Things to do / Travel Guide
People from every possible culture and walk of life live in southern California, lending to a tremendous amount of ethic diversity rivaled only by New York City. Southern California epitomizes the concept of the melting pot, with immigrants making up the largest segment of the population. Millions of southern Californians originally hail from Mexico, the Philippines, El Salvador, Vietnam, China, Korea, India, the UK, Canada, Iran, Armenia, Israel, Germany, and dozens of other countries. It can be said of southern California that there is not one ethnic majority, but rather a multitude of different ethnic groups, each constituting a “minority” in some sense of the word.
This means that, while everyone speaks some form of English, you are likely to hear almost any language on the streets of southern California, depending on what specific area you are in. Spanish (with a decidedly Mexican-Central American inflection) is widely-spoken almost everywhere in the region. Chinese is the third-most-spoken language, followed by Tagalog, (the lingua franca of the Philippines), and Vietnamese.
Southern California does not have a single majority ethnic group. Instead, the population consists of people of many races, creeds, colors, and socioeconomic backgrounds, with Caucasians, Latin Americans, Asian Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans representing the five major groups within the state.
Southern California is a very ethnically-diverse place. In any given area in the region, you might bump into people who originate from any corner of the world. For instance, in Los Angeles there's a Chinatown, a Koreatown, and a Thai Town.
Generally speaking, the locals of California are rather laid back, with locals traditionally donning the quintessential “California wardrobe” of a pair of jeans, a clean T-shirt, and flip flops.
On the whole, most locals are not as star-struck as tourists if they happen to see their favorite TV or film celebrity walking the streets. In addition, for fun many locals take advantage of the same venues in southern California that attract visitors, like Disneyland and Universal Studios.
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