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Broadway (Los Angeles)

Major thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Broadway (Los Angeles)
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Not to be confused with Main Street.

Broadway is a major thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets was Los Angeles's main commercial area from the 1910s until World War II and in 1979, it was listed as the Broadway Theater and Commercial District in the National Register of Historic Places,[1] the first and largest theater district to be listed.[3] The district was expanded to 2nd and Olympic in 2002.[2]

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Route

South Broadway's southern terminus is Main Street just north of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Carson. From there it runs 10 miles (16 km) north through Athens and South Los Angeles to Downtown Los Angeles, where it enters downtown's Historic Core and the Broadway Theater and Commercial District. Broadway continues through the Civic Center and across US-101, where signs read "North Broadway" as the street enters Chinatown. Broadway then curves northeast, passing through railyards and then crossing Interstate 5, where it heads due east to its terminus at Mission Road in Lincoln Heights.

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History

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Founding and extension

Broadway was originally named Ford Street and is one of the oldest streets in Los Angeles. It was laid out by Edward Ord as part of his 1849 plan for the city. The street began at the south side of Fort Moore Hill, one block north of Temple Street, at Sand Street (later California Street). It was named after Fort Moore.[4]

In 1890, the street was renamed Broadway from 1st to 10th Street (now Olympic Boulevard), while the rest of the street was renamed North Broadway.[5][6] Proposals to connect Broadway to Buena Vista Street (now North Broadway) and also extend Broadway south into what was part of Main Street were made as early as February 1891.[7] The Broadway Tunnel opened in 1901, traveling through Fort Moore Hill and extending North Broadway to Buena Vista Street at Bellevue Avenue (later Sunset Boulevard, now Cesar Chavez Avenue).[8]

In September 1911, a bridge across the Los Angeles River opened, connecting Buena Vista Street to Downey Avenue, both of which were renamed North Broadway[9][10][11] despite significant objections from residents and landowners.[12][13][14][15] The bridge was referred to as the Buena Vista Street Bridge even after the streets were renamed.[16]

A section of Broadway in South Los Angeles was named Moneta Avenue until 1923.[8]

Commercial and entertainment center

See also: History of Retail in Southern California

Prior to the 20th century, Los Angeles's Central Business District was located along Spring and Main Street between Los Angeles Plaza and 2nd. In 1895, J.W. Robinson's opened a four-story department store at 239 S. Broadway,[17][18] starting the shift of the main shopping district to Broadway, and numerous historic buildings, including commercial, residential, and office, as well as movie palaces and live theaters, were built along Broadway between 1893 and 1934.[1][2]

From c. 1905 through the 1950s, Broadway was considered the center of Los Angeles. The square footage of Broadway's four largest department stores alone totaled more than three million square feet, roughly the size of American Dream Meadowlands. These stores were:

  • The Broadway, 577,000 sq ft (53,600 m2)[19]
  • Bullock's, 806,000 sq ft (74,900 m2)[20]
  • May Co., more than 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m2)[21]
  • J. W. Robinson's, 623,700 sq ft (57,940 m2)[22][23]

Decline and revitalization

Los Angeles's premier theater district shifted to Hollywood in the 1920s,[24] while its commercial center left Broadway in the 1950s,[1] after which Broadway declined significantly.

The Broadway Theater and Commercial District, the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places,[25] was designated in 1979 and expanded in 2002. The district contains twelve theaters and more than fifty additional buildings,[1][2] several of which were in disuse or disrepair at the time of their designation, many of which have since been repurposed or restored. Additionally, Broadway's department stores closed in the 1970s and 1980s, at which point the area transitioned to a working class Latino shopping destination.[26]

In the 2010s, a sneaker and streetwear retail cluster emerged on Broadway between 4th and 9th streets; it has been named Sneaker Row.[27] Retail at 9th & Broadway has also proliferated during this time, with the opening of Acne Studios, Oak NYC, Aesop, Tanner Goods, BNKR, Austere, A.P.C., and Urban Outfitters.[28][29]

