Los Angeles attracts a vast visitor base of domestic and international businesses-- feeding into a regional economy of over $440 billion in GDP. There are over 4,000 companies created by international capital representing 130,000 jobs and $7.6 billions in investment. In 2006, Los Angeles welcomed 25.4 million tourists who spent $13.8 billion, of those- 4.7 million were international visitors- makes LA the international tourist destination of the West Coast.

Los Angeles has unsurpassed goods movement infrastructure to support cleantech. Our Port complex is the largest in the nation, handling 44% of all imports to the United States and $350 billion annually in two-way trade. Connecting the port with direct rail lines to destinations east of the Rocky Mountains, L.A.'s Alameda Corridor is the busiest rail cargo expressway in the nation, moving over 4.7 TEUs of containers in 2007. The Los Angeles International Airport has over 1,000 cargo flights each day linking Southern California with the world.

"If GM wants to be viewed as a cool brand, they've got to pay more attention to some of these markets where there are cool, urban people. People in Des Moines want to drive what's hot in L.A."

--- Russell Winer, NYU marketing professor