Downtown Marker Gone

Ed Fuentes

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Today, I saw a very subtle change going on at the photogenic junction of S. Spring and S. Main at Ninth St. The sign that read "810 Spring St Building" has been painted over.

Of course, the site is now more familiar to most Downtowners as the corner where Angélique Café sits. Other than that, the spot has never really had it's own identity, other than being an interesting fork in the road and the beginning of a unique food court.

However, look around the LAPL archives and you can see the junction been a photo subject for 100 years. Here's a 1906 photo, with clues that the site was once headquarters for Anheuser-Busch.. And it goes on in these photos from 1913, and 1920, including this one from 1930 where it can be seen as a traffic island for the Red Cars. In this photo from 1967, the "810 S. Spring St Building" sign can be seen, so it's been around for at least 40 years.

It's not known if the top will be repainted to read the same and keep it's place as a wayfinder, or be just another billboard. So here is a Downtown toast to the "810 S. Spring St Building" sign for a job well done.