Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Historical Notes

By the late 1930s, Bunker Hill was still filled with Victorian homes, but the area had already begun to decline. Many of the once-grand residences had been divided into rooming houses and apartments for working-class Angelenos. At this point, City Hall, completed in 1928, towered over the rest of the city, symbolizing civic ambition while neighborhoods like Bunker Hill were being eyed by city leaders as areas ripe for “renewal.”

Historical Notes

In 1945, the California Community Redevelopment Law gave cities new power to use eminent domain to clear so-called “blighted” districts. By the 1950s, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) identified Bunker Hill as its first major project. Officials pointed to overcrowding, aging housing, and crime as justifications for demolishing the neighborhood. This decision displaced thousands of residents, most of them low-income, many of whom had lived there for decades.

Historical Notes

Today, the view is unrecognizable compared to the 1930s. Bunker Hill is home to towering office buildings, cultural institutions such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall and The Broad museum, and large-scale civic projects. What was once a dense residential neighborhood has become part of the commercial and cultural heart of downtown Los Angeles. The transformation reflects decades of redevelopment, but also the loss of a vibrant working-class community.

Historical Notes

This side-by-side comparison highlights the scale of change over nearly a century. The 1938 photo shows a patchwork of houses, small apartments, and narrow streets. In contrast, the 2023 view shows the results of urban renewal—towering skyscrapers, wide boulevards, and civic landmarks. While redevelopment reshaped the skyline, it also erased the social fabric of Bunker Hill’s historic neighborhood.

Historical Notes

The annotated version allows us to pinpoint how specific streets and landmarks were altered or eliminated by redevelopment. Familiar names such as Temple, Grand, and Figueroa remain, but their surroundings are radically different. Where once stood homes and small shops are now plazas, freeways, and high-rises. The continuity of street names hides the dramatic rupture in the neighborhood’s history.

Historical Notes

By 1958, preparation for the redevelopment of Bunker Hill was underway. The once-vibrant residential neighborhood—filled with Victorian homes and small apartment buildings—was being vacated and cleared as the city prepared for new civic and cultural landmarks. Within a decade, this area would be home to the Music Center, the County Courthouse, and the DWP’s iconic General Office Building—symbols of modern Los Angeles’ postwar identity.

Historical Notes

This annotated view pinpoints the heart of Los Angeles’ urban renewal program. The shaded area marks where the Department of Water and Power’s General Office Building (later renamed the John Ferraro Building) and the Music Center complex—including the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, and Mark Taper Forum—would soon stand.

At this time, most of the original Bunker Hill structures were still standing, though demolition had begun in sections closest to the Civic Center. The transition from aging residences to grand civic architecture represented not only a physical transformation but also a shift in the city’s self-image—from a Western town to a modern metropolis defined by culture, government, and design innovation.

Historical Notes

In 1954, Bunker Hill was still filled with turn-of-the-century houses, small hotels, and rooming houses that had once been among the finest addresses in Los Angeles. By 1970, nearly all had vanished, replaced by wide boulevards, office towers, and new civic landmarks. The DWP’s General Office Building and the Music Center symbolized a new downtown—clean, modern, and built for the automobile age. This view shows how urban renewal reshaped the city’s physical and social landscape in just sixteen years.

Historical Notes

Between 1954 and 1970, downtown Los Angeles underwent one of the most dramatic skyline changes in its history. The Four Level Interchange, completed in 1949, became a gateway to a rapidly developing civic center. By 1970, the once-empty slopes of Bunker Hill had given rise to the John Ferraro Building (DWP), the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Ahmanson Theatre. City Hall, once standing alone, was now surrounded by symbols of the city’s growing political, cultural, and economic strength.

Historical Notes

In the mid-1950s, Bunker Hill remained a fading residential district overlooking the Civic Center. Redevelopment cleared the area in the late 1950s, and by 1970 the hill had been completely reshaped. The new Department of Water and Power Building, Music Center, and County Courthouse redefined the city’s western skyline and shifted downtown’s focus from industry and housing to government and culture. The contrast between these two eras captures Los Angeles’ ongoing quest for modernization and identity.

Historical Notes

Nearly seventy years separate these views. In the early 1950s, Bunker Hill was still a dense residential district of aging homes and rooming houses overlooking the Civic Center. By 2020, the area had been transformed into a vibrant urban core anchored by the Music Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the DWP’s John Ferraro Building. The once-steep hillside had become a plateau of culture, architecture, and civic pride—reflecting Los Angeles’ mid-century vision of progress.

