Los Angeles has a San Francisco at its heart

[CaliNative]

Believe it or not, the central 49 square miles of Los Angeles (comprising DTLA, the near east, north, west & south sides) have about the same population and density as San Francisco (also 49 square miles). 800,000 people, almost 15,000 people per square mile. Anyone who has walked some of these neighborhoods in L.A., e.g. Koreatown and MacArthur Park, realizes this. Enough with the "low density L.A." myth. The high densities also extend outward. The entire built area of the L.A. basin has greater overall population density than all other American metro areas, including the greater New York metro area (although Manhattan is the local density champ for the U.S.). The reason why this is important is that L.A. transit & other projects have sometimes in the past been denied adequate funding because of the "low density" myth.