Downtown Los Angeles

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The Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles

Downtown Los Angeles is the center of metropolitan Los Angeles, California. The sprawling megacity is so vast that its downtown core is often considered a district like Hollywood, even though it is home to the city and county governments. The area features many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities, a variety of skyscrapers and associated large multinational corporations and an array of public art, unique shopping opportunities and the hub of the city's freeway and public transportation networks. Downtown Los Angeles is generally thought to be bounded by the Los Angeles River on the east, the U.S. Route 101 on the north, the 10 Santa Monica Freeway on the south and the 110 Harbor Freeway on the west.

Contents

1 History
2 Subdistricts
3 Skyline
4 External links

History

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bunker Hill

Most major upscale department stores once operated in downtown Los Angeles. Many of them were shuttered in the 1970s and 1980s, and some moved into newer more modern office, hotel and shopping complexes in the Financial District. Macy's Plaza and Robinsons-May are just two examples.

With the movement of the city's commercial center westward, downtown Los Angeles was devoid of much nightlife from the 1950s until recent years as the residential population increased. (What little nightlife existed was concentrated in Little Tokyo.) Several developers discovered around 2000 that there was a market for renovated lofts and well-secured luxury apartment complexes among workers fed up with the city's notorious traffic commuting to and from the suburbs. Another sign of the fledgling downtown renaissance is that the Ralphs supermarket chain recently agreed to open its first downtown store; the opening of which has been pushed back to the spring of 2007 (according to the Downtown Center Business Improvement District).

Subdistricts

Downtown Los Angeles as seen at street level.

Waiting room in Union Station

U.S. Bank Tower in Downtown Los Angeles is the tallest building in the United States west of the Mississippi River. (310 m)

Artist District
Civic Center
Gallery Row
Little Tokyo
Fashion District
Toy District
Jewelry District
Bunker Hill
Pueblo-Chinatown
South Park
Old Bank District
Wholesale District/Skid Row (aka "The Nickel"--for its location on 5th street).
Historic Core

Some of the buildings of the Downtown core date from the early 1900s, with the topmost floors of most of the office buildings at mostly 14 and 15 stories. This was enforced because of the earthquake risk; thus, the Los Angeles City Hall was the tallest building for decades at 454 ft., until the development of Century City, in the western part of the Los Angeles basin. The unique Bradbury building was the largest cast iron structure at the turn of the century, with a lacy, airy interior. The Grand Central Market somehow captures an early 1900s feel, with customs in distinct contrast to the current supermarkets of the U.S.

South of the Downtown core, the Nickel contains large eateries, again, distinctly reminiscent of the early 1900s.

On the north edge of Downtown, the bustling Union Station is an example of the massive buildings, on a heroic scale, that served a vanished rail passenger market until the 1990s when a subway line and six commuter rail lines began taking passengers there; adjacent to Union Station is the historic center of the city, enshrined for local consumption as Olvera Street.

Up the hill from Union Station, the Civic Center buildings devoted to federal, state and city administration, Parker Center (LAPD headquarters) and City Hall fill the side of the hill up to the Music Center, a complex of music and theatrical halls which imitates the architecture of New York's Lincoln Center. In 2003 the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened to increase the number of major theaters at the Music Center to four. Also in the building is the smaller Redcat theater and art studio. Near the Music Center are the Museum of Contemporary Art, or MOCA, and the Colburn school of performing arts.

Down the hill, Little Tokyo still contains businesses with Japanese roots. Some of the buildings and sidewalks date back to the 1800s and still include hitching posts for horses. Little Tokyo also contains the Japanese American National Museum and another Museum of Contemporary Art campus.

South of Bunker Hill is the Library Tower, now known as the U.S. Bank Tower. At 310 m (1018 ft), it is the tallest building between Chicago and Auckland. Built in 1989, it was initially called Library Tower because the purchase of the air rights from the Los Angeles Central Library, located across the street, were used to allow a building of such height to be built. The money went towards expanding and renovating the library, which had suffered two arson fires in 1986. The library itself was built in 1926.

The South Park area of town includes the Los Angeles Convention Center and STAPLES Center. Many lofts and apartments are being built in this area, which is seeing a much needed revival.

The Old Bank District is the center of the loft movement downtown. A number of developers have purchased old buildings and are converting them into residential lofts.

Gallery Row is a creative district in the Downtown Historic Core. Starting with 3 art galleries in 2004, Gallery Row now claims 17 art galleries in 2005.

Skyline

The Financial District of Downtown Los Angeles as seen from USC, which makes up most of Downtown's skyline.

John Ferraro Building, Bunker Hill

Despite its relative decentralization, Los Angeles has one of the largest skylines in the United States, and its development has continued in recent times. The skyline has seen rapid growth due to improvements in building standards, which has made some buildings highly earthquake-resistant. Many of the new skyscrapers are housing, especially in Downtown - what the office tower rush in the 1970s and 1980s added to the skyline is now occurring again in the form of residential. Some recent examples of skyscraper construction include:

Grand Avenue Project
Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District
Elleven, a tri-tower complex (13-, 19-, and 23-story towers) at the north-west block from 11th and Grand to 12th and Grand.
11th and Grand, a 27-story tower at 11th and Grand, opposite Elleven.
Metropolis, a mixed-use tri-tower (38, 47, and 52 stories, respectively) at Franciso and 9th Street.
9th and Flower Lofts, a 38-story residential tower at 9th and Flower Streets.

This is a brief list, and there are many more. The recent "rise" of South Park, the low-rise district of downtown south of Bunker Hill (roughly south of 8th Street and north of the Santa Monica Freeway), is bringing skyscrapers that will be high enough in quantity and height to create an extended downtown skyline within a few years from 2005. Due to numerous films, television, and music videos that are shot in Los Angeles and uses downtown Los Angeles as the backdrop, the Los Angeles skyline is probably one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.

The skyline of Los Angeles consists of several different clusters of high-rise buildings; most of these clusters are not directly connected to each other. Century City and the parts of Wilshire Boulevard through Westwood together form a rather busy skyline that is often confused with the downtown skyline.

External links

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