coastline with miles of sandy beaches.

Counties usually associated with Southern California are Los Angeles County, Ventura County, Orange County, California, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, Imperial County; also in some cases Santa Barbara County. On the west is the Pacific Ocean; to the south is the US-Mexico border between the United States and Mexico; to the east are the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert Deserts and the Colorado River at the state's border with Arizona and Nevada. To the north is the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles, which separates the region from the rest of the state.

.

Significance Within its boundaries is a major Global city, Los Angeles, and three of the list of metropolitan areas by population.The three metropolitan areas are: 1) Greater Los Angeles Area (the second largest in the US), 2) Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario (also know as the Inland Empire (California)) and 3) San Diego–Carlsbad–San Marcos - see: Metropolitan Statistical Area Its counties of Los Angeles County, California, Orange County, California, San Diego County, California, San Bernardino County, California, and Riverside County, California are in the top 15 most populous counties in the United States. The region is also home to Los Angeles International Airport, the third-busiest airport in the United States by passenger volume,World's busiest airports by passenger traffic and the 2nd by international passenger volume,Busiest airports in the United States by international passenger traffic Van Nuys Airport, the world's busiest general aviation airport, Ontario International Airport, John Wayne International Airport, and San Diego International Airport. Southern California is also home to the Port of Los Angeles, the United States' busiest commercial port, and the adjacent Port of Long Beach. Also of note in the region is the Freeway system of Los Angeles, which is the world's busiest. Six of the seven lines of the commuter rail system, Metrolink, run out of Downtown Los Angeles, connecting Los Angeles, Ventura County, California, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange, and San Diego Counties with the other line connecting San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange counties directly, the nation's first suburb-to-suburb commuter rail line.

The Tech Coast is a moniker that has gained use as a descriptor for the region's diversified technology and industrial base as well as its multitude of prestigious and world-renowned research universities and other public and private institutions. Amongst these include five University of California campuses (University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Irvine, University of California, Riverside, University of California, Santa Barbara, and University of California, San Diego campuses), eleven California State University campuses (California State University, Bakersfield, California State University, Channel Islands, California State University, Fullerton, California State University, Long Beach, California State University, Los Angeles, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California State University, Northridge, California State University, San Bernardino, San Diego State University, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and California State University, San Marcos campuses), as well as private institutions such as the University of Southern California, the University of San Diego, Loyola Marymount University, Chapman University, the Claremont Consortium of Colleges, Pepperdine University, and California Institute of Technology.

Southern California is also the entertainment (cinema of the United States, television in the United States, and music of the United States) capital of the world and is home to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, the center of the motion picture industry. Headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company (which also owns American Broadcasting Company), Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures (parent company of Dreamworks), 20th Century Fox and Warner Brothers, and as well as Univision, Activision, and THQ. Southern California is also home to the world's largest pornography industry, located primarily in the San Fernando Valley. More than 85% of adult film and video production in North America takes place in the area.

Besides the entertainment industry, Southern California is also home to a large surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Volcom, Quicksilver, Lost Enterprises, Sector 9Sector 9 Incorporated - San Diego, CA, RVCA, and SurflineSurfline - Huntington Beach, CA are all headquartered here. Professional skateboarder Tony Hawk, professional surfers Rob Machado, Tom Curran, Pat O'Connell, Dane Reynolds, and Chris Ward, and professional snowboarder Shaun White live in Southern California. Some of the world's legendary surf spots are here as well, including Trestles, Rincon Point, The Wedge (surfing), Huntington Beach, California, and Malibu, California, and it is second only to the island of Oahu in terms of famous surf breaks. Brand name skate parks including the Vans Skate Park in Orange, the Etnies Park in Lake Forest, and the YMCA Skate Park in Encinitas are in Southern California. Some of the world's biggest extreme sports events including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the US Open of Surfing are all in Southern California.

Southern California is home to many successful sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Teams that are located in the region include the Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA, Los Angeles Riptide, and San Diego Chargers. Southern California also hosts a number of popular NCAA sports programs, such as the UCLA Bruins, the USC Trojans, and the SDSU Aztecs.

With inhabitants from all over the world, Southern California has always been at the forefront of popular culture as well as a pioneer of several subcultures, including the hippie movement, and various musical movements such as skate punk, hardcore punk, and West Coast Rap with its gangster/"g-funk" style. The Los Angeles area in particular has always been one of the most important areas for entertainment, the arts, architecture, and food, all of which reflects the broad influence Los Angeles has on the world's culture.

Northern boundary The region's northern boundary is subject to a broader degree of interpretation than those of the West, East, and South. The most commonly used "physical" boundary between Southern California and the rest of the state is the Tehachapi Mountains, located about 70 miles north of Los Angeles. A less inclusive boundary is the San Gabriel Mountains, located 10 to 30 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, but this boundary is generally not accepted because land north of the San Gabriel Mountain Range but south of the Tehachapi Mountain Range is largely inside Los Angeles County. Depending on which of the two mountain ranges is used for the northern boundary of the region, different communities/cities and counties are included in, or excluded from, the area called "Southern California".

