Downtown Los Angeles, Early 20th century grandeur - Page 3

Illithid Dude · #41 Posted **Aug 24, 2011, 5:27 PM**

Very nice shots! I do wish you'd show more of the more gentrified side more, so that it doesn't look like all of downtown is so rundown, but hey! They were still great shots!

LosAngelesSportsFan · #42 Posted **Aug 24, 2011, 6:35 PM**

home sweet home! awesome job. these building are amazing. as a realtor, ive been inside quite a few of them, and they all have such great character.

jg6544 · #43 Posted **Aug 24, 2011, 9:28 PM**

Some of you who have lived in L.A. longer than I am or know more about its history, weigh in here, but it's my impression that downtown L.A. was a vibrant business and commercial center into the 1970s. L.A. was a sprawling collection of suburbs by the 1930s, but downtown remained the center of things - large department stores, offices, etc. What did the "old" downtown in - or maybe what delivered the coup de grace - was the elimination of height limits on the buildings which allowed for the construction of real skyscrapers on the fringes of the old downtown area. Then, when they started building office towers on Bunker Hill, that was the last straw. It's coming back, as the pictures show, but it still has a way to go. There's a great thread "Noirish Los Angeles" everyone ought to check out.

whatsthepoint13 · #44 Posted **Aug 26, 2011, 12:00 AM**

You know, people always pick on LA because of its sprawl and perceived lack of urbanity, but downtown (as you've shown) and many other parts of the metro area are actually pretty urban and have density and character. If anything, few cities can rival LA in its diversity of architecture, neighbourhoods, people, weather, and natural beauty in its surroundings. Great pics, thank you!

Illithid Dude · #45 Posted **Aug 26, 2011, 5:33 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg6544

Some of you who have lived in L.A. longer than I am or know more about its history, weigh in here, but it's my impression that downtown L.A. was a vibrant business and commercial center into the 1970s. L.A. was a sprawling collection of suburbs by the 1930s, but downtown remained the center of things - large department stores, offices, etc. What did the "old" downtown in - or maybe what delivered the coup de grace - was the elimination of height limits on the buildings which allowed for the construction of real skyscrapers on the fringes of the old downtown area. Then, when they started building office towers on Bunker Hill, that was the last straw. It's coming back, as the pictures show, but it still has a way to go. There's a great thread "Noirish Los Angeles" everyone ought to check out.

I wouldn't say that it was the lift of the height limits that did downtown in. It was the fact that the attitude in America was to ignore what was historic and ignore urban areas. Until the 1970s (as you said) the new, modern high rises lived side-by-side with the older buildings. The complimented each other. You can see this around 7th Street and Pershing Square. Only in the 70s did buildings start to actively shun the pedestrian, as shown in the Bunker Hill area. Also, don't forget, that like most of the urban areas in the 80s, downtown became, for a while, an actively dangerous place. Lastly, you can't discount the car culture. Why have everything be grouped in one place when you can have it everywhere else? When you drive, location matters much less.

jg6544 · #46 Posted **Aug 26, 2011, 5:41 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

I wouldn't say that it was the lift of the height limits that did downtown in. It was the fact that the attitude in America was to ignore what was historic and ignore urban areas. Until the 1970s (as you said) the new, modern high rises lived side-by-side with the older buildings. The complimented each other. You can see this around 7th Street and Pershing Square. Only in the 70s did buildings start to actively shun the pedestrian, as shown in the Bunker Hill area. Also, don't forget, that like most of the urban areas in the 80s, downtown became, for a while, an actively dangerous place. Lastly, you can't discount the car culture. Why have everything be grouped in one place when you can have it everywhere else? When you drive, location matters much less.

But L.A. was a car-centered city even before WWII and in the 50s, with the freeway construction and all, it really became a car-centered city. Yet the downtown area remained fairly vibrant into the '70s from what I've been told. The big downtown stores - Robinson's, The May Company, Bullock's - when did they finally close?

sopas ej · #47 Posted **Aug 27, 2011, 2:18 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg6544

But L.A. was a car-centered city even before WWII and in the 50s, with the freeway construction and all, it really became a car-centered city. Yet the downtown area remained fairly vibrant into the '70s from what I've been told. The big downtown stores - Robinson's, The May Company, Bullock's - when did they finally close?

I don't know when the downtown Bullock's, May Company or The Broadway closed, but I visited the downtown Robinson's some time in the early 1990s, I wanna say 1992, before it closed. It was awesome, it had wooden escalators and a huge basement. According to Wikipedia, Robinson's only had one store downtown until 1952, when it opened the Beverly Hills store as its second store. The Pasadena store opened in the late 1950s (it's now a Target) and was the last free-standing Robinson's built, as subsequent Robinson's stores were all attached to shopping malls.

Illithid Dude · #48 Posted **Aug 27, 2011, 6:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg6544

But L.A. was a car-centered city even before WWII and in the 50s, with the freeway construction and all, it really became a car-centered city. Yet the downtown area remained fairly vibrant into the '70s from what I've been told. The big downtown stores - Robinson's, The May Company, Bullock's - when did they finally close?

I think it was when the urban decay just became too much.

STLgasm · #49 Posted **Aug 27, 2011, 12:18 PM**

Love all the old signs! I have a feeling those streets double for NYC in a lot of film/tv productions...

DistrictDirt · #50 Posted **Aug 29, 2011, 5:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by STLgasm

Love all the old signs! I have a feeling those streets double for NYC in a lot of film/tv productions...

They do. I live Downtown and can attest to the fact that the filming never stops. I've seen fake NYC taxi cabs, fake NYC street signs, and even a fake NYC subway entrance. Its a bit surreal.

sopas ej · #51 Posted **Aug 30, 2011, 3:28 AM**

Yes, downtown LA has substituted for/masqueraded as NYC for decades on both film and TV productions.

And after having looked it up, Robinson's was the last of the stand-alone downtown LA department stores to close, having closed in 1991; so when I visited it for the first and only time, it must've been 1990 or 1991. It was definitely before the '92 riots.

plummersearch.com

LosAngelesSportsFan · #52 Posted **Aug 30, 2011, 3:37 AM**

looks so different without the mature trees and awnings in front of it! i actually like it better that way to be honest.

Rizzo · #53 Posted **Aug 30, 2011, 5:24 AM**

Thanks for the comments everyone. I've actually made a couple trips back downtown since the original post, so I may have some more to share.

pwright1 · #54 Posted **Sep 2, 2011, 4:07 AM**

I love downtown Los Angeles. The dt architecture is the most beautiful in southern California imo. And why people think its dead is beyond me. Truely a site to see. Truely one of the best dt L.A. sets ever! Wow!!