Historical Notes

Almost seventy years after redevelopment began, the transformation of Bunker Hill continues. The 1954 photo captures a neighborhood on the brink of demolition, filled with narrow streets and Victorian homes. The 2023 view reveals an evolving skyline—where new residential towers and cultural venues rise beside enduring landmarks like the DWP Building and Music Center. What began as postwar urban renewal has matured into a dynamic cityscape that still reflects Los Angeles’ ongoing reinvention.

Historical Notes

The contrast between these two views illustrates the transformation of downtown Los Angeles from a low-rise civic core surrounded by residential neighborhoods into a dense urban landscape of steel and glass. The changes mirror the city’s growth from a regional center into a major international metropolis. Much of this transformation began with the clearance of Bunker Hill in the late 1950s, making way for redevelopment that continues even today.

Historical Notes

Bunker Hill began as one of Los Angeles’s most fashionable residential areas in the late 19th century, attracting wealthy families who built ornate Victorian mansions. Its fortunes shifted in the 1920s and 1930s as streetcars and new freeways made suburban living more attractive. By then, many affluent residents had relocated to Beverly Hills, Pasadena, and other areas, leaving behind subdivided homes and low-cost apartments. By World War II, the once-elegant neighborhood had become one of the city’s most densely populated and poorest districts, with a reputation shaped as much by film noir imagery as by its real-life struggles.

Historical Notes

This right-hand panel of the panoramic view emphasizes the heart of Bunker Hill, where rows of Victorian houses had already been converted into boarding houses. Many of these structures would remain until the massive redevelopment campaigns of the late 1950s and 1960s, when nearly all were demolished to make way for modern office towers.

Historical Notes

The left-hand panel shows the western edge of Bunker Hill, with the Second Street Tunnel cutting through the slope. The tunnel, completed in 1924, was one of the first major alterations to the hill, designed to improve traffic circulation. It foreshadowed the larger interventions that would soon follow, as Bunker Hill was leveled and rebuilt into a district of freeways, skyscrapers, and cultural institutions.

Historical Notes

The prominent street running diagonally up from the lower right corner is Temple Street coming from the intersection with Broadway (barely seen, lower right corner). This baroque rooftop in the bottom of the image is the Hall of Records which reaches through from Spring Street all the way to Broadway. Court Street can be seen running directly away from the camera near the left edge. At lower-left, can be seen Court Flight running from the eastern terminus of Court Street down to Broadway (out of view). Mount Lee and the Hollywood Hills are seen in the distance where the elongated white smudge near the top of the ridge is the Hollywoodland Sign.

Historical Notes

The California Community Redevelopment law of 1945 allowed counties and cities to create and implement agencies to help deal with the redevelopment of local cities. Along with political factors, other things which led to the conclusion of the blighted neighborhood. The Los Angeles Police Department called the area a "high frequency crime area", due to the fact that the area's apartments catered to known offenders. The health department of Los Angeles also called the area a health hazard for its city. It wasn't until the CRA had won an ongoing court case against the residents of Bunker Hill. This loss for the residents of Bunker Hill led to the displacement of many families and removal of many of the low income residents of the area. This victory for the CRA led to them being able to buy land to redevelop as they saw fit. Within the plans for the redevelopment, there was a section for the rehabilitation of the buildings of Bunker Hill. The section was slated to preserve the historical buildings of Bunker Hill, but instead were demolished since there was no actual rehabilitation planned.

Historical Notes

The above photo was taken by Walter Sanders for LIFE Magazine, for their series on American neighborhoods falling into disrepair, which they titled “Ugly America.”

Historical Notes

The development of Bunker Hill caused much controversy. The creation of the Public Works Administration and the 1949 U.S. Federal Housing Act helped quickly to clear and acquire the land on which "slum and blighted" areas of Downtown's Bunker Hill were situated. The city cleared the land and sold this land to private and public development according to the plan made by the CRA.*

Historical Notes

Over the next dozen years Bunker HIll would undergo a major transformation. The hill would be graded to make room for the new Civic Center expansion which would inlcude the construction of new City and County buildings, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre, and the Department of Water and Power General Office Building.

Historical Notes

The first of the two Hill Street Tunnels was bored through a part of Bunker Hill in 1909 by Los Angeles Pacific (a predecessor of Pacific Electric). It connects Hill Street from Temple to 1st streets. In 1913, the second tunnel (on the left) was bored for streetcar traffic. Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

The abundance of parking lots in the early 1950s marks a transitional phase between the older residential character of Bunker Hill and the massive redevelopment projects that began later in the decade. These parking lots served as temporary placeholders, indicating land already earmarked for more substantial changes.

