The rolling quake struck at 6.25am local time on Monday but the Los Angeles Fire Department said it had received no immediate reports of damage.
Seismologists downgraded the quake to magnitude 4.4 after initial estimates placed it at 4.7.
The quake's epicentre was 15 miles west-northwest of the downtown civic centre and occurred at a depth of about five miles, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).
The quake struck LA shortly before 6.30am Sky News correspondent Greg Milam is in Los Angeles and described a "sustained rolling motion" that shook everything around him for five to 10 seconds.
He said: "It felt as if it was a lot stronger than a 4.4, perhaps because it was so shallow and close."
George McQuade, a West Hills resident, said: "It felt like a bomb going off underneath our house.
"Nothing was damaged, but it sure woke everyone up. It was an eye-opener."
Dr Lucy Jones, a USGS seismologist, told KABC-TV: "It's not that large by California terms. It's the size of earthquake we have across the state once every couple of months.
"But we haven't had one like this in LA for quite a while."
Monday's earthquake occurred almost exactly one week after another powerful quake struck off the coast of Northern California.
The March 9 quake - registered at magnitude 6.8 - was centred about 50 miles west-northwest of the town of Ferndale, and was followed by dozens of aftershocks of magnitude 3.5 or larger.
Sky's Greg Milam said he believes the latest quake "will be a wake-up call in more ways than one - the unpredictability, the proximity to densely populated areas, the need to be prepared.
"There have been a lot of small ones recently. It is a fact of life for people who live here but things like this make people jumpy".
California sits on the so-called Ring of Fire, which has produced numerous destructive quakes, including Japan's March 2011 quake-tsunami, which killed thousands.
Geologists predict a quake capable of causing widespread destruction to California is 99% certain in the next 30 years.
A magnitude 6.7 earthquake in Los Angeles killed at least 60 people and caused $10bn (£5.8bn) damage in 1994.
A 6.9 quake in San Francisco in 1989 left 67 people dead.
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