History Lesson

Welcome to Los Angeles

By Eric Richardson
Published: Monday, August 13, 2007, at 09:46AM

Former Greyhound Station Eric Richardson [Flickr]

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — If you're on 7th street and glance into the parking entrance for the LA Merchandise Mart, you may just catch a glimpse of signage welcoming you to Los Angeles. It's one of those things that's pretty easy not to notice, but the little leftovers like this that tell the story of what Downtown used to be.

Why would a parking garage welcome you to Los Angeles? It would if that parking garage used to be a Greyhound station.

Taking up the entire block bounded by 6th, 7th, Los Angeles and Maple, the building now known as the Merchandise Mart is big. It opened in 1967 as one of the largest transportation centers on the west coast, serving both Greyhound and RTD buses.

Former Greyhound Station It was Greyhound who built the terminal to replace their 1933 station, located across the street. They partnered with the RTD (which later merged to become the MTA) to build a joint terminal. Welton Becket and Associates designed a three-level structure, with Greyhound buses upstairs and RTD buses down below. Sandwiched between, at street level, was a pedestrian concourse linking the two. On the roof of the building was parking for 625 cars. The new structure was seen as an important piece in the revitalization of the Historic Core, just then starting to really feel the move as banks and offices left for the skyscrapers of the new Downtown.

The 1980s and 90s saw much rougher times for Greyhound. In 1986, in the midst of bankruptcy, the company sold the terminal. In 1991 the company then used another bankruptcy proceeding to get out of a lease that would have kept it locked into the terminal for another ten years. It was then that the present-day site east of Alameda came into use.

Today it would be easy to see the Merchandise Mart as just another of Downtown's many wholesale / retail buildings, but if you take a look a little closer you'll see that it's filled with signs of its past life.

SHARE:

Tweet This Story || Share on Facebook


This story belongs to the following topics:

Topic:
History Lesson

13 stories



Comments

1
Christina writes:

Very cool. As a downtown resident I really like these tidbits. I have been to the LA Library website & USC archives. Where else can I do research to find info like this?

Thanks again - your blog is a necessity in my daily routine!

# on Aug.13.2007 AT 10:59 AM
2
LAofAnaheim writes:

The "no pedestrians" sign in front of the Welcome to Los Angeles sign is hilarious.

# on Aug.13.2007 AT 01:10 PM
3
Nick writes:

Agreed. My first thought was the post was going to be about the irony of the juxtaposition of "WELCOME TO LOS ANGELES" & "NO PEDESTRIANS"

Interesting, nonetheless.

# on Aug.13.2007 AT 08:16 PM
4
cph writes:

I remember that Greyhound station from back in the 1980's. It got so bad with bums, etc. that you couldn't get much past the ticket booth area without a valid ticket. I got in the habit of walking real fast to/from the station when I used it....

# on Aug.14.2007 AT 10:16 PM
5
David Wattell writes:

Between 1963 to 1967, my father an I made trips to visit LA relatives during Thanksgiving. I remember of old terminal for congestion created by hundreds of people standing in seemingly endless lines to first to buy a ticket and then the wait to get on a bus that would take us back to SF. But, there was also the anticipation of getting the front seat on the unpper deck of the scenic crusier. We made it a couple of times.

# on Jan.08.2008 AT 10:29 AM
6
Norbie7 writes:

Perhaps the strangest development in the modern era of Downtown L.A. was when the nation's largest bus transportation firm moved it's downtown operation deep into the industrial district. I don't know if the Greyhound company owns the property near Seventh and Mateo. But it is interesting, in that if one rides on Amtrak from the San Juaquin Valley to Los Angeles, they are transferred from train to Greyhound bus at Bakersfield and they are delivered to the beautifull environs of Union Station in short order. If one were to proceed to the Greyhound Bus terminal in San Francisco, Sacramento, Las Vegas or San Diego and board a bus to Los Angeles, would they be transported to Union Station??? or Seventh and Mateo??? Of course there is another bus company with routes in and out of L.A. However, the city parents and the redevelopment agency allowing the abandonment of the major bus terminal on Los Angeles Street was a major error. Anyone who buys a condominium near the former LACE gallery on Industrial Street will soon realize they have made a major mistake.

# on Jan.08.2008 AT 05:00 PM
7
Diego writes:

Norbie,

That bus between Bakersfield and Los Angeles is available only for people who are to travel on Amtrak between L.A. and Bakersfield. You can't do it on Greyhound, only through Amtrak and only between L.A. and Bakersfield.

# on Mar.07.2008 AT 05:48 PM

Add Your Comment:

YOUR INFORMATION:
Name:
Email:
URL:
CONNECT:

Use your Facebook account to log in to blogdowntown and get share comments and stories straight to your social network!

Don't use Facebook but want us to remember your information? Create a blogdowntown account or log in to your account.


COMMENT GUIDELINES:
Keep it civil, everyone. If you're attacking people instead of arguments, or being overly profane, expect your comment to get deleted.
Comments should be on the topic of the post or they will be removed.
Use the live preview below to see how your comment will look before posting.

COMMENT:
FORMATTING BASICS:

blogdowntown uses Markdown formatting.

_Italics_
__Bold__
<http://url.to.link>
[link text](http://url)

PREVIEW:

Start typing...