Los Angeles
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
This Los Angeles trivia quiz has 60 free questions with answers and covers the city from its founding by 44 settlers in 1781 to the 2028 Olympics: the aqueduct that let it grow, the merger that made Hollywood part of LA, the sign on Mount Lee, Griffith Observatory, the Getty, Dodger Stadium and the Coliseum, the concrete river, the first freeway in the West, LAX, the French dip, Kogi's Korean tacos, and the riots and earthquakes that shaped it. It is written for Angelenos who think they know their city, visitors who want to test what they picked up, and anyone hosting a California-themed quiz round. Easy questions cover the landmarks everyone knows; the hard ones dig into pobladores, funiculars, City Hall's concrete and a 99-foot tower built by one man with hand tools. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference such as Wikipedia or an official site, and each question shows its explanation and citation once you have answered.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In what year was the pueblo of Los Angeles founded under Spanish governor Felipe de Neve?
1781
Governor Felipe de Neve founded El Pueblo de la Reina de los Ángeles on September 4, 1781, with settler families recruited in Sonora; the city marks that date as its birthday.
Q 02Which mountain range, home to Mount Wilson Observatory, rises north of Los Angeles?
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains wall off the Los Angeles basin to the north; on Mount Wilson, 5,710 feet up, Edwin Hubble used the 100-inch telescope in the 1920s to show the universe is expanding.
Q 03Los Angeles ranks where among US cities by population?
Second
It passed the previous number two for the spot in early 1984, and only New York City is larger.
Q 04Which city did Los Angeles overtake in population in early 1984?
Chicago
Chicago had been the nation's second-largest city since 1890; Census Bureau estimates released in 1984 showed Los Angeles had moved ahead of it, the same year Los Angeles hosted its second Summer Olympics.
Q 05What are the indigenous people of the Los Angeles basin before Spanish settlement called?
Tongva
The Tongva, also called Gabrieleño after Mission San Gabriel, lived in villages across the Los Angeles basin and the Channel Islands; Yaanga, near today's downtown, stood beside the original pueblo.
Q 06Which explorer claimed the Los Angeles region for Spain in 1542?
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo
Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailed into San Pedro Bay in October 1542 and claimed the coast for Spain; no settlement followed for more than two centuries.
Q 07The Los Angeles Aqueduct, completed in 1913, brings water to the city from which river?
Owens
The aqueduct taps the Owens River, 233 miles north in the eastern Sierra, and runs on gravity alone; draining the Owens Valley set off the California water wars.
Q 08Which engineer built the Los Angeles Aqueduct and later saw the St. Francis Dam collapse in 1928?
William Mulholland
William Mulholland, the self-taught chief engineer, delivered the aqueduct in 1913; the 1928 St. Francis Dam failure killed more than 400 people and ended his career, though Mulholland Drive keeps his name.
Q 09In which year did Hollywood merge into the City of Los Angeles, largely to get water and sewer access?
1910
Hollywood, incorporated only in 1903, voted to join Los Angeles in 1910 to tap the city's water and sewers; the Nestor company opened the first Hollywood studio the following year.
Q 10The Hollywood Sign was erected in 1923 to advertise what?
A housing development
The sign advertised Hollywoodland, a housing development in the hills above Beachwood Canyon; it originally read HOLLYWOODLAND, and the last four letters came down when the sign was restored in 1949.
Q 11The Hollywood Sign stands on which peak in the Santa Monica Mountains?
Mount Lee
The letters stand on the south face of Mount Lee, 1,708 feet high, above the old Hollywoodland tract; in 1976 a prankster altered them to read HOLLYWEED.
Q 12Which magazine founder donated the final $900,000 in 2010 to save the land around the Hollywood Sign?
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner, Playboy's founder, gave the last $900,000 of the $12.5 million needed to buy Cahuenga Peak in 2010; he had hosted the 1978 rebuild fundraiser and paid for the letter Y.
Q 13Why has admission to Griffith Observatory been free since it opened in 1935?
The donor's will
Q 21The Dodgers' ballpark, opened in 1962, was built on top of which historic Los Angeles neighbourhood?
Chavez Ravine
Dodger Stadium rose on Chavez Ravine, where a Mexican American community had been cleared in the 1950s for a public-housing project that was never built; the ballpark opened in April 1962 with 56,000 seats.
Q 22Which Dodgers pitcher is the only player to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year in the same season?
