History

Did You Know: Hotel Figueroa was Built for Businesswomen?

By Eric Richardson — Yesterday, 12:08 PM — 3 Comments

USC Digital Archives / Los Angeles Examiner

Did you know that the Hotel Figueroa was built in 1926 as a hotel for "business, traveling and professional women and their husbands and children"?

The 409-room was built by the Y.W.C.A., and was billed in the L.A. Times as the "one of the largest financial transactions ever consummated by a body of organized women." — Continued Inside...

126 Years Ago Today: Downtown Got Its First Electric Street Lights

By Eric Richardson — December 30, 2008

Los Angeles First Street Light -- Installed 1882

On December 30, 1882, at roughly 7:40pm, Mayor Homer Toberman threw the switch to send current to the first two arc lights installed by the Los Angeles Electric Company. The two were 1000-candle power lamps installed on top of 150-foot poles at the intersections of Main and Commercial and 1st and Hill. Current to power the lights came from a small generating...

Fifty-Eight Years Ago Today: Hollywood Freeway Opens Through Downtown

By Eric Richardson — December 27, 2008
6 Comments

On December 27, 1950, civic leaders made their speeches and welcomed the first vehicles onto the Hollywood Freeway through Downtown. The first link of the highway, now known as the 101, stretched from Grand Avenue to Silver Lake Boulevard and cost $13,000,000.

Tradition of Pershing Square Ice Skating Over Fifty Years Old

By Eric Richardson — December 15, 2008
2 Comments

While this year's Pershing Square rink is billed as the "11th Annual Downtown on Ice" the tradition of skating at the square actually dates back to 1952. In that year the Downtown Business Men's Association sponsored the first of two years of "Skating in the Park," bringing a 40 by 60-foot rink to the square. These two first years didn't offer the Los Angeles...

Fifty-Five Years Ago Today: Plans for 4th Street 'Cut' Unveiled

By Eric Richardson — November 25, 2008
8 Comments

On November 25, 1953, city officials presented detailed plans for the viaduct-cut that would take 4th street over Figueroa and Flower and under Hope and Grand. The plan, which the Times called a "sort of roller-coaster loop over Bunker Hill," replaced a previous agreement to build a tunnel under Bunker Hill.

Thirty Years Ago Today: Jewelry Exchange Opened Amid Local Industry Boom

By Eric Richardson — November 14, 2008
3 Comments

Hailed as the "largest retail jewelry exchange in the world," the New York Jewelers Exchange opened on November 14, 1978. For thirty years the Exchange has occupied the ground floor and mezzanine of the Los Angeles Jewelry Center at 629 S. Hill, offering ninety booths where jewelers can cut costs by sharing rent and utilities. The opening came at a boom time...

Wednesday: Talk Green Preservation with the National Trust's Richard Moe

By Eric Richardson — November 10, 2008

Downtown's revitalization has been built on adaptive reuse -- taking old commercial buildings and refashioning them to contain residential uses. That movement was driven largely by the availability of the buildings, but did historic revitalization also have a green outcome? On Wednesday evening, the L.A. Conservancy will welcome National Trust President Richard...

Looking at Pershing Square's History

By Eric Richardson — October 30, 2008
11 Comments

The Times’ Cara Mia DiMassa takes a look at the history and current condition of Pershing Square in a story for tomorrow’s paper. When looked at from above, Pershing Square resembles a kind of village, with a 125-foot, bright purple bell tower at its center and “streets” emanating from there. But it’s at ground level that the...

Today in Downtown History: Building Plans Signaled Finance's Westward Move

By Eric Richardson — October 28, 2008
1 Comment

Today it’s just a non-descript office building, but when plans for 800 Wilshire were announced on October 28, 1970, the L.A. Times wrote that “the downtown financial district’s shift away from Spring St. is gaining momentum.” Financial tenants were fleeing the old bank buildings of the Historic Core. The announcement of the sixteen-story...

Saturday: Archives of L.A.'s Past Meet at USC

By Ed Fuentes — October 23, 2008

Those interested in Los Angeles history should grab their calendars and circle this Saturday, October 25. The Third Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, nicknamed “Archives Live!” by presenting group L.A. As Subject, brings 65 historical collections and archives to USC with a full lineup of presentations and documentary screenings from 10am to 5pm.