Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour

Environmental Studies 100

University of Southern California

Dr. Matthew Cahn

Spring 2000

 

This handout is based on the walking tour  Designed by Curtis C. Roseman and Geoffrey DeVerteuil, USC Department of Geography

For Virtual Tour see http://www.usc.edu/dept/geography/losangeles/lawalk/index.html

 

 

 

Start at La Placita (the Plaza).

 

La Placita  (The Plaza)

Find the hexagonal band shell at the center of El Pueblo State Historic Park. This site represents the original founding of the City of Los Angeles in 1781, and is surrounded by several historically and architecturally interesting buildings. Of special significance is the nearby plaque that lists the names of the multi‑ethnic band of original settlers.

 

Olvera Street (Paseo de la Plaza and Main Street)

Originally known as Vine or Wine Street because of its location near vineyards and a winery, the street was renamed in honor of the first county judge of Los Angeles County, Agustin Olvera. Olvera Street was officially opened in April, 1930, and serves as a major tourist attraction and entertainment center. The street preserves essential features of Los Angeles history. A triple row of bricks running diagonally across the street near the fountain denotes the course of the Zanja Madre (Mother Ditch), an early system of providing water from the Los Angeles River to the growing pueblo. On Olvera Street is L.A.'s oldest surviving residential building, Avila Adobe, which dates from 1818. El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument was established at the site

in 1953. 

Pico House (430 North Main Street)

The Italianate hotel was the first three‑story masonry building in Los Angeles (1869‑70), built by Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California. This was the finest hotel in the Southwest and was a veritable magnet for the fabulously rich. Parts of this building were renovated in 1981 and 1992. The architect, Ezra Keysor, also designed St.Vibiana's Cathedral.

 

Queen of Angel's Church (535 N. Main Street)

This modest village church, also known as the Plaza Church, dates from 1822 and is the oldest religious structure in Los Angeles. It was established by a priest from Mission San Gabriel, eight miles to the east. In 1985, Father Luis Olivares declared the Church a "sanctuary" for Central American refugees and the destitute undocumented from Mexico. The Church still attracts large crowds from the refugee community on Sundays.

 

Union Station (800 N. Alameda Street)

Completed in 1939, Union station was the last of the grand urban rail terminals to be built in the United States. Architecturally, it is restrained Spanish Colonial Revival with Streamline Modern touches. Landscaped with enormous fig trees, Mexican fan palms, birds of paradise, ginger, and orchid trumpet vines, the gardens were meant to provide a fragrant haven for travelers. In  December 1997 a new restaurant opened therein called Traxx, the first full‑service restaurant in Union Station since the closure of Fred Harvey's in the late 1960's. Today it is the terminus for a growing network of commuter rail lines in addition to inter‑city rail and bus lines.

 

Terminal Annex Post Office (Northeast corner of Macy and Alameda Streets)

Built in 1938, this building served as the main mail distribution center for Los Angeles until 1994.

Although no longer used as a post office, it, along with many other underused buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, has been the site of filming activities.  Inside, one may find 1930's WPA murals by Boris Deutsch depicting the history of communication.

 

Chinatown (900 N. Broadway)

Earlier Chinese communities were located farther south, closer to the center of downtown. It was displaced to its current location in the late 1930s to make way for the construction of Union Station. The "New Chinatown" encompasses several blocks along north Broadway and Hill St. It is home to a Chinese population of about 15,000 and also fulfills a major tourist function. In recent years an even newer Chinese enclave has developed several miles to the east in and around the suburban community of Monterey Park.

 

St.Vibiana's Cathedral and the Higgins Building 
(St. Vibiana Cathedral, Northwest corner of Main and 2nd Streets)

Over 111 years old, this cathedral has a seating capacity of 1,200. Designed in 1876 by Ezra F. Kysor, it was modeled after a Baroque church in Barcelona. The facade's classical pilasters and volutes are crowned with a tower and cupola. Inside are relics of an early Christian martyr whose name is given to the Cathedral, St. Vibiana. The remains are preserved in a marble sarcophagus. In early 1996 the good Cardinal, who presides over the largest Catholic Diocese in the United States, proposed that it be torn down and replaced by a brand‑spanking new Cathedral building. Preservation‑ and historic‑minded L.A. folk protested loudly in response. After a heated controversy among the Good Cardinal, the Conservancy, and City Hall, the decision was made to build the new cathedral at the corner of Temple and Grand, near the Music Center. The new cathedral, to be called the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, will overlook the Hollywood Freeway (101). At present, the fate of the old cathedral is unknown.

 

Flower Market (Between 7th and 8th on Wall Street)

Lying at the heart of a very large wholesale district is the Flower Market. It supplies wholesale flowers to florists throughout the region, and is busiest between 3am and 8am.