Bringing Back Broadway

In 2008, the City of Los Angeles launched a $40-million ($58.4 million in 2024) campaign to revitalize Broadway, known as Bringing Back Broadway, this despite some merchants' concerns that the campaign would spread the gentrification occurring in other parts of downtown to Broadway.[30] The campaign's commission, led by City Councilman Jose Huizar, recommended widening sidewalks, eliminating traffic lanes, constructing new parking structures, and adding streetcar service reminiscent of the street's past.[31]

In 2014, a pedestrian-friendly project widened Broadway's sidewalks and replaced its parking lane with planters, chairs, and cafe tables. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the effort, part of the larger Great Streets Initiative that focused on walkability and transit throughout Los Angeles, represented "a shift from the way that our neighborhoods have been planned."[32]

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Buildings and sites

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See also: Street grid of landmarks in the Historic Core, Los Angeles

North of Hollywood Freeway

  • Chinatown East Gate, 943 N. Broadway
  • Little Joe's (razed), 904 N. Broadway
  • site of Broadway Tunnel (1901–1941) below Fort Moore Hill (leveled), between today's Temple St. and César Chávez Bl.

Hollywood Freeway to Temple

This area south to Second Street was Los Angeles's Central Business District during the 1880s and 1890s. It is now the Civic Center.

  • Thumb
    1905 view south on Broadway from Temple. Times Mirror printing house in foreground, marked 110 N. Broadway. The 1888 City Hall towers on Broadway's 200 block in the distance. Fort Moore Hill, now leveled, at right.
  • Thumb
    c.1893–1900, looking east at Broadway along Third from Bunker Hill

Temple and Broadway

Cable cars of the Temple Street Cable Railway ran along Temple Street starting in 1886 and were replaced with Pacific Electric streetcars in 1902.[33][34]

Northwest corner

  • The three-story brick Women's Christian Temperance Union building was erected in 1888 for $45,000.[35] Also known as the Temperance Temple, it has been demolished[36] and was replaced in 1957 by the Los Angeles County Central Heating and Refrigeration Plant.[37]

Southeast corner

This location was at the time known as Pound Cake Hill. The buildings located here faced New High Street to their east and Broadway to their west. They were as follows:[38]

  • Los Angeles High School, whose original location (1873-1887) was between New High on the west and Broadway on the east, south of Temple Street. It was moved to California and Sand streets, and in 1890 a new facility was built on Fort Moore Hill, immediately north of where Broadway today crosses the Hollywood Freeway. The Pound Cake Hill school was demolished and replaced by:
  • First, the Red Stone Courthouse (or "Red Sandstone Courthouse"), which took over the function of courthouse from the Clocktower Courthouse (also called the Temple Courthouse). It was damaged beyond repair by the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 and was torn down in 1936.
  • The Los Angeles County Hall of Records (1911) was built next to (south of) the Red Sandstone Courthouse in 1911. The building was was deemed unsafe after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake and was demolished in 1973.

Currently on the site are:

  • Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center (Los Angeles County Grand Jury), originally known as the Criminal Courts Building, opened in 1972
  • A portion of Grand Park, which stretches mid-block between Temple and First, from City Hall at Spring Street, to the Music Center at Grand Avenue.

Southwest corner

Adjacent to the south, mid-block, is a portion of Grand Park.

First and Broadway

  • Thumb
    Looking south along Broadway from First, 1904-5. At right, from left to right: C.H. Frost Building, 141-3, the turreted Roanoke Bldg, Newell & Gammon Bldg., Mason Opera House. At left, Chamber of Commerce, 1888 City Hall.