Historical Notes

The St. Angelo Hotel at 237 North Grand Avenue was built during the boom of the 1880s when it was advertised as a European family-and-tourist rooming house. During the next few decades, the hotel and its guests were mentioned in the society pages.

Despite the hotel's shabby condition, it stood proudly on the Hill until the board of health ordered it vacated in 1956. All traces of the once grand hotel were soon erased and replaced by the Music Center which was dedicated in 1964.

Historical Notes

The Four Level Interchange was the first stack interchange in the world. Completed in 1949 and fully opened in 1953 at the northern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, it connects U.S. Route 101 (Hollywood Freeway and Santa Ana Freeway) to State Route 110 (Harbor Freeway and Arroyo Seco Parkway).

Historical Notes

Los Angeles County had gone nearly twenty-six years without a dedicated courthouse structure after the previous 1891 sandstone courthouse was damaged in the 1933 Long Beach earthquake. The Los Angeles Times noted that the architects of the present courthouse, which is home to both municipal courts and superior courts, designed it to last 250 years.

Historical Notes

It should be noted that the top of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is about where the bottom of the buildings on the older shot is. They did not just remove the buildings, they also carved off the top of the hill.

Historical Notes

Air pollution reached its worst levels in Los Angeles during the 1940s and 1950s.  Millions of people driving millions of cars plus temperature inversion provided Los Angeles with a near perfect environment for the production and containment of photochemical smog.

Historical Notes

By the mid 1950s there was no doubt among scientists that cars were a primary factor in LA’s smog crisis.
However, Los Angeles had no influence over the auto manufacturers. Smog wasn’t yet a national problem and it was very easy to dismiss smog as a quirk of LA geography.

It wasn't until 1975 that the U.S. required new cars to have catalytic converters, teh key piece of technology that allowed everything to change.

Click HERE to see more Smog in Early Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

In the early 1950s, this intersection embodied the transitional character of Bunker Hill’s lower slopes. The El Moro Hotel, visible at left, once stood as one of several small downtown lodging houses, and nearby stood the Hotel Gladden at Olive and 1st—a fixture of the neighborhood before large-scale redevelopment. A Texaco service station and car wash (center-right) underscore how auto culture began to reshape the city. Behind and between these buildings were parking lots and vacant parcels—signs of gradual decay and the anticipation of wholesale demolition that would come later. This photograph captures a moment when Bunker Hill was straddling its past as a residential enclave and its future as an urban renewal zone.

Historical Notes

Today, the southwest corner of Hill and 1st is fully reimagined. Gone are the hotels, car services, and small lots. In their place stands a modern Metro station, part of Los Angeles’s expanded public transit infrastructure. The transformation reflects a dramatic reordering of urban priorities: from individual automobiles, local lodging, and low-rise structures to mass transit, density, and civic-scale urban design.

Historical Notes

This side-by-side comparison dramatically illustrates the erasure of Bunker Hill’s historic fabric. In 1953, the corner was characterized by small-scale hotels, service businesses, and a more intimate street grid. By 2021, nearly all those structures have vanished, replaced by transit infrastructure and large civic or commercial developments. The transformation is not merely architectural—it tells a story of displacement, urban renewal policies, shifting modes of transportation, and changing ideas of what downtown should be.

Historical Notes

Taken around 1955, this view down 1st Street reveals both continuity and disruption. The Texaco service station and El Moro Hotel persist from earlier years, while the Los Angeles County Courthouse (then under construction) signals a new era of institutional presence in downtown. The presence of Hotel Gladden farther ahead also marks how the neighborhood’s hotel cluster would gradually vanish. This photograph captures an uneasy coexistence of old and new: everyday commercial life against the backdrop of large public works. It is also a visual record of the first major steps in Bunker Hill’s systematic clearance.

Historical Notes

By 2023, this stretch of 1st Street is unrecognizable from its mid-20th century appearance. Skyscrapers, civic buildings, and transit infrastructure have replaced the modest hotels, local businesses, and service stations. The ground-level street life is now often defined by plazas, wide sidewalks, and transit entrances instead of storefront windows and motor courts. This image invites reflection on the cost of progress—what was removed, who was displaced, and what is left as memory in the modern cityscape.

