The late-
Victorian-era Downtown of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
grew year by year, around 1880 centered at the southern end of the
Los Angeles Plaza area, and over the next two decades, extending south and west along
Main Street,
Spring Street Spring Street may refer to:
* Spring Street (Los Angeles), USA
* Spring Street (Manhattan), New York City, USA
* Spring Street, Melbourne, Australia
* Spring Street, Singapore
* Spring St (website), a US based lifestyle website
Subway and trolle ...
, and
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
towards Third Street. Most of the 19th-century buildings no longer exist, surviving only in the Plaza area or south of Second Street. The rest were demolished to make way for the
Civic Center
A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...
district with
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
, numerous courthouses, and other municipal, county, state and federal buildings, and
Times Mirror Square.
["Early Los Angeles Historical Buildings (1800s)", ''Water and Power Associates'']
/ref> This article covers that area, between the Plaza, 3rd St., Los Angeles St., and Broadway, during the period 1880 through the period of demolition (1920s–1950s).
At the time (1880-1900), the area was referred to as the business center, business section or business district. By 1910, it was referred to as the “North End” of the business district which by then had expanded south to what is today called the Historic Core, along Broadway, Spring and Main roughly from 3rd to 9th streets.
Location
By the mid-1890s, First and Spring was the center of the business district, and the Bradbury Building
The Bradbury Building is an architectural landmark in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. Built in 1893, the five-story office building is best known for its extraordinary skylit atrium of access walkways, stairs and elevators, and t ...
, opened in 1893 at Third and Broadway and still standing today,[search for the location, ''Google Maps'']
/ref> was its anchor at the southwest. By 1910, the area north of Fourth Street was considered the "North End" of the business district and there were already concerns about its deterioration, as the center of commerce moved to what is now known as the Historic Core, from Third to Ninth streets.
Map
The map shows the street grid in 1910, and shows in blue three important road alignment changes that came in the 1920s–1950s:
*Spring Street realignment north of First Street to run parallel to Main Street
*Temple Street extension eastward from Main Street
*Creation of the US-101 Freeway and its service roads, called Arcadia and Aliso streets, but not exactly in the positions of the old Arcadia and Aliso streets.
Overview of the area
Buildings
Broadway
Spring Street
Main Street
Buildings along Los Angeles Street
Transportation
File:1880 Lithograph of the Baker Block on the southeast corner of Main Street and Arcadia Street.jpg, Lithograph showing the Baker Block and horse-drawn streetcar, c.1890
File:Broadway-Temple-NW-Temperance-Temple-of-the-Womens-Christian-Temperance-Union-1890.jpg, The Women's Christian Temperance Union
The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
building, also known as Temperance Temple, at Temple and Fort (now Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
) streets, with a Temple Street Cable Railway
Streetcars in Los Angeles over history have included horse-drawn streetcars and cable cars, and later extensive electric streetcar networks of the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric Railway and their predecessors. Also included are modern li ...
car, 1890
File:Pacific Electric 1001.jpg, "Red car" of the Pacific Electric
File:The street railway review (1891) (14735748166).jpg, A Los Angeles Railway electric streetcar, 1891
File:Main Street & Agricultural Park Railroad.jpg, Main Street & Agricultural Park electric streetcar, c.1896
File:External view of a Plaza University trolley car of the Los Angeles Railway Company, showing two conductors posed in front, ca.1900-1910 (CHS-33085).jpg, A Los Angeles Railway electric streetcar, c.1900-1910
Horsecars (1874–1897)
* Horse-drawn streetcars started with the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad in 1874. The last horsecars were converted to electric in 1897.
Cable cars (1885-1902)
Cable car street railways in Los Angeles first began operating up Bunker Hill in 1885, with a total of three companies operating in the period through 1902, when the lines were electrified and electric streetcars were introduced largely following the cable car routes. There were roughly 25 miles of routes, connecting 1st and Main in what was then the Los Angeles Central Business District as far as the communities known today as Lincoln Heights, Echo Park/ Filipinotown, and the Pico-Union district.