 

City Hall (200 North Spring Street)

For decades the City Hall was the major visual symbol of downtown Los Angeles.  Built by Austin, Parkinson, and Martin, it was completed in 1928. At 28 stories and 454 feet, it was the only building to significantly exceed 150 foot height limit maintained by the city until 1957. The builders used sand from every California county and water from each of the state's twenty‑one missions. Concerns with the building's height and the terra cotta facade, which is subject to cracking under movement, were addressed in the original design. The architects had the tower  constructed with a compressible joint at each floor, like a human spine, so that it could safely ride out the waves of an earthquake. In 1995 and 1996 the tower has been vacated for remodeling, hence the "black arm band" around its top. In October 1996,  renovation of the top floors was completed and the armband removed. In the rotunda at the base of the monumental tower stands inscribed a motto that Los Angeles has tried to embody: "The city came into being to preserve life, it exists for the good of life."  The 150‑foot height limit in Los Angeles, which greatly retarded the downtown skyline, was initiated just after the completion of the Continental Building in 1904. The City Council enacted the height limit so that no building could be taller than the  Continental Building. Of course, the City Hall (1928) became the major exception until the Transamerica Building was completed in the early 1960's.

 

Little Tokyo Historic District/Japanese American National Museum

While most of Little Tokyo is very modern, a one‑block section of the old Little Tokyo remains today. Thirteen buildings on First Street were placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.  At 369 E. First Street, in a former Buddhist temple that was built in 1925, is the Japanese American National Museum shown below. Opened in 1992, the museum is the first in this country devoted to the history and contributions of Japanese Americans.

 

Central Library (630 W. 5th St.On 5th, between Grand and Flower)

After several locations since first being established in 1878, the Los Angeles Public library found a home in this specially‑designed building. The building, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, was dedicated on July 15, 1926. Goodhue's design was modeled after the architect's previous creation, the Nebraska State Capitol Building in Lincoln. (The latter, by the way, is much taller‑‑40 stories and 432 feet tall‑‑and is often referred to as "the penis of the plains.") For many years the library had numerous entrances, tide pools, and rolling expanses of grass. One by one these features were reduced due to the growth of downtown and the need for parking. In the eighties two arson fires damaged the building and tens of thousands of books, resulting in major renovation and the addition of the rear atrium. The building accurately resembles its original look, yet the new wing adds a post modern feel. The atrium also allows natural light into the building, much like the Bradbury Building, allowing visitors to escape the chaos of downtown. The building is now dwarfed by the skyscrapers that surround it. The air space above was sold to the developers of the First Interstate World Tower so that they could build the tallest building between Chicago and Hong Kong.

 

Angels Flight (Northwest corner of Hill and 4th Street)

Built in 1900, this funicular railway ran up the southeast side of Bunker Hill, connecting the residential areas on the hill with shopping, financial, and entertainment districts on Broadway, Hill, and Spring streets. Angels Flight first served the wealthy (1905‑1920) who lived in big Victorian houses, and then later the less fortunate who lived houses converted to flats, hotels, apartments, and flop houses (1920's-1950's). Even after most of the residences were destroyed, and the people displaced, Angels Flight hung on until 1969 as something of a tourist attraction. It then closed, and the cars and other equipment were unceremoniously put in storage.  The subsequent commercial developments on Bunker Hill, encouraged by the Community Redevelopment Agency, became functionally separated from the older downtown. Two worlds were created: new and old downtowns, adjacent spatially, but worlds apart socially. Finally, in 1993, funds were appropriated by the CRA for a restored Angels Flight, which is intended to bridge these two worlds. It opened on February 24, 1996.

 

Grand Central Market (317 S. Broadway)

Built in 1917, the Grand Central Market is a cavernous European‑style market under great overhead fans. It is the oldest of all concession type markets on the Pacific Coast, and was the first earthquake and fire proof building in Los Angeles. The Grand Central Market is an indoor bazaar that extends from Broadway to Hill Street. It is crowded, frenzied, and picturesque. The stalls and aisles overflow with exotic foods, from pigs tongues to passion fruit.

 

Bradbury Building (304 S.Broadway)

The Bradbury Building, built in 1893, is one of Southern California's most remarkable architectural achievements. Its plan was commissioned by real estate and mining entrepreneur Louis L. Bradbury who decided to build it just a few blocks from his home on fashionable Bunker Hill and not far from the base of Angels Flight. After rejecting a plan submitted by Sumner P. Hunt, Bradbury approached junior draftsman George Wyman. Wyman is said to have accepted the commission after consulting a ouija board. Wyman was influenced by Edward Bellamy's 1887 book that described a utopian civilization in the year 2000. The typical office building was described as being a "vast hall of light received not alone by the windows, but from a dome overhead."  The interior of the court is flooded with natural light. In the true spirit of Los Angles, it has been featured in many movies, from DOA in 1946 to Blade Runner in 1982.

 

The Pantry Restaurant (877 South Figueroa)

This classic restaurant was opened in 1922 and has never closed...that is, until Thursday November 26th 1997, when it was closed by the County Health Department for minor health code violations. It reopened the very next day. Known for its greasy food and rude waiters, it is a popular meeting spot in downtown. The Pantry is owned by current Los Angeles mayor Richard Riordan. When the new basketball/hockey arena, Staples Center, is built nearby, the 24‑hour queues will be longer still.