Historical Notes

This side-by-side contrast of 1955 and 2023 offers a powerful visual narrative about transformation. In 1955, the avenue was narrow, framed by low-rise hotels and service buildings. In 2023, it has become a wide, metropolitan corridor, dominated by glass and concrete, transit infrastructure, and institutional architecture. The image pair helps viewers imagine what they no longer see: street-level commerce, neighborhood walkability, and the architectural scale of a bygone era. It also raises questions about what was gained—and what was lost—through urban redevelopment policies.

Historical Notes

From the top of City Hall in 1960, the view looking northwest shows Bunker Hill just before the wave of redevelopment began. At this time the hill still held remnants of its old residential blocks and smaller commercial structures. The site that would soon hold the General Office Building and the Music Center remained open, giving a glimpse of downtown Los Angeles on the brink of transformation.

Historical Notes

A decade later, the same view from City Hall reveals a completely altered landscape. By 1970 the General Office Building and the Music Center dominated the scene, signaling the city’s commitment to remaking Bunker Hill into a civic and cultural center. Where once there had been modest hotels and apartments, the hill now displayed the imposing architecture of Los Angeles’ new civic identity.

Historical Notes

The comparison of these two photographs shows how quickly Bunker Hill changed in just ten years. In 1960 the area still reflected its older neighborhood character, but by 1970 the city’s redevelopment program had cleared the land and replaced it with monumental new civic buildings. These paired views capture the dramatic shift from the past into a modern, institutional landscape.

Historical Notes

This side by side comparison of these two photographs shows another perspective of how quickly Bunker Hill changed in just ten years. In 1960 the area still reflected its older neighborhood character, but by 1970 the city’s redevelopment program had cleared the land and replaced it with monumental new civic buildings. These paired views capture the dramatic shift from the past into a modern, institutional landscape.

Historical Notes

This 1957 aerial shows downtown Los Angeles in the midst of dramatic transformation. The Hollywood Freeway (U.S. 101), visible at left, opened between downtown and the San Fernando Valley in stages from 1948 to 1954, linking the Civic Center to the rapidly growing suburbs of the postwar era. The Harbor Freeway (110), completed between 1951 and 1953, connected downtown to Wilmington and the Port of Los Angeles, providing the city’s first direct north–south expressway.

At the center stands City Hall, completed in 1928, still the tallest structure in Los Angeles until the late 1950s. Surrounding it are the government buildings of the Civic Center and, beyond them, Bunker Hill—then still filled with Victorian-era houses and rooming houses that would soon be demolished under the city’s massive urban renewal program. This photograph captures the final years before the freeways, redevelopment, and high-rise construction permanently reshaped the downtown landscape.

Historical Notes

The modern skyline bears little resemblance to that of the 1950s. By 2023, Bunker Hill had evolved into a center of arts and culture, crowned by the Walt Disney Concert Hall, The Broad Museum, and the high-rise offices that define today’s downtown. The once-isolated City Hall now sits among a dense cluster of civic buildings, showing how Los Angeles grew upward and outward as its population and economy expanded through the late 20th century.

Historical Notes

The contrast between these two views illustrates the transformation of downtown Los Angeles from a low-rise civic core surrounded by residential neighborhoods into a dense urban landscape of steel and glass. The changes mirror the city’s growth from a regional center into a major international metropolis. Much of this transformation began with the clearance of Bunker Hill in the late 1950s, making way for redevelopment that continues even today.

Historical Notes

This photo captures Bunker Hill during its most dramatic transition. By about 1960, the neighborhood’s old homes had been demolished and the hill graded flat in preparation for new civic development. Within a few years, the Music Center complex would rise, beginning with the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1964. Nearby, the Department of Water and Power Building—now the John Ferraro Building—would be completed in 1965, symbolizing the modernization of the city’s civic identity. The Harbor Freeway, completed in 1952, tied the redeveloped downtown to a growing freeway system that was redefining how Angelenos moved through their city.

Historical Notes

More than sixty years later, the same view shows a thriving downtown filled with cultural landmarks and public spaces. The once-vacant Bunker Hill is now home to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad Museum, the Colburn School, and the Wells Fargo Center towers. The area that was once a working-class residential district has been completely reimagined as the city’s cultural and financial hub—an enduring example of Los Angeles’ ability to reinvent itself.

Historical Notes

The half-century difference between these two images tells the story of urban transformation on a grand scale. In 1960, Bunker Hill was a blank canvas cleared for redevelopment. By 2022, it had become a showcase for modern architecture and the performing arts. The Music Center, Disney Hall, and surrounding towers stand as symbols of a city that continually redefines its image while preserving its role as the heart of civic life.

