Right now, the only way I know how to add streets to a smaller city, within Los Angeles County, is to add the WHOLE streets layer, then clip with LA county.

It takes a while, but it works. Is there a more efficient way to find the smaller cities as polygons (as opposed to the whole county) and use those to clip the streets layer?

Or, do I have to add the entire streets layer before I clip?

Just trying to figure out better ways to get the job done.