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Chapter 9 – Simi Valley and the L.A. CMSA

Without metropolitan Los Angeles, Simi Valley would most likely still be an orange grove.

The City of Simi Valley is tiny in comparison to the gigantic Los Angeles Consolidated

Metropolitan Statistical Area which contained a population of 16,373,645 (give or take a

few) after the 2000 Census.

Downtown Los Angeles Skyline

Unlike most older, more compact cities which follow the Concentric Zone Model, L.A. has

multiple nuclei, with additional business districts in Century City, Westwood, and the Valley

(Warner Center), to name a few.

Century City

Westwood

Warner Center

Los Angeles is the second largest metropolitan area in the United States (after New York

City). Simi Valley is one of many suburbs that lie adjacent to one another to form the

sprawling metropolitan area shown below. Despite the large size of the area, the picture

below gives an idea of how little open space remains. Metropolitan LA now extends to

the deserts to the east and the north. As coastal cities continue to expand in Orange County,

the coast from Ventura to San Diego promises to become a megalopolis like the one on the

Eastern Seaboard.

Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder. “Detailed Tables: P1. Total Population: Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA”