As long as I’m debunking myths about Southern California, check out this picture of the Los Angeles skyline:
Granted, I doubt it looks like this very often (the mountains only get snow in winter, and you can only see them like this on a clear day). Source: public domain photo on Wikipedia.
Update: I see this post is getting a lot of attention with the recent snowstorms. I’ve posted a panorama photo of almost the entire mountain range from January 2008.
These San Gabriel Mountains can be seen usually every day as far as south Orange County. The snow is common in Winter and our grat city is SPECTACULAR. What is seen here is a climate that is mediteranean (dry-summer Subtropical , USDA Zone 11 only in coastal So Cal and Hawaii below 2000′) where Mango, Papaya, Macadamia, Royal Palms, Passion fruit, Bird of paradise (the city flower) can grow like weeds, To a climate that is sub-alpine within 40 miles with traces of tundra atop 10,500′ Mt San Jacinto (Baldy).
The world turns to SoCal for the most inovative Anti-pollution tchnology. In the last 25 years smog and other forms of pollution have been reducd by 50%! And this is with an addition in that priod of Several MILLION CARS! An astonising accomplishment by any means. Sure alot more need to be done, but were starting to see the rainbow.
Thank you.