Lake Charles, Louisiana in the context of McNeese State University

The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South or the South Coast, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, and these are known as the Gulf States.

The economy of the Gulf Coast area is dominated by industries related to energy, petrochemicals, fishing, aerospace, agriculture, and tourism. The large cities of the region are (from west to east) Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, Mobile, Pensacola, Panama City, St. Petersburg, and Tampa. All are the centers or major cities of their respective metropolitan areas and many contain large ports.

Calcasieu Parish (/ˈkælkəˌʃuː/; French: Paroisse de Calcasieu) is a parish located on the southwestern border of the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2020 census, the population was 216,785. The parish seat and largest city is Lake Charles.

Calcasieu Parish is part of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area; it is also located near the Beaumont–Port Arthur (Texas), Lafayette, and Alexandria metropolitan areas.

Lake Charles (French: Lac Charles) is a brackish body of water located within the estuary of the Calcasieu River in Southwest Louisiana, United States. It is situated almost entirely within the Lake Charles city limits. The Calcasieu Ship Channel flows along the western side for large ships to pass and is the western boundary of the city limits. The I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge crosses at the extreme northwestern edge of the lake and river and connects the city of Lake Charles and the city of Westlake.

Prien Lake is a lake in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana.

It is located west of Prien, Louisiana, and south of the Israel LaFleur Bridge. The city of Lake Charles is located to the northeast.

SOWELA Technical Community College is a public community college in Lake Charles, Louisiana, with an additional instruction site in Jennings and Oakdale. The school's mascot is the Flying Tigers, named for World War II General Clair Chennault's 1st American Volunteer Group and their P-40 aircraft adorned with a shark-faced motif. SOWELA's Lake Charles campus was developed on property formerly used as Chennault Air Force Base.

Its service area includes Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and Jefferson Davis parishes.