Gallery Row is a neighborhood in
downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
, designated by the
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
in 2003 to promote the concentration of
art galleries
An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...
along
Main
Main may refer to:
Geography
*Main River (disambiguation), multiple rivers with the same name
*Ma'in, an ancient kingdom in modern-day Yemen
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*Spanish Main, the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territ ...
and Spring Streets.
Location
It runs north–south along Main and Spring Streets from 2nd Street in the north to 9th Street in the south.
2012-2013 Official Visitors Map
Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, 2012
History
Gallery Row is based on a proposal by artists Nic Cha Kim and Kjell Hagen, members of the Arts, Aesthetics, and Culture (AAC) Committee of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC). There were only three galleries in the area: Inshallah Gallery on Main Street near 3rd, bank (Lorraine Molina) on Main Street near 4th, and 727 Gallery on Spring Street near 7th (Adrian Rivas, James Rojas). The borders of the proposed district were driven by inclusion of the existing art venues and the potential for expansion in the largely-vacant district.
In 2003, much of the Historic Core shared attributes with Skid Row
A skid row, also called skid road, is an impoverished area, typically urban, in English-speaking North America whose inhabitants are mostly poor people " on the skids". This specifically refers to people who are poor or homeless, considered disre ...
; the area was marginally active with shoppers and other visitors by day, but by evening most establishments closed and people went elsewhere. A city council motion co-sponsored by Jan Perry and Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr. on January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary C ...
to designate Gallery Row was passed in July 2003, and Gallery Row street signs were installed in the fall.The AAC Committee met weekly at Inshallah Gallery to plan an opening ceremony, which was scheduled for May 15, 2004. At Biddy Mason Park on Spring Street, the ceremony was hosted by Los Angeles city officials. Temporary galleries were set up in empty storefronts, a series of theatre readings was presented at the Los Angeles Theatre Center
The Los Angeles Theatre Center is a performance complex of several theaters that first opened in Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Ang ...
, and information booths supported the local community. By September 2004, eight galleries were operating.
Downtown Art Walk
The Downtown Art Walk, on the second Thursday of each month, is a self-guided tour of the downtown art venues. They include commercial art galleries, public museums, and non-profit arts venues. The walk was begun by gallery owner Bert Green a month before the opening of his gallery at 5th and Main. The AAC committee was spun off as the nonprofit Gallery Row Organization, which promotes and develops the district's cultural resources.
The number of participating galleries reached 30 in 2007, and about 40 in 2010. DLANC sponsored the Art Walk shuttle in 2007, which began service in June of that year. The number of visitors grew from about 75 in September 2004 to more than 15,000 in 2010.
See also
*Gentrification
Gentrification is the process whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...
* Urban renaissance
*Urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
References
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External links
Gallery Row site
Downtown Art Walk site
Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council site
{{coord, 34.048161 , N, 118.247371, W, display=title
Populated places established in 2003
Districts of Downtown Los Angeles