Why LA over San Francisco or San Diego?

This may be because of something that goes pre-1900 but since my question revolves around why today LA is bigger than the other two California cities I mention, I posted the question here.

San Diego was so important that the US went out of its way to change the details of negotiating the treaty ending the Mexican War to get it. San Francisco on paper had many early assets that should have guaranteed it's 'winning' over LA- such as Bank of America, connection to the transcontinental railroad, trade with Asia, and naval installations for example.
 
I understand that Pasadena and areas around LA ran a marketing campaign to convince people to move there around the turn of the century. That's how the Rose Bowl ended up there and probably how the film industry did. The film industry probably had a lot to do with it, and the marketing push would have been the catalyst.
 
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