Home / Cities / Los Angeles

Seventh Street

Although Los Angeles is polycentric and does not have a downtown in the sense of a unary economic center that is the focus of the metropolis (such as The Loop in Chicago), the downtown is still a vibrant area with a rich architectural heritage. Indeed, if someone were walking down Seventh Street in the mid 1920s, the effect might not be that different from walking down Broadway in New York at the same time. It was after the 1930s Depression and the explosion of post-WW-II suburbanization that the destinies of these two cities so radically diverged.

Seventh Street emerged as a commercial corridor in the first two decades of the 20th century. Accordingly, the dominant architectural style was Beaux Arts, with later Art Deco facades resulting from renovations of existing Beaux Arts structures in the 1930s.

The post-WW-II decline of Seventh Street was exacerbated by the urban renewal of Bunker Hill that created a new, modernist commercial center to the north. Ironically, this may have served to help protect Seventh Street since the buildings were simply deserted rather than demolished to make way for new construction. I visited in 2013 when many of the lovely old office buildings had been converted into dorms for rich folks.

These photos roughly follow the self-guided tour from the Los Angeles Conservancy, Strolling on Seventh Street and proceed from west to east.

Next: Los Angeles Stock Exchange