History Lesson

Old and Outdated, a Street Sign Survives... Until Now

By Eric Richardson — Monday — 2 Comments

Eric Richardson

Every once in a while on a walk through Downtown, you run across something that makes you stop and say, “I think that’s probably pretty old.” Last week I was walking down from Bunker Hill when I passed this old “One Way” sign, featuring white lettering on a black background instead of the more modern inverse layout. — Continued Inside...

Today in Downtown History: Library Declared Work of Art

By Eric Richardson — August 20, 2008

Eric Richardson

Thirty-nine years ago today, on August 20, 1969, the city’s Municipal Arts Commission declared the Central Library building and grounds a work of art. The building was forty-seven years old, and the designation was part of an ultimately unsuccessful fight to keep the library from building an employee parking lot on the site now occupied by Maguire Gardens. — Continued Inside...

Who Was John H. Jones?

By Eric Richardson — August 19, 2008 — 7 Comments

Eric Richardson

Located in the heart of Gallery Row and the Historic Core, nearly everyone Downtown has likely stood on the corner of 5th and Main at one time or another. Likely very few have noticed the inscription chiseled on the corner pillar of the Rosslyn Lofts, beneath the windows for Pharmaka. The writing proclaims this the "John H. Jones Building."

But who was John H. Jones? A 1922 article in the LA Times called his tale "one of the most interesting stories in all the annals of Los Angeles." — Continued Inside...

Views Highlight South Park's Changing Personality

By Eric Richardson — May 26, 2008

Eric Richardson

Nowhere is the changing nature of South Park more evident than at the corner of James M. Wood Blvd. and Francisco street. Located on the corner there is the Salvation Army's regional headquarters, a cluster of old buildings hugging the one-way street. Looming in the background is the rising steel for L.A. Live's skyscraper hotel, soon to be a symbol of what South Park has become. — Continued Inside...

Historic Belasco Theater Awaits Its Next Act

By Eric Richardson — September 07, 2007 — 4 Comments

Dave Bullock

Downtowners who've seen his rhymes via Art Walk or email may be more familiar with the latter of Broker Poet Ed Rosenthal's two professions, but Ed's no slouch when it comes to real estate. He prides himself in finding the right buyer for historic properties, and has managed the sales of such Downtown landmarks as the Old Bank District and the Eastern Columbia.

At the moment Ed's representing the sale of the Belasco Theater, the Mayan's lesser known next door neighbor. After incarnations as a stage theater, a risque film-house and as a church, the Belasco is currently for sale awaiting new life. Earlier this week Dave and I met up with Ed at the theater to get a tour and talk about what the future holds for the eighty year old property.

Above left: Facing front from the balcony. Above right: Ornate detailing around the theater's proscenium. — Continued Inside...

Welcome to Los Angeles

By Eric Richardson — August 13, 2007 — 7 Comments

Eric Richardson

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. — Continued Inside...

History Lesson: Evolution of the Merritt Building

By Eric Richardson — December 10, 2006 — 13 Comments

There are a lot of odd buildings on Broadway, and each has arrived at its look via a unique path. The Merritt Building sits on the northwest corner of 8th and Broadway, and today is quite an odd sight, seemingly missing its second floor.

The Merritt, in fact, looks like someone took a Roman-style building and plopped it on top of a 50-foot tall marble box. It didn't used to look like that, though. — Continued Inside...

History Lesson: Gas Holders

By Eric Richardson — November 21, 2006 — 23 Comments

If you look at the photo I linked to in the Sunkist post you'll see an enormously large tank or silo back in the distance. I'd seen these same sort of tanks in various other photos and they always seemed impossibly large.

It turns out these tanks were known as "gas holders", and helped supply natural gas to the city. They were in fact laughably large and towered over their surroundings. When one gas holder was built in 1906 its 210 foot height was 35 feet greater than the tallest building in Los Angeles. — Continued Inside...

History Lesson: Downtown's Sunkist Building

By Eric Richardson — November 20, 2006 — 3 Comments

There's really no end to the fascinating things you can find when you start digging into the history of Downtown Los Angeles. Yesterday I was wandering through photos in the USC Digital Archives and came across one that showed the Sunkist Building.

The building, which sat at the corner of Flower and 5th, was built in 1935 by the Sunkist Corporation as their headquarters. Less than four decades later it was torn down, paying the price for Downtown's skyscraper boom. — Continued Inside...

History Lesson: The Short Life of Goodman's Department Store

By Eric Richardson — September 01, 2006 — 10 Comments

Eric Richardson

Walking west on 7th street there's a faded sign that's always fascinated me. I've been intending to write about it for months now; I even took a photo in January to go along with that. Somehow, though, I never wrote that post. Until now, I guess.

Today the building at the corner of 7th and Hill is the Great Western Jewelry Plaza. Sort of wrapped around it is a brick structure that hits both Hill and 7th. If you look closely at the western side of the building you can make out a bit of text and a hand pointing people inside. For picking out the text the view is actually better from Broadway than it is from closer in. In my passings, though, I had been able to make out that it advertised the "??? Market in the Basement of Goodman's Department Store." Broadway, Robinson's, May... I've heard of all those. But Goodman's?

Turns out that if you blinked too long around the turn of 1923, you might well have missed it. — Continued Inside...

History Lesson: What's the Story with the New Story Building?

By Eric Richardson — August 30, 2006 — 3 Comments

Eric Richardson

One of the cool things about Downtown is the history you can find on the sides of buildings. Vestiges of past occupants and previous uses are still to be found in fading signs and window shades. In some cases these signs are even layered, with an older use partially visible under some newer paint. It's a fascinating glance at what this area used to be.

Looking up Broadway from 7th street you see what proclaims itself to be the "New Story Building." I was always puzzled by that. New Story? Was it a shorter building they added a single level on to? Unfortunately, no.

It involves a man named Story... — Continued Inside...

Tracing the Old State Building

By Eric Richardson — April 26, 2005 — 5 Comments

shannon over at sha in LA had a post yesterday titled urban exploration in which she wrote:

It all began about a year ago. I give tours of City Hall. The highlight of the tour is when we go up to the 27th floor observation deck and get a 360º view of Downtown. One day I noticed that across the street from City Hall there was a fenced off empty lot where some kids were skateboarding. Then I noticed that they were skateboarding on something that resembled old marble flooring. It was the footprint of a building that had been demolished. Nothing remained except the original interior marble floor. WOW. My interest was peaked.

This weekend she went back, hopped the fence, took pictures, and got a nice bruise in the process. She asked for more information on the building, and my curious nature was piqued. So I turned to the historical LA Times...

Update (Apr. 28): Shannon took the info from this post and did a little research of her own, ending up with this new post with photos. — Continued Inside...