Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — This shop opened up on the corner of Broadway and 7th a few months ago. Originally the sign said "Royale Jewelry & Pawn Shop", but the latter part was quickly covered up and then eventually removed.

My theory is that they didn't end up getting the required Pawnbroker permit from LAPD and had to remove the signage. I couldn't find any good place online to look for those sort of records, but an undated PDF I pulled off LAPD's site shows six licensed pawn shops Downtown.

What's particularly odd, though, is that Royale Jewelry still has a "Pawn Shop" neon in the window. Could there be different rules governing that as opposed to external signage?