Fire at 4th/Broadway
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Kathy woke up this morning and asked, "Did you forget to blow out that candle?" I hadn't, and tried explain the smell away while still half-asleep.
I'm sure many people Downtown had the same sort of experience this morning as the smoke from a fire at Broadway and 4th lingers over Downtown. The building at 362 S. Broadway was pretty much gutted in a fire that broke out just before 5am.
After the jump is a shot of the building from December.
Both eecue and I posted photo galleries: eecue's shots (with flames) and my shots (without).
Update (4pm): I just posted a look at the architecture revealed by the blaze.
Pictured is the building that's currently ablaze as it looked in December, when I took my snapshot of Broadway.
History
In 1902 O.T. Johnson commissioned a seven-story pressed-brick office building on the northeast corner of 4th and Broadway. John Parkinson was the architect. It appears the building was still offices through 1956, when the county superintendent of schools had an office at 356 S. Broadway.
It's unclear whether that building was demolished and the (until today) existing structure put up, or whether the building was just chopped down to the bottom stories.
Earlier Updates
Update (7:55am): eecue got there as the fire was in full blaze and took lots of photos. He's headed back to his loft to clean those up and post them right now.
Update (8:15am): My Broadway fire photos are now up.
Update (9am): eecue's shots are now going up. I took this shot of him late in his shoot.
Update (noon): A little history is added in the body.
bill m on February 05, 2007, at 08:12AM – #1
I've put a photo here
Ken on February 05, 2007, at 08:30AM – #2
I just posted a couple videos of the fire on youtube. Shot from the 12th floor of the million dollar bldg.
5:32 am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oa-F0MsY3g
5:53 am http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwpdRpoDNA
6:42 am is still processing
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on February 05, 2007, at 08:34AM – #3
Very cool Ken. If you wrap the URLs in < >, it'll get made into a link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Oa-F0MsY3g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbwpdRpoDNA
chad on February 05, 2007, at 11:31AM – #4
I was a part of the antiwar protest last weekend and took in the sights of the shops along Broadway, since it's not a place I had been before. I remember seeing that bridal shop, expecting to see Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno inside singing "I Feel Pretty..."
Scott Mercer on February 05, 2007, at 11:48AM – #5
I know this had to be an old building. But did it really have any particular historical significance? Anyone have any insight on this? I'd feel a little better losing the building knowing that there wasn't too much important about it. Still bummed out, but a little better.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on February 05, 2007, at 11:51AM – #6
Scott: I've added a little history for you.
jim on February 05, 2007, at 12:41PM – #7
i think that building burning down means we just lost about twelve check cashing places.
i'm not seeing the history that eric says he added, but i believe it used to be a four-story building.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on February 05, 2007, at 01:47PM – #8
Crap, I updated the history then backed up and mentioned it in the intro, managing to wipe out my first update in the process. Caches are out to get me.
Joel C on February 05, 2007, at 02:31PM – #9
I'd guess that at the time of the fire, the building's historical value was minimal. I mean, it was only 28% there (with 5/7 stories having been removed).
The property is one block from the Metro and (someday) Angel's Flight, one block from the flourishing 3rd/Broadway corner, two blocks from the OBD corner of 4th/Main, etc.
IOW, it's a pretty critical corner. What will replace it? A mid-rise mixed-use building? A park? Surface parking?
Ginny-Marie Case on February 05, 2007, at 05:13PM – #10
I leave LA for ONE DAY and something happens. That's it, I'm not leaving again.
Josh on February 05, 2007, at 05:49PM – #11
Wow you guys sound so excited!
Kenarch on February 05, 2007, at 10:16PM – #12
Credit goes to LAFD for keeping this fire confined to the corner. Older buildings like the ones in the area, especially when filled with combustible stuff crammed into those tiny stores, and then having the buildings themselves covered with combustible facades and interior partitions, can burn very intensely.
Check this link out for an example of a fire a few days ago that was very much like what "our" fire could easily have become...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6330277.stm
Kenarch on February 05, 2007, at 10:24PM – #13
Joel:
Maybe they'll put an LAPD Headquarters annex there.
Just kidding!!!
It is amazing that more Historic Core buildings didn't have their upper floors torn down, since for decades it was the street level retail and maybe the floor above that had any economic value at all. Fortunately for those, like myself, who appreciate the urban, but very human, scale of this part of Downtown, it was far less expensive to just leave the upper floors alone... and if a building owner could manage to secure those floors (or if he/she cared to), well, the result was this sort of informal preservation we are enjoying today.
Eric's next post, about the cool old building that energed from below the ugly facade, makes me think of all sorts of other buildings, not just Downtown, that might be hidden below junky exteriors. Not that a fire would be the answer, but I think this gives us something to think about in terms of restoration in LA.
Ed Fuentes on February 06, 2007, at 12:03AM – #14
I just recently saw a building exposed (so to speak) in the fashion district. Link
Tim Quinn on February 06, 2007, at 12:40AM – #15
speculation alert: I bet the upper floors were removed because of earthquake damage. I can't imagine an owner doing it for any other reason. We have a building here in the arts district like that at Third and Traction.
Thanks for the very cool pics of the exposed facade. I always considered that shingle exterior to be one of downtown's ugliest, and wondered what they hid. It is too bad it had to come to this to find out. Let's lobby the owner of the building at Fifth and Main to remove the steel siding there. I think we might find something entirely more presentable underneath.
Matt on April 10, 2007, at 12:21AM – #16
Id like to to see the ugly facade on Clifton's removed.
Dennis Smith on June 06, 2007, at 10:46PM – #17
I was happy to see that the sidewalk on the east side of Broadway between 3rd and 4th Streets has been reopened to pedestrian foot traffic for the first time since the fire back in February.