Historical Notes

From the same angle, the 1945 image shows Bunker Hill as it once was, filled with houses and dense blocks of early Los Angeles. The 2022 view, in contrast, presents the fully redeveloped Civic Center, illustrating the erasure of the old neighborhood and the creation of a new civic landscape.

Historical Notes

In 1951 Bunker Hill was still a lived-in residential community, but by 2022 it had become an institutional district dominated by modern architecture. The pairing makes clear the shift from human-scale streets to monumental civic design.

Historical Notes

The before-and-after sequence between 1954 and 1970 captures the transition from the last years of old Bunker Hill to the height of redevelopment. By 1970 most of the neighborhood’s original fabric was gone, replaced with civic structures that altered the skyline permanently.

Historical Notes

This longer arc of comparison, stretching from 1954 to 2020, emphasizes the enduring impact of redevelopment. The 1954 view recalls the vanished neighborhood, while the 2020 image shows how the area matured into a center of government, culture, and commerce.

Historical Notes

The beautiful Queen Anne style residence on the left was the Koster House. It was located at 507 W. Second Street. On the right is the mansared-roofed Argyle Hotel/Apartments located on the NE corner of Olive and 2nd streets.

Historical Notes

The Argyle Hotel, the oldest hotel on Bunker Hill, built in the 1870s and located on the northeast corner of 2nd and Olive Streets. It was demolished along with the two beautiful homes to its left in the 1960s to make way for a parking lot which still exist today (Click HERE for contemporary view).

Historical Notes

The above street light is a Union Metal UM-1747 "Pacific" model with GE Form 18-B lanterns. They were found all over Bunker Hill until the neighborhood was bulldozed into oblivion. Only one Bunker Hill example survives as of 2021. It's on the East side of Olive Street, just South of 4th Street.

Click HERE to see more 'Pacific' UM 1747 dual-lamp streetlights (Contemporary Views)

Historical Notes

The Chaspeak Apartments at 512 W. Second Street appeared in the 1946 noir classic "Somewhere in the Night" and were featured again at the conclusion of "The Days of Wine and Roses" in the early 1960s. They also served as the model for Bandini's boarding house in Robert Towne's 2006 adaptation of John Fante's Ask the Dust.

The apartment buildings at 508 and 512 West Second Street were among several residential structures that once formed part of a vibrant working-class neighborhood on Bunker Hill in early to mid-20th century Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Bunker Hill, originally an elite residential enclave in the late 19th century, transitioned into a lively working-class neighborhood by the 1920s. The area became home to a diverse population, including immigrants from Mexico, Europe, and various parts of the United States. The Victorian-era houses and apartment buildings, like the one at 512 West Second Street, were often subdivided to accommodate more residents, reflecting the changing demographics and increased urban density of the area.

Historical Notes

The Colburn School of Performing Arts is a prestigious performing arts institution in downtown Los Angeles's Bunker Hill, offering comprehensive music and dance education since 1950. Located near Walt Disney Concert Hall, the school provides pre-collegiate and professional training across multiple divisions, including a Conservatory of Music and Dance Institute. Currently undergoing a $335-million expansion by Frank Gehry, Colburn is renowned for its world-class faculty, competitive admissions, and full-scholarship programs that attract talented performing artists from around the world.

Historical Notes

The Richelieu house was originally constructed for Robert Larkins, who may have initially used it as his residence. By the early 1890s, however, it had transitioned into a boarding house known as the Richelieu. This change occurred during a time when Bunker Hill was shifting from an exclusive residential area into a more diverse neighborhood, blending mansions with apartment buildings. The Richelieu featured several distinctive elements, including a carved panel with a tricolor design bearing the initials "RL" for Robert Larkins, intricate shingle work on the roof, and hanging plants adorning the porch, as seen in early photographs.

The Richelieu became a well-known boarding house by 1900, run by the Epperson family and accommodating numerous boarders.

Historical Notes

The Hotel Melrose started as a Victorian mansion in 1881. Decorated with overlapping shingles, cupolas, and domes, it eventually became a hotel apartment. When built, the hotel proper was attached to the mansion which became its annex.

Historical Notes

Hotel Richelieu was built in late 19th century. It was the home of Richard A. Larkin. In 1893, Mrs. Helen Larkin sold it to Chicago businessman Charles S. Hord who pledged to refurbish the building into a first-class hotel. The Richelieu was razed shortly before the Melrose in 1957.

