Essentials: Los Angeles

1. Ever heard of EPDNSRDLASERP? It's short for "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles sobre el Río Porciúncula," which is the original name of L.A.

2. Los Angeles attracts not only actors and musicians. Magicians from all over the world flock here. The private members' club "Magic Castle," which only opens its doors to magicians and their associates, is the official clubhouse of the Academy of Magical Arts, boasting around 2,500 members. But what goes on behind closed doors remains a mystery…

3. Despite highways with up to seven lanes in one direction, traffic chaos is a daily occurrence in the Southern California metropolis. Estimates suggest that each resident of L.A. spends a whopping five days stuck in traffic every year. That's as much as the entire annual vacation of some Americans.

4. Bookworms and lovers of curious things should make a stop at The Last Bookstore in Downtown, the largest book and record store in California. In addition to a selection of over 250,000 new and used printed works, visitors will also find floating books and a giant book tunnel to scurry through.

5. A total of 11 miles of tunnels lie beneath the streets of Los Angeles. Their origins are sometimes surprising. Some of these tunnels were once used to transport inmates from one prison to another or to transfer large sums of money from one bank to the next. Most of the tunnels are now sealed off. A few remain accessible and are used as film sets, among other purposes.