Historic Core, Los Angeles

The Historic Core is a district within Downtown Los Angeles includes the world's largest concentration of movie palaces, former large department stores, and office towers, all built chiefly between 1907 and 1931. Within it lie the Broadway Theater District and the Spring Street historic financial district, and in its west it overlaps with the Jewelry District and in its east with Skid Row.

Historic Core
Historic Core
Location within Downtown Los Angeles
Coordinates: 34.05349°N 118.245319°W / 34.05349; -118.245319
Country United States
State California
CountyLos Angeles County
City Los Angeles
Named1990s
Zip code
90013
Streets3rd Street, 4th Street, Broadway, Hill Street, Main Street, Olympic Boulevard, Spring Street

The Historic Core falls into two business improvement districts, Historic Core (south of 4th St.) and Downtown LA (from 2nd to 4th Street). The total Historic Core is thus composed of:[1][2][3]

Please consult the articles about the individual streets and historic districts above for a full discussion of the architectural landmarks in the district.

History

The Historic Core was the central business district of the city from the first decade of the 1900s through the 1950s. Before 1900 the business center was further north, between the Plaza and about Third Street.[4][5] Starting in the 1950s what is now the Historic Core started to decline. Upscale shopping had moved west to the Seventh & Hope area starting in the 1920s, and to Mid-Wilshire by the 1930s. When consumers lived and worked near the prolific streetcar lines, it was relatively easy for them to reach downtown, the hub of both the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric systems. Now, an ever increasing number of consumers had cars, lived further away from downtown, and due to the proliferation of suburban retail, were able to shop, dine, and go to the movies there without worries about downtown parking and traffic congestion. In addition, after World War II, financial institutions moved several blocks to the west, ending up on Figueroa Street, Flower Street, and Grand Avenue. In the 1950s the Historic Core became the center of Latino retail and entertainment in the city, e.g.: the Million Dollar Theatre featured the biggest names in the Spanish language entertainment world. This paralleled the general white flight occurring in Central Los Angeles at the time, which saw Broadway become a major center for Latino life in the city.

Although prostitution and drug dealing had occurred in the area as far back as the early 1920s, they became epidemic in the 1960s. The area's movie palaces, built between 1911 and 1931, became grindhouses. The last of them closed in the 1990s; the Orpheum Theatre recently underwent a complete restoration at a cost of several million dollars, and is now used for major movie premieres (such as "Collateral" in 2005), celebrity events (Michael Jackson's birthday party), comedy shows (Bill Burr), fashion shows, concerts (Opeth), and plays. Most of the older buildings have stores that cater to the Latino immigrant working class.

The developing street gang problem in Los Angeles which began to worsen at the end of the 1960s and got considerably worse in the late 1970s, also hurt traditional commercial activity in the area, as it did much of downtown. While the LAPD indicates that the area is a sort of neutral zone, which has not been claimed by any single gang and random gang violence is rare, the area remains one of the major areas for street drug sales in Los Angeles.

Redevelopment

In 1999, the Los Angeles City Council passed an Adaptive Re-Use Ordinance, allowing for the conversion of old, unused office buildings to apartments or "lofts." Developer Tom Gilmore purchased a series of century-old buildings and converted them into lofts near Main and Spring streets, a development now known as the "Old Bank District." Other notable redevelopment projects in the Historic Core have included the Eastern Columbia Building, Broadway Trade Center, Higgins Building, The Security Building, the Pacific Electric Building, The Judson, and the Subway Terminal Building. As of 2005, redevelopment projects in downtown Los Angeles have been divided about evenly between rentals and condominiums; though projects near the Staples Center arena in the South Park neighborhood have been overwhelmingly dedicated to condominiums.

Map of landmarks

Landmarks are shown on the following street grid of the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles.

Abbreviations and notes

For the area north of Third Street, see Victorian Downtown Los Angeles
For the area to the west of Hill Street, see Financial District, Los Angeles
H
I
L
L

S
T.
  Irvine Byrne Block/
now Pan American Lofts (1895)
B
R
O
A
D
W
A
Y
  Douglas Bldg. (1899) S
P
R
I
N
G