Historical Notes

The Richelieu was a prominent Victorian house located at 142 South Grand Avenue. Built in 1888 for Robert Larkins, it featured a distinctive architectural style characterized by variegated shingles, ornate gables, and expansive porches adorned with intricate spindlework. Initially serving as a private residence, the house transitioned into a boarding house by the early 1890s, reflecting the evolving character of Bunker Hill as it transformed from an exclusive residential area into a more diverse neighborhood.

The Richelieu became a well-known boarding house by 1900, run by the Epperson family and accommodating numerous boarders. Despite its historical significance, the Richelieu was demolished in 1957 as part of urban renewal efforts that aimed to reshape Bunker Hill. This redevelopment led to the loss of many historic structures in the area, marking the end of an era for one of Los Angeles' most notable Victorian homes.

Click HERE to see more on the Melrose and Richelieu Hotels.

Historical Notes

Completed in 1903, the Minnewaska opened as a four-story, 122–133 room luxury hotel. Its spiral dome made it a recognizable Bunker Hill landmark. The Los Angeles Times praised its construction, describing heavy diagonal framing with steel lath and plaster tinted a delicate cream. Inside were two- and four-room flats with private baths, marble washstands, steam heat, and electric bells. Sold in 1905, the name Minnewaska lingered in directories until about 1907, when it was simplified to the Dome.

Historical Notes

By this time the Dome had transitioned fully to apartments. The surrounding Bunker Hill neighborhood was already in steep decline, targeted for redevelopment. The striking black-and-gold Richfield Building stood tall in the distance until it was demolished in 1969 to make way for the ARCO Towers. To the right of the Dome lay a vacant lot, later chosen for the Walt Disney Concert Hall, completed in 2003.

Historical Notes

This view captures the Dome standing almost alone amid growing demolition on Bunker Hill. Large swaths of the neighborhood were being razed under the city’s redevelopment program, leaving vacant lots where Victorian homes and boardinghouses once stood. The Dome, though still occupied, was already living on borrowed time.

Historical Notes

The Dome had by then declined into budget apartments, far removed from its early 20th-century luxury. The $50 monthly rent reflected both inflation and the neighborhood’s deterioration. Once considered a modern and elegant building, by the 1960s it stood as one of the last survivors of Bunker Hill’s grand era, increasingly surrounded by empty lots.

Historical Notes

The exterior, once tinted cream, showed its age after decades of wear. Fire escapes were added as code requirements increased for older structures. Early descriptions noted a light court and open stairwell inside, features admired when built but ultimately contributing to the rapid spread of fire in its final year.

Historical Notes

On July 25, 1964, a fire swept through the Dome, killing one resident and injuring several others. Its open stairwell acted like a chimney, spreading flames quickly. Though never proven arson, some speculated redevelopment pressures may have welcomed its loss. The structure was demolished later that year, and the lot became surface parking for the next half-century.

Historical Notes

After the Dome burned and was cleared, the corner sat as a parking lot until construction began on The Broad in 2014. Opened in 2015, the contemporary art museum was founded by Eli and Edythe Broad and houses over 2,000 works. Its “veil and vault” design stands in stark contrast to the Dome, reflecting Bunker Hill’s transformation from a residential district into a hub of cultural institutions.

Historical Notes

• The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion was built between 1962 and 1964 and opened on September 27, 1964, establishing a permanent performing-arts campus on Grand Avenue.

• The L. A. County Courthouse, completed in 1958, was later renamed the Stanley Mosk Courthouse and fronts today’s Grand Park.

• The AT&T Madison Complex Tandem Office (1961) handled long-distance switching for greater Los Angeles. Its rooftop microwave tower was in use until the 1990s.

• The Dome Hotel and Apartments at Grand and 2nd represented the Victorian housing stock of old Bunker Hill before the area was cleared in the late 1960s.

Historical Notes

• Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, opened in 2003 and completed the Music Center’s quartet of venues.

• The Broad, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, opened in 2015 at 221 S. Grand Avenue on the former site of the Dome Hotel and Apartments.

• The Grand LA, across from Disney Hall, added housing, retail, and a hotel, furthering Grand Avenue’s transformation into a cultural district.

• The Music Center Plaza was redesigned in 2019 by Rios Clementi Hale Studios, doubling event capacity and improving access.

Historical Notes

• Urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s replaced dense Victorian housing on Bunker Hill with civic and cultural institutions.

