History Lesson :: blogdowntown

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

By Eric Richardson — September 01, 2006
10 Comments

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...

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

By Eric Richardson — August 30, 2006
3 Comments

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...

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...