Northeast corner

Northwest corner

  • Site of the Tajo Building (1896–mid-20th c.).[40] Now the location of the Los Angeles County Law Library.[41]

Southeast corner and east side of 100 block

  • Site of the Culver Block retail and office building.[42] Now the site of the Times Mirror Square 1973 Pereira Addition, so called because it was designed by William Pereira.
  • South of the Culver Block was the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce Building, 128–130 S. Broadway, opened February 12, 1904,[43] a landmark at the time featured on postcards and in books. 6 stories, 4 floors. Ground floor offices included those of the Los Angeles Herald and Consolidated Bank.[44]

Southwest corner

  • Thumb
    Mason Opera House
  • Thumb
    From left to right: C.H. Frost Building, Roanoke Bldg., Newell & Gammon Bldg., and Mason Opera House

The southwest corner, during Victorian times the site of unremarkable retail and office buildings, was from 1958 the location of the State Office Building, (1958-60, architect Anson C. Boyd, razed 2006). It was named the Junipero Serra State Office Building, and this moniker would be transferred to the former Broadway Department Store building at 4th and Broadway when it was opened to replace this building in 1998.[45] It is now the location of the New U.S. Courthouse built in 2016, taking up the entire block between Broadway, Hill, First and Second.[46]

Just south of the southwest corner was the Mason Theatre, 127 S. Broadway. Opened in 1903 as the Mason Opera House, 1,600 seats. Benjamin Marshall of the Chicago firm Marshall & Wilson designed the building in association with John Parkinson. Marshall is known for designing the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago. Remodeled in 1924 by Meyer & Holler. Later, as the Mason Theatre, it showed Spanish-language films. Demolished 1955.[47]

145 S. Broadway,[48]site of the C. H. Frost Building, later known as the Haig M. Prince Building. Built 1898, architect John Parkinson,[49] Now the location of the new United States Courthouse built in 2016, taking up the entire block between Broadway, Hill, First and Second.[46]

Second and Broadway

  • Thumb
    Broadway looking south from 2nd, 1895-1905

Northeast corner

  • Thumb
    Hellman Building, 1918

One of several Hellman Buildings across Downtown L.A. — not to be confused with the still-existing Hellman Building at Fourth and Spring — was located here (#138) from 1897 to 1959.[50] The site is now a parking structure, part of the Times Mirror Square complex.

Southwest corner and west side of 200 block

  • Thumb
    American National Bank Building, southwest corner, 1890. To the left are the turret and two gables of the YMCA Building (1889), then the Potomac Block (1890)
  • Thumb
    Merchants Trust Company Building, 1910
  • Thumb
    Potomac Block c.1890-1895
  • Thumb
    Ville de Paris department store, 1901
  • Thumb
    Boston Dry Goods and Harris Newmark buildings(Blanchard Hall), 1899

The west side of the 200 block of South Broadway had a key place in the retail history of Los Angeles from the 1893 through 1917, as it was home to several prominent early department stores such as the Ville de Paris, Coulter's department store from 1905–1917, and J. W. Robinson's "Boston Dry Goods" store from 1895–1915. All three stores would move to Seventh Street when it became the upscale shopping street between 1915 and 1917.

  • On the southwest corner of 2nd and Broadway was Judge O'Melveny's house, built in 1870. This was replaced by the American National Bank (later California Bank) Building, which in turn was replaced by the California Building in 1911. Nos. 201-213 Broadway are now known as the Broadway Media Center.

Further south on the west side of Broadway, was 207–211, location of the:

  • YMCA Building (#207–209–211), Romanesque Revival architecture, opened in July 1889, demolished in 1903.
    • The YMCA operated here at #207 from 1889 until 1903,
    • City of London opened here in August 1891, run by Messrs. Hiles and Niccolls, who came from the City of Paris department store. It carried curtains, window shades, comforters, and the like.[51] It operated here until August 1895, when it moved next door to the Potomac Block at #213.[52]

The YMCA Building was demolished to make way for the:

  • Merchants Trust Co. Building.[53]
Coulter's complex

The adjacent Potomac Block and Bicknell Block originally housed prominent retailers of the day, then were joined together in 1906 by Coulter's department store to form a complex, opening it as a new, 157,000 sq ft (14,600 m2) store in June, 1905.[54][55][56]