Fernando Valenzuela
Fernando Valenzuela, a 20-year-old left-hander from Sonora, won both awards in 1981, when his screwball sparked Fernandomania and the Dodgers won the World Series.
Q 23The Lakers' name, odd in Los Angeles, was inspired by the nickname of which state?
Minnesota
The donor's will is the reason: Griffith J. Griffith died in 1919 leaving money for the observatory on condition it be free to all; he had already given the city 3,015 acres for Griffith Park in 1896.
Q 14A bust of which actor stands on the grounds of Griffith Observatory because of a 1955 film shot there?
James Dean
James Dean starred in Rebel Without a Cause, which staged its knife fight and its finale at the observatory in 1955; his bronze bust stands on the west lawn, and La La Land revisited the site in 2016.
Q 15Which film premiered at the opening of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in May 1927?
The King of Kings
Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings opened the theatre on 18 May 1927; the theatre's own account says Norma Talmadge began the forecourt handprint tradition by accidentally stepping into wet concrete.
Q 16Which company paid $5 million in 2013 for the naming rights to Grauman's Chinese Theatre?
TCL
TCL, the Chinese electronics maker, bought a ten-year naming deal in January 2013 for more than $5 million, making it the TCL Chinese Theatre; nearly 200 celebrity hand and footprints fill the forecourt.
Q 17Who is the only person honoured with a star in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?
Gene Autry
Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy, holds stars for film, television, radio, recording and live performance; Muhammad Ali's star is the only one mounted on a wall so nobody walks on it.
Q 18The Packers beat which team in the first Super Bowl at the LA Coliseum in January 1967?
Kansas City Chiefs
Green Bay beat the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10 before 61,946 fans, the only Super Bowl never sold out; the Coliseum, host of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, was chosen for the 2028 Games as well.
Q 19A crowd of 115,300 at the Coliseum set a Guinness World Record for attendance at what kind of event?
A baseball game
A baseball game: the Dodgers drew 115,300 to a March 2008 exhibition against the Boston Red Sox, marking 50 years in Los Angeles; they had played at the Coliseum from 1958 to 1961 while their own ballpark was built.
Q 20The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles from which city before the 1958 season?
Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Dodgers left Ebbets Field after the 1957 season, with the Giants moving west from New York at the same time; the name dates to 1895, when Brooklyn fans were nicknamed Trolley Dodgers.
The team began in 1947 as the Minneapolis Lakers, named for Minnesota's Land of 10,000 Lakes; owner Bob Short moved them to Los Angeles in 1960 and kept the name.
Q 24The Clippers relocated to Los Angeles in 1984 from which other California city?
San Diego
The franchise played as the San Diego Clippers from 1978 to 1984, after Donald Sterling bought it in 1981 and moved it north to share the Los Angeles market with the Lakers.
Q 25For how many seasons did the Raiders play in Los Angeles at the Coliseum before returning to Oakland?
13
13 seasons, from 1982 through 1994, including the Super Bowl XVIII title won after the 1983 season; the Rams also left for St. Louis in 1995, leaving Los Angeles without an NFL team until 2016.
Q 26In which stadium did the Rams win Super Bowl LVI in 2022 on their home field?
SoFi Stadium
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, opened in 2020, hosted Super Bowl LVI on 13 February 2022, when the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23–20; NFL owners had voted 30–2 in 2016 to let the team return from St. Louis.
Q 27The mascot of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics was Sam, what kind of animal?
A bald eagle
Sam was a bald eagle, drawn by Disney artist Bob Moore in red, white and blue; the Games turned a profit of more than $200 million despite a boycott by 14 Eastern Bloc nations.
Q 28The Los Angeles River was encased in concrete after devastating floods in which decade?
1930s
After the floods of the 1930s, above all March 1938, the Army Corps of Engineers began lining the channel in concrete that year; the dry bed later starred in Grease's drag race and Terminator 2.
Q 29The Los Angeles River flows about 51 miles from Canoga Park to its mouth in which city?
Long Beach
The river ends in Long Beach, emptying into San Pedro Bay beside the Port of Long Beach after crossing the San Fernando Valley, Glendale and downtown.
Q 30The 1940 Arroyo Seco Parkway, the West's first freeway, linked Los Angeles to which city?
Pasadena
The parkway opened to Pasadena in December 1940 carrying US 66; it was signed as the Pasadena Freeway from 1954 until 2010, when the Arroyo Seco Parkway name was restored on the National Scenic Byway.