{|class="wikitable"!County!Population (Jan 2007 estimate)!Land Area (mi²)!Density (per mi²)|-|San Bernardino County ] || 10,331,939 || 4,061 || 2,544.2|-|Ventura County ] || 3,098,269 || 4,200 || 737.7|-|Riverside County ] || 3,098,121 || 789 || 3,926.6|-|Imperial County || 172,672 || 4,175 || 41.36|-|Southern California || 21,586,151 || 42,383 || 509|}



{|class="wikitable"!City!Population (2007 estimate)|-|Santa Barbara, California || 89,456|-|Goleta, Santa Barbara County ], Santa Barbara County || 14,123|-|Summerland, California CDP, Santa Barbara County || 1,545 (2000 Census)|-|Isla Vista CDP, Santa Barbara County ] CDP, Santa Barbara County || 2,610 (2000 Census)|-|Toro Canyon CDP, Santa Barbara County ], Santa Barbara County || 2,200 (2000 Census)|-|Southern Coast of Santa Barbara County ] || 801,648|-|SoCal boundary disputed || 971,792|}

Source : http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/DEMOGRAP/ReportsPapers/Estimates/E1/documents/e-1press.pdf

Urban landscape Southern California is in part a heavily developed urban environment, along with vast arid areas that have been left undeveloped. It is the second-largest urbanized region in the United States, second only to the Washington, D.C./Philadelphia, Pennsylvania/New York City/Boston, Massachusetts megalopolis (BosWash). Whereas the BosWash cities are dense, with major downtown populations and significant rail and transit systems, much of SoCal is famous for its large, spread-out, suburban communities and use of automobiles and highways. The dominant areas are Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, and Orange County, California, each of which is the center of its respective metropolitan area, which are in turn composed of numerous other cities and communities.

Traveling south on Interstate 5 (California), the main gap to continued urbanization is Camp Pendleton. The communities along Interstate 15 and Interstate 215 (California) are so inter-related that Temecula, California has as much connection with San Diego County as it does with the Inland Empire (California). To the east, the United States Census Bureau considers the San Bernardino and Riverside County areas as a separate metropolitan area from Los Angeles County. While many commute to LA and Orange Counties, there are some differences in development, as most of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties was developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

skyline seen on an average hazy June Day, from the Santa Ana Freeway. At 1,018 feet, 73 Floors, The US Bank Tower stands as the West Coast of the United States's tallest since 1989.

Regions Major cities (over 200,000 inhabitants) All population information is from the 2005 estimate of the State of California.





Principal cities (over 100,000 inhabitants)

Counties South of the San Gabriel mountains

North of the San Gabriel mountains

Santa Barbara County, California, San Luis Obispo, California, and Ventura County, California are also counties in the Central Coast, California.

ZIP Codes See Southern California Zip Codes

Geographical regions Southern California is also divided into the Coastal Region (Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, Santa Barbara County, and Ventura County) and the larger, more sparsely populated, desert Inland Empire (California) (San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and Imperial County). The division between the Coastal Regions and the Inland Empire winds along the backs of the coastal mountain ranges such as the Santa Ana Mountains.A related geographical term is cismontane Southern California, which refers to the portion of California on the coastal side of the Transverse Ranges and Peninsular Ranges mountain ranges. The term "Southern California" often refers to this region specifically, as opposed to largely desert areas comprising the rest of the southern portion of the state, which are referred to as transmontane Southern California.

Geographic features , Angeles National Forest, San Bernardino County

Transportation Airports

Freeways Interstate Highways

U.S. Highway system

List of California State Routes Note: highway segments with names listed in italics are surface streets and not freeways.

Major public transit organizations

Metrolink commuter lines

Communication Telephone area codes

Sports teams {| class="wikitable"!Team!!Sport!!League!!Venue|-| Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim| [American League (Major League Baseball)]|-| Los Angeles Dodgers ([Major League Baseball)]|-| San Diego Padres|-| [Los Angeles Clippers| rowspan="2" | [National Basketball Association|-| [Los Angeles Lakers| [American football| National Football League|-| [Anaheim Ducks| rowspan="2" | [National Hockey League|-| [Los Angeles Kings|-| [Chivas USA| rowspan="2" | [Major League Soccer|-| [Los Angeles Galaxy|}

See also

References

External links



Southern California - Home
A non profit charitable organization with numerous worship centers, social services and community programs. Find out more, volunteer, or make a charitable donation.

Southern California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Bernardino ...

University of Southern California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The University of Southern California (commonly referred to as USC, [a] SC, Southern California, and incorrectly as Southern Cal), [b] is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational ...

USC - University of Southern California
Official site of the University of Southern California.

Southern California Trojans | College Football News at CBSSports.com
Schedule, statistics, roster, alumni tracker, and injury information.

Southern California tsunami scenario modelled
Continuity Central provides a constantly updated one-stop resource of business continuity and disaster recovery information. Expert or novice, Continuity Central will meet your ...

Southern California Flexticket
Find the lowest prices for the Southern California Flexticket. Use our secure online booking engine to reserve your tickets safely

Disney Tickets - Southern California City Pass - includes tickets to 5 ...
Find the lowest prices on the Southern California City Pass. Use our secure online booking engine to reserve your tickets safely

Southern California map, travel information, hotels & real estate
Southern California USA maps (State map, County map, hotel & road map), hotels, holidays & vacations, car hire, rental accommodation, property, real estate, travel & tourism ...

Southern California Earthquake Data Center Home
The data center maintains a searchable archive of earthquake data for research in seismology and earthquake engineering. Includes general information, clickable fault maps ...

 

Southern California



 
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