>I don't think it makes sense to separate the county from the city.
>Ellay the city doesn't make much sense without the cluster of small
>cities around it.
I think it does in that when people talk about sprawl, they're talking about the filling up of spaces between the city and the small cities around it. Los Angeles the city still has lots of areas that aren't characterized by chains, mini-malls, etc.
>And most people don't know exactly where L.A. city begins and ends.
Maybe, but a lot of people do. There's been some great work coming out of UCLA and elsewhere in the past 20 years that's written by people who pay very close attention to these things. When you look at the area with that kind of eye, it becomes infinitely more interesting.