Downtown Los Angeles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area.
The sprawling megacity is such 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; however, some sources including the Los Angeles Downtown News, include the University Park neighborhood (encompassing the University of Southern California and Exposition Park, just south of the 10 Freeway) as a part of the downtown map.
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[edit] History
Most major upscale department stores once operated out of stand-alone buildings 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 (now closed and operating as a second Macy's store) 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.)
In 1999, the Los Angeles City Council passed an adaptive reuse ordinance, making it easier for developers to convert vacant office and commercial buildings (many of which were the lavish headquarters buildings of banks and other financial institutions in the early part of the Twentieth Century) into renovated lofts and well-secured luxury apartment complexes. Among those moving into these buildings were 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 will open a new store in Downtown in June 2007. Ralphs had its first store in Downtown in the late 1800s and closed its doors in Downtown in the 1950s as the suburbs grew.
Downtown's increasing gentrification has been particularly noticable in Skid Row, where development interests and police crackdowns have precipitated the displacement of its large homeless population. Between 2006 and 2007 the police reported a nearly 50% decrease in the number of people found living on the streets. Skid Row's indigent have largely migrated to the surrounding areas of Hollywood, South Los Angeles, Echo Park, and Santa Monica, straining those communities' already over-burdened shelters and homeless services.
The residential population of downtown LA has boomed since 2005, with a 20% jump in two years (2005-07) to 28,878 residents.[1] This number surpassed previous estimates and, with units under construction, pushes the estimated downtown population to more than 40,000 by the end of 2008 instead of 2015, the previous target milestone. At the same time, the number of jobs in the Downtown area has dropped to 418,000 in 2005, down from a high of 605,000 in 1995. [1]
[edit] Subdistricts
- Artist District
- Civic Center
- Gallery Row
- Little Tokyo
- Fashion District
- Financial District
- Toy District
- Jewelry District
- Bunker Hill
- Chinatown
- South Park
- Old Bank District
- Historic Core
- Skid Row
[edit] Attractions
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. Between 1918 and 1958, a city ordinance capped building heights at 150 feet, leading to an unusually homogenous skyline. This was due to 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, built in 1893, 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.
- 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 (operated by the MTA) and six commuter rail lines (operated by Metrolink) began taking passengers there. The recent opening of Gold Line light rail at Union Station serves Chinatown, the northeast districts of Los Angeles, the city of South Pasadena, and Pasadena. Currently under construction, the eastern extension of the Gold Line will continue through Union Station serving Little Tokyo, the east side districts of Los Angeles, and terminate in East Los Angeles (an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County.) Plans are moving forward to extend the Gold Line east of Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley, but have yet to secure funding. Adjacent to Union Station is the historic center of the city, enshrined for local or tourist consumption as Olvera Street. Just one block away is the edge of Chinatown.
- Up the hill from Union Station are the Civic Center buildings devoted to federal, state and city administration, including the Parker Center (LAPD headquarters) and City Hall. The main office of the Los Angeles Times is also in this corner of the downtown. When it first opened in 1935, it was the tallest building West of the Mississippi to house a newspaper press. This area of downtown is also home 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 seventh tallest building in the United States, and 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.
[edit] Skyline
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-resistent. 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 construction. Some current and upcoming examples of skyscraper construction include:
- Grand Avenue Project
- Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District
- South, a tri-tower complex (13-, 19-, and 23-story towers) called Elleven, Luma, and Evo at the north-west block from 11th and Grand to 12th and Grand.
- Metropolis, a mixed-use tri-tower (38, 47, and 52 stories, respectively) at Francisco and 9th Street.
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.
[edit] Education
Downtown is zoned to schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.
[edit] Trivia
- In the Movie The Day After Tomorrow downtown was simply destroyed by an F7 tornado while other tornadoes destroyed the rest of the city. Also one of Downtown's buildings, the 611 Place, was seen in the New York Skyline later in the movie.
- In the movie Independence Day the US Bank tower was destroyed, along with the rest of Los Angeles by an Alien invasion.
[edit] External links and references
- ^ a b Cara Mia DiMassa, Downtown L.A. has gained people but lost jobs, report says, Los Angeles Times, February 21, 2007.
- Downtown Los Angeles Business Improvement District
- Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council
- Los Angeles/Downtown travel guide from Wikitravel
- Downtown Los Angeles Walking Tour
- Downtown L.A. Photo Gallery
- Los Angeles Downtown News
- Gallery Row Organization
- L.A.'s plan to revitalize downtown (Guardian.co.uk)
