Los Angeles, famously known for having too many cars, too much smog, and too little affordable housing, is trying to reinvent itself by becoming the most sustainable global city in the nation by 2035.

Roughly 350 miles south of Silicon Valley, the tech scene in the Los Angeles region was the fastest-growing start-up ecosystem in the world in 2014.

If the financial strength of a city – especially a global city – is due in large part to its economic diversity, then the Los Angeles metro area is leading the way for the rest of the country.

The best and brightest students and faculty from around the world are drawn to the Los Angeles and the broader Southern California region, home to six major research universities — Caltech, USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, and UC Santa Barbara.

Today, dynamic and diverse global cities like Los Angeles – with  centralized administration and huge breadth of human productivity – have become the motors of global economic growth.

Brie Loskota on how every religion and denomination that exists can be found in L.A., and a number of fascinating (and even controversial) religious movements began here.

While the prominence of the city in the global entertainment industry is well-known and recognized, other dimensions of the city’s global character today are not. Here are the top five things you may not know about Global Los Angeles!

How does a city like Los Angeles compare to other metropolitan areas in terms of job, wage and salary, and technology growth?