( CNN ) -- The backdrop to countless movies and television shows , Los Angeles has been reproduced on film more times than any other city on the planet . The L.A. metropolis spreads over nearly 500 square miles . But just like the movie sets that went up in flames last year at Universal Studios , the Tinseltown glamour is often no more than a flimsy facade . Behind the myth of Hollywood lies a swirling melting pot of a place where nearly half of people speak Spanish and where , for every rising star , there 's at least a hundred wannabes waiting tables or entertaining tourists on Venice Beach . At once a Lalaland filled with dreamers , Los Angeles has also been scene to some of the worst race riots in American history : a paradoxical place that spawned both Charlie Chaplin and Gangsta Rap . These days , aside from the smog -- an ever present in a city plagued with so many cars and so little rainfall -- the atmosphere is less toxic than two decades ago when the city was awash with crack cocaine and guns . Watch Wolfgang Puck take CNN on a tour of L.A. » . Schemes to gentrify the downtown and other areas , such as the construction of the Hollywood and Highland complex that includes the Kodak Theater -- home to the Oscars since 2002 -- have gone some way to revitalizing the inner city . In any case , in a city with an estimated population of 3.8 million sprawling over a metropolis nearly 500 square miles in size , it 's easy to avoid the sharper edges if you want to . Not that that 's so surprising . After all , where better to detune from reality than in a town whose success is entirely founded on our appetite for escapism . And from its world class art galleries to the unashamed schmaltz of Disneyland and the Hollywood Walk of Fame , it offers escapism for all tastes . The Los Angeles story started in the late nineteenth century when Midwesterners attracted by the promise of a warm , dry climate followed the railroad west . The boom times risked coming to a premature halt at the turn of the century due to water shortages , but the smart engineering and dark maneuverings of the city water department ( maneuverings that helped inspire the classic film noir , Chinatown ) resulted in the construction of water aqueducts that ensured the city 's continued growth . See pictures of Wolfgang Puck 's Los Angeles . In the end though , light was the natural resource that mattered most . From the 1920s onwards , the motion picture industry grew into a worldwide phenomenon thanks to the abundance of clear , blue skies to help light the movie moguls sets . By the time the Golden Age of Hollywood came to an end , the boom town had morphed into a sprawling urban center and the lure of the limelight had earned the city the tag it retains to this day , that of `` entertainment capital of the world . '' In the early nineties , the story lost its luster somewhat when years of marginalization suffered by African Americans found a rallying point in the Rodney King beating . Despite a video that appeared to show police violently attacking King , the accused officers were acquitted . The verdict led to rioting in which 53 people died and large areas went up in flames . The city is certainly no angel , it 's true . Even so , whether it 's tattooed bodybuilders rollerblading Santa Monica Boulevard , a Marilyn Monroe look alike blowing kisses outside Grauman 's Chinese Theater or a blood red sunset dropping into the Pacific , Los Angeles is a place with a rare ability to beguile and bemuse in equal measure .
Los Angeles is known as `` the entertainment capital of the world '' Since the railroad came west it has grown to a metropolis of 3.8 million . The city has seen racial tensions , notably race riots in the early 90s .