About Los Angeles:
The city of Los Angeles (city of angels, as the early Spaniards named it in the 1500’s) began as a tiny Spanish Catholic farming settlement on the remote northern frontier of New Spain: 44 settlers, including 22 children, drawn from families of European, Indigenous, African and mixed ancestry.
Its original name was El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula — The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula. Porciúncula, as you may know, refers to the little chapel in Assisi, Italy associated with Saint Francis, whose spiritual descendants (The Franciscans) carried the Catholic faith through Spanish California. “Los Angeles” is therefore the surviving fragment of a profoundly Marian and Franciscan name.
Los Angeles would go on to be controlled by successive countries (Spain, Mexico and then the U.S.A.) before exploding into one of the great cities of the modern world. The name survived even when almost everything else changed. Today, of course, Los Angeles is known as the entertainment capital of the world. Many movies, television shows and fashion shows are made in Hollywood and are often set in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles is one of the largest and most diverse cities in the U.S. and the Catholic population reflects that fact. Los Angeles has the second largest Hispanic and Latino population in the United States, only behind New York City. The Archdiocese covers downtown and central Los Angeles, west to Malibu. It has 77 Parishes, 12 High schools, 48 Elementary Schools, 2 hospitals, and 4 Parochial Missions. The region is home to over 1 million Catholics.
Among the Catholic places of interest in Los Angeles and the surrounding area are:
City of Los Angeles:
Cathedral of the Angels
Our Lady Queen of the Angels Catholic Church
City of Covina:
Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church (Anglican Use of the Roman Rite)
City of Ventura:
Mission San Buenaventura Founded on March 31, 1782, by Father Junípero Serra.
Traveling to Los Angeles, California:
By plane: Los Angeles Airport (code LAX) is one of the busiest in the country, served by many airlines. Additionally, there are several other commercial airports in the Los Angeles area, including John Wayne Airport (SNA), the second-busiest airport in the region.
By train: Amtrak serves Los Angeles daily via Union Station, with multiple California routes such as the Pacific Surfliner coastal service between San Diego and Los Angeles as well long‑distance services from cities across the U.S. Los Angeles Union Station is located in downtown LA near Chinatown and Little Tokyo.
By ship: Los Angeles is a major cruise homeport on the West Coast, and many passengers arrive there by ship as part of a cruise itinerary. The World Cruise Center at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro is the official embarkation and disembarkation point for multiple cruise lines. The terminal is about 25 miles (35–40 km) south of downtown Los Angeles, near Long Beach. Ships may call here as part of itineraries to the Mexican Riviera, Catalina Island, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, or other global destinations.