Los Angeles Union Station is recognizable by its one-hundred-foot clock tower rising above a complex that blends Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival, and Art Deco styles. Opened in nineteen thirty-nine, this site replaced several disparate…
Downtown Historic Landmarks
Walk through the architectural evolution of Los Angeles and see the grand pre-war masterpieces of the historic core.
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1. Los Angeles Union Station
2. Olvera Street
Olvera Street is a narrow, tree-shaded, brick-lined pedestrian passage filled with colorful stalls and historic structures. It sits near the Plaza de Los Ángeles, the oldest plaza in California, and leads from that square toward Cesar…
3. Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall is defined by its massive central tower, which rises four hundred fifty-four feet above the Civic Center. Completed in nineteen twenty-eight, this thirty-two-story structure was designed by John Parkinson, John C.…
4. Million Dollar Theater
The Million Dollar Theater is defined by its ornate, twelve-story facade featuring lavish Churrigueresque stone carvings. Sculptor Jo Mora designed the exterior with eccentric figures, including bison heads, longhorn skulls, and girls…
5. Bradbury Building
The Bradbury Building presents a modest, boxy exterior of brown brick and sandstone that gives little hint of the interior. Once inside, you find a five-story Victorian court flooded with light from a vast skylight that crowns the entire…
6. Grand Central Market
Grand Central Market occupies the ground floor of the Homer Laughlin Building, a landmark recognized by its Beaux-Arts facade and its history as the first steel-reinforced, fireproof structure in Southern California. The market opened in…
7. Angels Flight Railway
Angels Flight Railway is recognizable by its two bright vermilion cars, Sinai and Olivet, that travel in opposite directions along a steep, narrow-gauge track. This funicular climbs a thirty-three percent grade for about three hundred…
8. Millennium Biltmore Hotel Los Angeles
The Millennium Biltmore Hotel occupies more than half a city block, defined by its massive stone columns and the figures of Ceres and Neptune carved into its exterior façade. When it opened in nineteen twenty-three, it stood as the largest…
9. Los Angeles Central Library
The Los Angeles Central Library is defined by its central tower, which is crowned with a colorful, tiled mosaic pyramid and a hand clutching a torch that symbolizes the light of learning. Located at six hundred thirty West Fifth Street,…