Potomac Block

The Potomac Block, 213–223 S. Broadway, was from 1905 to 1917 known as the B. F. Coulter Building. It was originally developed by lumberyard and mill owner J. M. Griffith. It was designed in 1888 by Block, Curlett and Eisen in Romanesque architectural style[57] and opened on July 17, 1890.[58]

Tenants included:

  • Ville de Paris department store (at 221–223, from 1893 through 1906),[57]
  • City of London Dry Goods Co., which moved here from next door at #211 in August 1895 and advertised for this location through August 1899.[52]

It was the first time major retail stores opened on South Broadway, in what would be a shift of the upmarket shopping district from 1890 to 1905 from around First and Spring to South Broadway. In 1904, Coulter's bought the Potomac Block, and combined it with the Bicknell block to create its new store that opened in 1905.

After Coulter's moved:

  • 215 continued as a branch of Coulter's through 1927. Then, 215–217 was home to the Pacific Furniture House in the 1940s.
  • 219 housed Fisch's Department Store in the 1940s.

The building was demolished in 1953 and is still the site of a parking lot.[59]

Bicknell Block

The Bicknell Block (or Bicknell Building) at 225–229 S. Broadway, with back entrances at 224–228 S. Hill Street. was part of Coulter's from 1905 from 1917. After Coulter's moved in 1917, it housed the Western Shoe Co. (through 1922), later known as the Western Department Store (1922–1928). Lettering covered the face of the building from top to bottom through the end of the 1950s: "THE LARGEST SHOE DEPT. IN THE WEST".[60]

Further south
  • 231-235, the Harris Newmark Building, Blanchard Hall Music & Art Building 1899, Abram Edelman), Bartlett Music Co. (#233), annex to J. W. Robinson's (#235); Goodwill Industries store (#233-235, 1950s–60s). The building still stands, but all floors except the ground floor have been removed.
  • 237-241, the Boston Dry Goods Building (completed 1895, demolished, architects Theodore Eisen and Sumner Hunt, designer of the Bradbury Building)[61][62] The building was home to J. W. Robinson's "Boston Dry Goods" store from 1895 to 1915, Scott's Department Store (239–241, 1920s), Third Street Store (237–241, 1950s–60s). Demolished, currently the site of a parking lot.
  • 251 was home to the I. Magnin speciality department store, which opened here on January 2, 1899;[63] starting 1904, I. Magnin announced that the store would be known by the name of its manager, Myer Siegel.[64]

Southeast corner and east side of 200 block

  • Thumb
    Looking north along Broadway, east side, past 2nd Street. From top left: Los Angeles Times Bldg., the 1911 Hall of Records behind it, the Chamber of Commerce Bldg., Hellman Bldg., Nolan, Smith and Bridge Bldg., Gordon Bldg., Crocker Bldg., Copp Bldg., 1888 City Hall

The southeast corner of 2nd and Broadway was the site of:

  • First Presbyterian Church in 1894.[65] The church was replaced sometime before 1906
  • Nolan, Smith and Bridge Building, #200-4 S. Broadway, stores and a restaurant.[66]
  • Now the corner is the site of the Historic Broadway underground light rail station.

Mid-block were:

  • Crocker Building, #212–6[67] Home to Victor Clothing from 1920 to 1964
  • B'nai B'rith Temple (1873), 214 S. Broadway (post-1890 numbering), the city's first synagogue, razed to make way for the Copp Building, 218–224 S. Broadway, home to the original (1908) Pig 'n Whistle candy shop and tea room.[68] The Pig 'n Whistle would open locations at 7th and Broadway and in Hollywood, where it would become a landmark restaurant that still operates today.
  • City Hall (1888–1928; opened 1888, demolished 1929; 228–238 S. Broadway, architect Solomon Irmscher Haas, Romanesque Revival). Now a parking lot. Three stories, it had a 150-foot (46 m) campanile. Red and brown brick. Housed the Los Angeles Public Library for a time until it moved to the new Hamburger's department store building at Eighth and Broadway in 1908.[69] The site is now part of the "(213) S. Spring" parking garage.[41]
  • #240-246 the Hosfield Building, location of the Natatorium (indoor swimming pool) in 1894 and the Imperial Restaurant in 1906.[67] After 1964, location of Victor Clothing, notable for its changing murals reflecting local Chicano culture. Victor Clothing operated here until 2001, and was known for its frequent ads on Spanish-language television.[70]

