Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas/Los Santos



Los Santos is a fictional city located in the state of San Andreas, in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Los Santos is based on Los Angeles, California.

The name "Los Santos" means "The Saints" in Spanish, a play on Los Angeles' name "The Angels".

Los Santos is located in the southern part of San Andreas. It's a bustling city filled with many kinds of people and diverse districts. Ganton in the east and East Los Santos and Las Colinas in the north-east are some of the gang-ridden slums in the city, though the poorest districts are Willowfield and El Corona, both in the south-east, and mainly Idlewood, in the east. Mulholland, Vinewood and Rodeo are the more wealthy districts of Los Santos, and cater to the rich and famous, while the poorer areas such as Ganton, Jefferson and Little Mexico contain cheap stores. The game manual for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories mentions that Los Santos is voted as "The city where you were most likely to get eaten by a wild animal" in 1998.

Landmarks
Los Santos is filled with references to famous L.A. landmarks, including the Walk of Fame, the Watts Towers, the Capitol Tower (called Blastin' Fools Records in the game), the U.S. Bank Tower, the Bonaventure Hotel, the Hollywood Sign (dubbed the Vinewood Sign in the game), the Los Angeles City Hall, the Theme Building from LAX and the Santa Monica Pier. There are also many real Los Angeles Skyscraper look-alikes such as the Two California Plaza, the Gas Company Tower, The Biltmore Hotel Office tower, The Century Plaza Hotel (In the game called the Rodeo Hotel), The St. Regis Los Angeles Hotel & Spa, Rodeo Drive Shops, and the Sunset Vine Tower. There are a few other skyscraper look-alikes that in real life are in bordering cities of Los Angeles. Such as the 100 Wilshire building in Santa Monica and The Argyle Hotel in West Hollywood. Also, like Los Angeles, Los Santos suffers from severe smog. This can be seen hovering above Downtown Los Santos throughout the day as well as many other districts of Los Santos. Los Santos features a baseball team known as the Saints, both a reference to the city's translation in spanish and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Storyline
Los Santos is the hometown of Carl "CJ" Johnson, who returns from living in Liberty City for five years, after his brother informs him of their mother's death. The game starts then, and the story revolves around a lengthy gang war between CJ's gang, the Grove Street Families (named after a street in the Ganton district of the city, from which the gang based its activities), and the Ballas. Hispanic gang rivals the Los Santos Vagos and the Varrios Los Aztecas are also present.

Eventually the Grove Street Families slowly regain their strength and influence, only to be betrayed by OGs Big Smoke and Ryder, who are revealed to be working with the Ballas and corrupt C.R.A.S.H. (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) officers Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski. As such, a major offensive launched by Carl's older brother Sweet against the Ballas was already anticipated and the GSF was decimated in the ensuing gun battle. Sweet was wounded and imprisoned, while Tenpenny effectively banished Carl from Los Santos, blackmailing him into working for C.R.A.S.H. by threatening the welfare of Sweet in prison. The story leaves Los Santos and moves into the countryside and then San Fierro.

Carl returns to Los Santos later in the game after becoming the manager of disgraced rapper Madd Dogg, who desires to take back his mansion from a drug dealer, Big Poppa. Carl discovers that the GSF have been virtually wiped out, the Ballas and Vagos own all of the turf in East Los Santos, and drugs are everywhere. Luckily for Carl, Mike Toreno returns with one more dangerous mission in exchange for Sweet's freedom. After Carl is successful, Toreno lives up to his end of the bargain and has Sweet released from prison. Carl and Sweet bring back the GSF and slowly but surely regain their turf once more.

Meanwhile, Tenpenny and Pulaski are charged with murder and sexual assault. At a court hearing, Tenpenny (alone, as Pulaski had previously been killed by Carl in the desert) was released when the judge dropped all charges. The entire city, outraged that Tenpenny walked free after horrendously heinous charges, erupted in riots. During this chaotic time, Carl killed his former friend turned cocaine drug lord Big Smoke. Carl then chased after Tenpenny, who died when his stolen fire truck drove off the side of an overpass. When news of Tenpenny's death reached the people of Los Santos, the city riots came to a stop.

Districts
Apart from famous Los Angeles landmarks being emulated, a number of districts and neighborhoods are as well.


 * Downtown Los Santos - Downtown Los Angeles, Financial District
 * Commerce - Civic Center, Downtown Los Angeles
 * East Beach - Long Beach, possibly Redondo Beach or Torrance or Culver City
 * East Los Santos - East Los Angeles/Watts
 * El Corona - El Sereno
 * Ganton - Compton
 * Glen Park - Echo Park/MacArthur Park
 * Jefferson - Watts
 * Idlewood - Inglewood
 * Las Colinas - Los Feliz
 * Marina - Marina del Rey
 * Mulholland - Mulholland Drive and the Hollywood Hills
 * Ocean Docks - San Pedro
 * Pershing Square - Pershing Square
 * Playa del Seville - Playa del Rey
 * Richman - Bel-Air
 * Rodeo - Beverly Hills
 * Santa Maria - Santa Monica
 * Temple - Sunset Strip
 * Verdant Bluffs - Griffith Park
 * Verona Beach - Venice Beach
 * Vinewood - Hollywood
 * Willowfield - Willowbrook

Real Life Similarities

 * U.S. Bank Tower
 * Gas Company Tower
 * Los Angeles City Hall
 * Bonaventure Hotel
 * Biltimore Hotel
 * Two California Plaza
 * Watts Towers
 * Hollywood Sign
 * Capital Records
 * Los Angeles River
 * Santa Monica Pier
 * Union Station
 * Rodeo Drive
 * Grauman's Chinese Theater
 * Metrolink
 * Metro Red Line
 * Hollywood Blvd
 * Sunset Blvd
 * Colorful Stair Step's
 * Vincent Thomas Bridge
 * Griffith Observatory
 * Los Angeles Convention Center
 * LAX
 * Randy's Donuts
 * Hollywood Walk of Fame
 * The Great Western Forum