The Los Angeles plate design, ringed with freeways, shows that what used to be labeled "sprawl," is now being looked at as a model for modern development.

A deep green mass represents Dodger Stadium and Elysian Park; and vivid persimmon icons represent key buildings in the city’s historic core. Los Angeles, with the port of Long Beach, is the largest port in North America, and is vital to trade with Asia and the Pacific Rim.

The city, thanks to its youth and love of the automobile, has also developed in a singular way that runs counter to the traditional condensed urban cores of East Coast cities.

As cities’ populations grow and cities themselves drift towards each other, the multiple-city-center approach of Los Angeles is becoming more and more familiar.