• Telecommunications once defined the skyline here; the AT&T Madison Complex carried long-distance traffic until fiber-optic networks replaced microwave transmission.

• The Dome Apartments corner at Grand and 2nd is now home to The Broad, symbolizing the shift from residential boarding houses to world-class museums.

• The Music Center Plaza’s 2019 redesign reactivated the campus as a civic living room and event space.

Historical Notes

In the 1950s, Bunker Hill was defined by Victorian-era apartment houses and hotels, many of which were originally grand mansions from the late 19th century. By the mid-20th century, these once-stately structures had fallen into disrepair and were repurposed as low-income housing and rooming houses.

Historical Notes

Many of the apartment houses in Bunker Hill were originally single-family residences built in the 1890s, later subdivided into multiple units. The area was renowned for its ornate architecture, with wooden-frame Victorian structures adorned with Gothic gingerbread touches. By the 1950s, these once-prestigious buildings had deteriorated and been converted into cheap apartment hotels, accommodating a working-class population.

Historical Notes

By the 1950s, Bunker Hill's Victorian-era mansions, originally built in the 1880s, had deteriorated into low-income housing and rooming houses.

Historical Notes

Today, Flower Street curves to the right at 3rd Street and merges with Hope Street at 2nd Street.

Cinnabar Street, seen at upper-right between Flower Street and Hope Street, no longer exists today.

Bunker Hill Tower would be constructed across from the DWP building in 1968.

Historical Notes

The Department of Water and Power Building was built between 1963 and 1965.  Click HERE to see more.

Historical Notes

In 1963, both the DWP headquarters and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion were rising side by side in a bold civic vision for Bunker Hill. The 17-story DWP Building, designed by Albert C. Martin & Associates in the International / Modern style, would be completed in 1965, becoming one of the most visible landmarks in downtown Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion—now largely complete by this time—was already shaping the cultural identity of the Music Center. The adjacent vacant parcels hint at future ambitions for the site, including the eventual Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Historical Notes

By 1967, the DWP Building and the Chandler Pavilion had fully taken their place in the civic heart of Los Angeles. The Pavilion, completed in 1964 and designed by architect Welton Becket, became the initial focal point of the Los Angeles Music Center, hosting performances of the Philharmonic and major events like the Academy Awards from 1969 to 1999.

The DWP Building, today known as the John Ferraro Building, served as a modern counterpart to the Pavilion—its sleek, vertical form balanced by the Pavilion’s more monumental, horizontal lines.

The vantage from the parking lot underscores how much of the surrounding land remained undeveloped at that moment—waiting for future civic expansion.

Historical Notes

This 1967 view shows the large parking lot that once stood across from the new DWP Building and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. At the time, much of Bunker Hill was still being cleared and rebuilt, leaving open land waiting for future development.

Decades later, this same site became home to the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Designed by Frank Gehry and funded through a major gift from Lillian Disney in 1987, the hall took years of planning and construction before finally opening in 2003.

What was once a simple parking lot eventually became one of the most celebrated cultural landmarks in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more early views of the western portal of the 3rd Street Tunnel.

Historical Notes

The Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles undertook the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project in 1955, a massive clearance project that leveled homes and cleared land for future commercial skyscraper development. This period saw the clearing and upzoning of the entire neighborhood.

Historical Notes

Since the previous photos, the Bunker Towers have been constructed. Built in 1968, the 32-story Bunker Hill Tower was one of the original buildings in the extensive Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project.

Historical Notes

The ARCO Towers were built on the site of the Richfield Building (1928, demolished 1968), an Art Deco masterpiece.

Upon completion in 1972, the ARCO Plaza towers were the tallest buildings in the city for one year before being overtaken by Aon Center, and were the tallest twin towers in the world until the completion of the World Trade Center in New York City. The towers are the tallest twin buildings in the United States outside of New York City, where the 55-floor Time Warner Center stands at 750 ft.*

Historical Notes

Both "The Castle" and "The Saltbox" were successfully relocated to Heritage Square in March 1969. Unfortunately, the area was not well protected, and both the Castle and the Salt Box were burned to the ground by vandals in October 1969.

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Historical Notes

Atop the actual Bunker Hill (but generally thought of as lying within the Civic Center) are two of the first buildings to follow the neighborhood’s redevelopment, the beautiful John Ferraro Building (formerly known as the Department of Water and Power’s General Office Building), completed in 1964, and the Los Angeles Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (1964), Ahmanson Theater (1967), and Mark Taper Forum (1967).

