The Financial District (Financial Core) is the central business district of Los Angeles It is bounded by the Harbor Freeway to the west, First Street to the north, Main and Hill Streets to the east, and Olympic Boulevard and 9th Street to the south. It is south of the Bunker Hill district, west of the Historic Core, north of South Park and east of the Harbor Freeway and Central City West.[1] Like Bunker Hill, the Financial District is home to corporate office skyscrapers, hotels and related services as well as banks, law firms, and real estate companies. However, unlike Bunker Hill which was razed and now consists of buildings constructed since the 1960s, it also contains large buildings from the early 20th century, particularly along Seventh Street, once the city's upscale shopping street; the area also includes the 7th and Flower area at the center of the regional Metro rail system, restaurants, bars, and two urban malls.
History
What is now the Financial District was originally agricultural land, then a residential area of single family homes, then around 1900 started attracting businesses as Victorian-era Downtown L.A. expanded south along Broadway past 3rd Street and "around the corner", west along Seventh Street. Around 1915, 7th Street between Broadway (on which corner stood Bullock's) and Figueroa Street, became downtown's upscale shopping district. This began with J. W. Robinson's deciding to build their flagship store in 1915 on Seventh far to the west of the existing Broadway shopping district, between Hope and Grand streets. The Ville de Paris and Coulter's as well as numerous specialty shops came and rounded out the district. The area lost its exclusivity when the upscale downtown stores opened branches in Hollywood, Mid-Wilshire, Westwood and Pasadena in the late 1920s through the 1940s, notably the establishment of Bullock's upscale landmark branch Bullocks Wilshire in Mid-Wilshire in 1929.[2]
Thirteen large office buildings opened between 1920 and 1928. By 1929, every plot on 7th between Figueroa and Los Angeles Streets had been developed.[2]
The area remained an important, if not the most exclusive, center of retail and office space throughout the 1950s, but started a slow decline throughout the 1980s due to suburbanization. It was also the concentration of Downtown financial activity on Bunker Hill, a few blocks north. The flagship department stores like Bullock's (1983), Barker Brothers (1984) and Robinson's (1993) had closed and only the Broadway/Macy's at The Bloc, previously named Broadway Plaza remained. However, in 1986, the Seventh Market Place mall, now FIGat7th, opened, bringing a smaller retail cluster back to Seventh such as the 7th Street/Metro Center station opening in 1991.
The Financial District was created by the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency to provide an alternative to the old Spring Street Financial District, which fell into decline in the second half of the 20th century.
Demand for apartments in downtown Los Angeles surged in 2010 and the years following. In 2015, thousands of apartments were under construction or proposed for the area around 8th Street.[3]
Historic photos
1916 view towards the east on 6th St. from near the Southland Hotel at SW corner of 6th and Flower. Baker-Detweiler Building is on south side of Pershing Square between Olive and Hill.
7th Street looking west from Main Street, 1907, not yet a commercial district
7th Street looking west from Broadway, 1917. Bullocks far right; B. H. Dyas sporting goods store, right; Ville de Paris, at left.
J. W. Robinson's flagship store on Seventh Street at launch, 1915. Robinson's locating on 7th marked the beginning of the street as the upmarket downtown shopping district
Simpson Methodist Episcopal Church, Hope between 7th/8th, c.1890-1905 (CHS-1314).jpg
First Congregational Church on Hope Street between 8th/9th, c.1905
FourFortyFour South Flower, formerly Citigroup Center, 48 floors, 191 m (627 ft.), NE corner of 5th and Flower, 444 S. Flower, opened 1981, Albert C. Martin & Associates, architects
Figueroa at Wilshire, originally Sanwa Bank Plaza, 53 stories, 218.5m, 717 ft., SW corner 6th and Figueroa, 601 S. Figueroa, opened 1990, Albert C. Martin & Associates, architects.
SW corner of 6th/Flower: Pacific Financial Center, 18 stories, 1973, architect William Pereira and Assoc.[4] Site of Southland Hotel, opened 1910, demolished 1971.[5]
PacMutual Building, (originally the Pacific Mutual Building), northwest corner of 6th and Olive, completed in stages in 1908, 1921, 1926, 1936; architects Dodd & Richards and Parkinson & Bergstrom, Beaux-Arts and Moderne architecture.
Aon Center, 67 floors, height 261.52 m (858.0 ft), W side of Hope between 6th and Wilshire, 707 Wilshire Bl., opened 1974, Charles Luckman, architect.
James Oviatt Building, former home of Alexander & Oviatt men's clothing store, 6th and Olive
Wilshire Grand Center a.k.a. Korean Air Tower, 73 floors, 335 m (1,100 ft.), occupying the block from Wilshire to 7th and from Figueroa to Francisco, 900 Wilshire Bl., opened 2017, AC Martin Partners, architects. Site of the 1952 Hotel Statler, later the Los Angeles Hilton.
Ernst & Young Plaza, 41 floors, 163m, 534 ft., SW corner of 7th and Figueroa, 725 S. Figueroa, opened 1985
MCI Center (originally Broadway Plaza), 33 floors, 126 m (414 ft.), SE corner of 7th and Flower, 700 S. Flower, opened 1973, Luckman Partership, architects. The Bloc shopping center is located in the complex.
City National Plaza, originally ARCO Plaza, twin towers, occupying the entire block from 5th to 6th and from Flower to Figueroa, 505–555 S. Flower, opened 1971, Albert C. Martin & Associates, architects
777 Tower (originally Citicorp Plaza), 52 stories, NW corner 8th and Figueroa, 777 S. Figueroa, opened 1991; and the adjacent FIGat7th (originally Seventh Market Place) shopping center, opened in 1986.
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