Third and Broadway

Northwest corner

The corner is home to one of the oldest buildings outside the Plaza area, the 1895 Irvine-Byrne Building or Irvine Block or Byrne Building; now called the Pan American Lofts. The architect was Sumner Hunt. It was built in a hybrid Spanish Colonial Revival/Beaux-Arts style.

The building was home to the renowned I. Magnin clothing store that opened here on January 2, 1899;[71] on June 19, 1904, I. Magnin announced that the Los Angeles store would henceforth be known as Myer Siegel.[64] After a fire at the Irvine Byrne Building destroyed its store on February 16, 1911, Myer Siegel moved further south on Broadway.

It was modernized and converted to lofts in 2007 and given its present name. The halls and staircase have appeared in many films and television commercials.[72]

From Third Street south to Olympic Blvd. (originally Tenth St.), and from Hill Street east to Los Angeles Street, including Broadway, is the Historic Core district, the city's main commercial and entertainment area in the first half of the 20th century.

Northeast corner

  • Thumb
    Broadway, east side, looking south past 3rd, c.1903-4. From left to right: 1888 City Hall, Rindge Block, Bradbury Building
  • Thumb
    Broadway, east side, looking north past 3rd, c.1888. From left to right: 1888 City Hall, Rindge Block, Bradbury Building

On this corner:[73]

  • Originally the J. C. Graves house stood here; Graves bought the property in 1879 for $2,250. The house was sold and removed to 10th and Hope streets in 1888.
  • Rindge Block (1898, sold in 1899 for $190,000 to Frederick H. Rindge, the "King of Malibu"), 248–260 S. Broadway, commercial building; the top floors were removed and only the ground floor remains.

Southwest corner

  • Thumb
    Million Dollar Theatre

Southeast corner

Third to Fourth

West side

East side

Fourth to Fifth

West side

East side

Fifth to Sixth

  • Thumb
    Broadway looking south from 5th Street, 1950s

West side

East side

Sixth to Seventh

West side

East side

Seventh to Eighth

  • Thumb
    Broadway north from 7th, 1917
  • Thumb
    Broadway south from 7th, 1917

West side

East side

Eighth to Ninth

West side

East side

Ninth to Olympic

West side

East side

South of Olympic

West side

  • Thumb
    Herald Examiner Building

East side

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Public transportation

The Los Angeles Metro Rail's Historic Broadway station is an underground light rail station near the intersection of 2nd and Broadway,[130][131] which is served by the E Line east to East Los Angeles and west to Santa Monica, and on the A Line northeast to Union Station, Pasadena, and Azusa and south to Long Beach.[132]

Metro J Line bus rapid transit (BRT) has 5 stations adjacent to Broadway in South Los Angeles: 37th Street/USC, Slauson, Manchester/I-110, Harbor Freeway, and Rosecrans. These stations are along the Harbor Transitway, a dedicated busway between Downtown L.A. (Adams Blvd.) and the Harbor Gateway, near Carson, in the median of the Harbor Freeway (I-110), just west of Broadway. J Line BRT runs as far south as San Pedro and as far northeast as El Monte.

Metro Local bus line 45 serves most of the length of Broadway, between Lincoln Heights through Downtown to the Harbor Freeway Station. Local routes 4, 30, and 40 serve portions of Broadway downtown.

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See also

References

External links

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