Electric streetcar systems (1887–1963)
Electrically-powered streetcar systems were numerous starting with the Los Angeles Electric Railway in 1887, but were over time consolidated into two large networks:
*In 1901, Henry Huntington bought various electric streetcar companies operating mostly within the City of Los Angeles (and not in the San Fernando Valley, Harbor area or Westside) and combined them into the Los Angeles Railway with its "yellow cars".
*In 1902, Huntington and banker Isaias W. Hellman established the Pacific Electric Railway
The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway syst ...
, which would acquire other railways, providing interurban service to surrounding towns in what is now Greater Los Angeles
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan region in the United States with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino Co ...
(Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties) and new suburban developments. The Pacific Electric Building
The historic Pacific Electric Building (also known as the Huntington Building, after the railway’s founder, Henry Huntington, or simply “6th & Main”), opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Elec ...
, with station underneath, was opened in 1905 at 6th and Main Street.
Funiculars
Angel's Flight and Court Flight were funicular railway
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
s operating from Broadway up Bunker Hill.
Railroad depots
File:Exterior view of the Los Angeles and San Pedro Station, the first railroad into Los Angeles, ca.1880 (CHS-6107).jpg, Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad was Southern California's first railroad. Its line from San Pedro Bay (California), San Pedro Bay to Los Angeles was built from 1868 to 1869 and began operations on October 26, 1869. The railroad was the brain ...
Depot, SW corner Alameda and Commercial streets, c.1880
File:Steam locomotive in front of the Los Angeles and Independence Rail Road Terminal at Fifth Street and San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, 1875 (CHS-14279).jpg, Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Depot, 5th & San Pedro streets, c.1875
File:Southern Pacific Arcade Station on Alameda Street between Fourth Street & Sixth Street, ca.1895-1900 (CHS-4258).jpg, Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
's Arcade Depot, Alameda between 5th/6th, c.1895-1900
File:Exterior view of the Southern Pacific Depot, ca.1918 (CHS-5724).jpg, Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
of the Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
c.1918, Central & 5th streets, c.1918
File:The Santa Fe Station by night, Los Angeles, Cal..jpg, La Grande Station
La Grande Station was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's (Santa Fe) main passenger terminal in Los Angeles, California from 1893 until the opening of Union Station in 1939. The station was located at 2nd Street and Santa Fe Avenue on th ...
of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, Santa Fe and 2nd streets, c.1915
*Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad
The Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad was Southern California's first railroad. Its line from San Pedro Bay (California), San Pedro Bay to Los Angeles was built from 1868 to 1869 and began operations on October 26, 1869. The railroad was the brain ...
Depot, SW corner Alameda and Commercial streets
* Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Depot, San Pedro and 5th street (southeast of the business district)
* Arcade Depot of the Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
along Alameda Street
Alameda Street is a major north-south thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California. It is approximately 21 miles in length, running from Harry Bridges Boulevard in Wilmington; and through Carson, Compton, Lynwood, Watts, Florence-Graham, H ...
between 5th to 6th streets. Opened 1888, closed 1914.
*La Grande Station
La Grande Station was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's (Santa Fe) main passenger terminal in Los Angeles, California from 1893 until the opening of Union Station in 1939. The station was located at 2nd Street and Santa Fe Avenue on th ...
of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and ...
, Santa Fe at 2nd (East of the business district), opened 1893, closed 1939
*Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
of the Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
, Central and 5th streets (southeast of the business district), opened 1914. Union Pacific Railroad started operating from the station in 1924. Disused 1939.
* Union Station was opened in 1939, replacing the existing Central and La Grande stations.
Landmarks shown on schematic map
See also
* Sonoratown, Los Angeles
* Old Chinatown, Los Angeles
Old Chinatown, or original Chinatown, is a retronym that refers to the location of a former Chinese-American ethnic enclave enforced by legal segregation that existed near downtown Los Angeles, California in the United States from the 1860s unt ...
References
External links
Photos of Los Angeles during the 1880s and 1890s at Calisphere (University of California photo search across multiple libraries)
Los Angeles Theatres (blog with detailed information about cinemas in Los Angeles including streetscapes, neighboring buildings, etc.)
{{coord missing, Los Angeles County, California
1880s in Los Angeles
1890s in Los Angeles
Civic Center, Los Angeles
*
Districts of Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles
History of Los Angeles