S
T
R
E
E
T
Stimson Bldg. (1893–1963)   M
A
I
N

S
T
R
E
E
T
    L
O
S

A
N
G
E
L
E
S

S
T
R
E
E
T
THIRD ST. THIRD ST. THIRD ST. THIRD ST. THIRD ST.
Million Dollar Theatre Bradbury Bldg. (1893)
Blackstone's DS (1907–1917)
Ronald Reagan State Bldg. (1990) Toy District
Angels Flight Homer Laughlin Building (1898):
Now Grand Central Market.
formerly Coulter's, Ville de Paris
Broadway Spring Center parking structure (1990) Round House
Jacoby Bros. DS* (#331–5; 1900–1935)
Grant Bldg. (1898)
Trustee Building (#340, 1905 PB)
O. T. Johnson Block (#350, 1895 It RBY)
O. T. Johnson Bldg. (#356, 1902 JB Rom)
parking lot Hellman Bldg. (1902)
FOURTH ST. FOURTH ST. FOURTH ST. FOURTH ST. FOURTH ST.
The Broadway DS/
Junípero Serra State Office Bldg. #2
vacant parking lot Continental Bldg. (1902) San Fernando Bldg. (1906 IRR) Toy District
Subway
Terminal
Bldg.
/
Now "Metro 417"
—Hotel Clark
—Occidental Hotel
—Boos Bros. Cafeteria
—St. Clarenden Hotel
Judson C. Rive Bldg. (1907) 419 S. Spring
435 S. Spring
Stowell/El Dorado Hotel/
El Dorado Lofts
(1913)
Dog Park
Title Guarantee Bldg. (1930) Metropolitan Bldg. (1913)/Newberry's 5&10¢/Now Fallas Paredes DS and lofts Chester Williams Bldg. (1926) Crocker Bank/
Spring Arts Tower (1915)
Title Insurance and Trust Company Building/
Trust Bldg. (1928)
Rowan Bldg (1912) King Edward Hotel (1906 P&B)
FIFTH ST. FIFTH ST. FIFTH ST. FIFTH ST. FIFTH ST.
Pershing Square Pershing Square station (Metro Rail) Fifth Street Store DS Roxie Theatre
Cameo Theater
Arcade Theatre
(now retail)
Hotel Alexandria (1906) Security Trust and Savings Bank/
Security Bldg. Lofts (1907)
Hotel Rosslyn Annex Pershing Hotel/
Pershing Apts. (1889)
Baltimore Hotel (1910)
Spring Arcade Los Angeles Theater Center (1916) Parking Structure (#545) Topaz Apts.
Paramount Theatre/
International Jewelry Center
Swelldom DS Silverwoods DS/
Broadway Jewelry Mart
Pacific Southwest Bank (1910) Santa Fe Bldg. (1906)
SIXTH ST. SIXTH ST. SIXTH ST. SIXTH ST. SIXTH ST.
—Consolidated Reatly Bldg./
California Jewelry Mart (1908/1935)
—Sun Realty Bldg./
Los Angeles Jewelry Center (1931)
—Harris & Frank Bldg./
Wholesale Jewelry Exchange (1925)
—Western Jewelry Mart
William Fox Bldg.
(Fox Jewelry Plaza)
(1932)
Los Angeles Theatre Mullen & Bluett DS/ Walter P. Story Bldg.
Desmond's Bldg.
Palace Theatre
J. E. Carr Bldg.
Harris & Frank 1947-1980
Hotel Hayward
E. F. Hutton (1931)
California Canadian Bank (1923)
Barclays Bank (1919)
United California Bank
Stock Exchange
Mortgage Guaranty Building (1913)
Banks & Huntley Bldg. (1930)
Pacific Electric Building
Warner Bros. (a.k.a. Pantages, Warren) Theatre (1920)
Now Jewelry
Theater Center
Bullock's DS/
St. Vincent Jewelry Center
Bank of Italy/
Bank of America/
SB Lofts (1924)
Bartlett Bldg. (1911)
SEVENTH ST. SEVENTH ST. SEVENTH ST. SEVENTH ST. SEVENTH ST.
Foreman & Clark DS/
Foreman & Clark Bldg. (1928, Curlett & Beelman, Art Deco and Neo-Gothic)
State Theatre Hotel Lankershim
Globe Theatre
Dearden's DS
Garfield Bldg. (1930) Union Bank & Trust Company Bldg.
Union Lofts (1922)
Griffin on Spring Apts. (2018) Great Republic Lofts (1923)
EIGHTH ST. EIGHTH ST. EIGHTH ST. EIGHTH ST. EIGHTH ST.
RKO Hillstreet
Theatre

(1922-1963)/
820 Olive/
825 South Hill (res.)
Hamburger's DS (1908-1923)/
May Company DS (1923-1986)/
May Company Building
Tower Theatre (1927 BR)
Rialto Theatre (1917 AD/CR)
Orpheum Theatre (1926 BA)
Lane Mortgage Bldg. (1923) National City Tower (1924)[6][7]

California Theatre (1918–1990 BA)
Gray Bldg. (#824)
Coast Fed. Savings Bldg. (1926) Parking lot
Alexan tower (planned)
City Club Bldg. (1925)[8] Harris Newmark Bldg. (1926 RR C&B) Cooper Bldg. (1926 C&B)
NINTH ST. NINTH ST. NINTH ST. NINTH ST.
small retail May Co. Garage Bldg.(1926) United Artists Theatre/
Ace Hotel
Gerry Building (1947 SM)
South Park by Windsor Apts. Broadway Palace Apts. (2017)
OLYMPIC BL. (formerly TENTH ST.) OLYMPIC BL. (formerly TENTH ST.)
Mayan Theater
Belasco Theatre
Broadway Palace Apts. (2017)
Western Pacific Bldg. (1925)
White Log Coffee Shop[9] Los Angeles Railway HQ/
Hoxton Hotel (1925)
ELEVENTH ST. ELEVENTH ST. ELEVENTH ST. ELEVENTH ST.
Proposed 43-story Sky Trees res. tower[10] Herald-Examiner Bldg. (1914) Commercial Club/
Proper Hotel (1926)
Harris Building (1923 BA)

See also

Within Downtown Los Angeles

References

Historic Core Business Improvement District

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