Historical Notes

By 1971, Bunker Hill had already been cleared of most of its 19th-century housing stock, leaving vast open spaces and a skyline in transition. Looking in opposite directions, these two views reveal how the redevelopment plan sought to stitch the Civic Center to the newly emerging financial district to the south.

At the northern edge stood the city’s new civic anchors—the Department of Water and Power headquarters (1964) and the Music Center complex (1964–1967)—symbols of Los Angeles’s cultural and institutional ambitions. Looking south, skeletal steel frames of the ARCO Plaza towers (completed 1972) rose as markers of corporate downtown, foreshadowing the area’s shift toward modern high-rise office space.

These companion photographs show both the promise and the disruption of the era: open ground awaiting development, a skyline just beginning to take shape, and the absence of the Victorian neighborhoods that had defined Bunker Hill for nearly a century.

Historical Notes

In this view, Los Angeles was still in a phase of emergent vertical growth. The twin ARCO Plaza towers (later renamed City National Plaza) were completed in 1972, and here you see their skeletal forms just becoming dominant in the downtown skyline. Julius Schulman, a legendary architectural photographer, captured many vistas of mid-century Los Angeles including this transitional moment.

At this time, the Bunker Hill area was undergoing major change: the city’s redevelopment scheme had already acquired many of the older Victorian-era buildings, and plans were underway to reimagine the hill as a modern commercial and civic district.

Historical Notes

By 2019 the skyline has shifted dramatically. The ARCO Plaza towers (today City National Plaza) remain, but many more high-rise buildings and mixed-use towers have joined the cluster.

In the decades since the 1970s, Bunker Hill has become a focal point for downtown revitalization. The area saw construction of the Music Center, cultural institutions, and new office and residential towers. Many older buildings were demolished to make way for modernist and postmodern architecture, reshaping the visual identity of L.A.

This view demonstrates how the original central cores have been complemented, and in some cases overshadowed, by newer structures that reflect evolving architectural trends and zoning policies.

Historical Notes

This vantage shows how Bunker Hill now epitomizes the vertical and mixed-use ambitions of 21st-century downtown Los Angeles. New towers continue to climb, filling gaps left in earlier phases of redevelopment.
Los Angeles’s downtown renaissance, especially over the past two decades, has emphasized a more walkable, livable core. Projects like Grand Avenue, adaptive reuse of older buildings, and public amenities have reshaped the district’s spatial and visual dynamics.

From this fixed vantage, you can trace how the skyline densified upward, with each new building adding a different layer to the evolving silhouette of Bunker Hill.

Historical Notes

This juxtaposition underscores a profound transformation over 54 years. In 1971, the skyline was nascent—towers rising amid more open lots and low structures. By 2025, the skyline is contiguous, dense, and sculpted.

Behind this change lies the longest redevelopment project in Los Angeles history, begun in the 1950s and continuing for decades. The project sought to clear what some city planners then considered “blighted” areas, displacing many older residents and buildings to make way for a modern corporate, cultural, and civic hub.

While some lament the erasure of old Bunker Hill’s character, the current skyline also embodies Los Angeles’s ambitions to be a world-class downtown.

Historical Notes

This pairing shows the intermediate stage of transformation. By 2019 many of the major towers had already risen, but further infill and densification would still occur.

Between these two years many projects—cultural institutions, residential towers, and public realm works—contributed to a sustained momentum of change downtown. The contrast highlights how incremental phases of development accumulate into a distinct skyline identity.

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Early City Views (1800s)

Historical Bldgs (1800s)

Early Hollywood (1850 - 1920)

Early San Fernando Mission

Early Los Angeles Plaza

Water in Early Los Angeles

Early So Calif Amusement Parks

Baseball in Early Los Angeles

Aviation in Early Los Angeles

Early San Pedro and Wilmington

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Early City Views (1900 - 1925)

Historical Bldgs (1900 - 1925)

Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +)

Early Views of the San Fernando Valley

California Historical Landmarks in LA

Electricity in Early Los Angeles

Historical Timeline of Los Angeles

Los Angeles River - The Unpredictable

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Early Views of the Miracle Mile

Early City Views (1925 +)

Historical Bldgs (1925 +)

Early Views of Hollywood Bowl

Early Views of Pasadena

Early Views of Santa Monica

Early Views of Glendale

Early Views of UCLA / Westwood

Early Views of USC

Early Views of Historic Main Street

Early Los Angeles Streetlights

'Miracle Mile' (1920s & 1930s)

Water and Power in Early LA

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