Victorian Downtown Los Angeles#Workman Block

File:Baist's 1910 Real Estate Map Plate 3 with some post-1920 street alignments shown.jpg, and most of the largest buildings standing today.]]

By the mid-1890s, First and Spring was the center of the business district; the Bradbury Building opened in 1893 at Third and Broadway and is still standing today. By 1910, the area north of Fourth Street was considered the "North End" of the business district and there were already concerns about its deterioration, as the center of commerce moved to what is now known as the Historic Core, from Third to Ninth streets.{{cite news |title=Believes in North End |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/59394398/north-end-of-business-center-2/ |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 16, 1910 |page=65}}

The map shows the street grid in 1910, and shows in blue three important road alignment changes that came in the 1920s–1950s:

• Spring Street realignment north of First Street to run parallel to Main Street
• Temple Street extension eastward from Main Street
• Creation of the US-101 Freeway and its service roads, called Arcadia and Aliso streets, but not exactly in the positions of the old Arcadia and Aliso streets

{{Wide image|William Henry Jackson panoramic photo of Los Angeles business district, c.1900-1902 with labels.png|700px|William Henry Jackson panoramic photo of Los Angeles business district, c.1900-1902. The view stretches from the Bullard Block just south of Temple and Spring (left, bottom) to the Burdick Block at 2nd and Spring, right. Portions of Main Street and Los Angeles Street are visible behind. The vast majority of the buildings in this view have been demolished. Today, about half of the area in view is City Hall and its grounds, and most of the rest of the area is home to other buildings in the Civic Center district.|100%}}

{{See also|Broadway (Los Angeles)}}

{{Buildings along Broadway from Temple to 3rd streets}}

{{For|buildings further south on Broadway|Broadway (Los Angeles)}}

{{See also|Spring Street (Los Angeles)}}

{{Buildings along Spring from Temple to 3rd streets}}

{{For|buildings further south on Spring Street|Spring Street (Los Angeles)}}

{{See also|Main Street (Los Angeles)}}

{{Buildings along Main Street from Plaza to 3rd Street}}

{{See also|Los Angeles Street}}

{{Buildings along Los Angeles Street from Plaza to 3rd Street}}

File:1880 Lithograph of the Baker Block on the southeast corner of Main Street and Arcadia Street.jpg|Lithograph showing the Baker Block and horse-drawn streetcar, c.1890

File:Cable car of the Temple Street Cable Railway 1890 at Fort (Broadway) at Temple streets looking northwest.jpg|Cable car of the Temple Street Cable Railway in 1890 at Fort (Broadway) at Temple streets looking northwest

File:Pacific Electric 1001.jpg|"Red car" of the Pacific Electric

File:The street railway review (1891) (14735748166).jpg|A Los Angeles Railway electric streetcar, 1891

File:Main Street & Agricultural Park Railroad.jpg|Main Street & Agricultural Park electric streetcar, c.1896

File:External view of a Plaza University trolley car of the Los Angeles Railway Company, showing two conductors posed in front, ca.1900-1910 (CHS-33085).jpg|A Los Angeles Railway electric streetcar, c.1900-1910

• Horse-drawn streetcars started with the Spring and Sixth Street Railroad in 1874. The last horsecars were converted to electric in 1897.[http://www.erha.org/railwayhis.htm Excerpts from Los Angeles City Council in "The Street Railway History of Los Angeles", Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California][https://www.kcet.org/shows/lost-la/las-first-streetcars-were-horse-powered "L.A.'s first streetcars were horse-powered", KCET]

{{Main|Cable cars in Los Angeles}}

Cable car street railways in Los Angeles first began operating up Bunker Hill in 1885, with a total of three companies operating in the period through 1902,[http://www.erha.org/railwayhis.htm "The Street Railway History of Los Angeles", Electric Railway Historical Association website, accessed August 16, 2020] when the lines were electrified and electric streetcars were introduced largely following the cable car routes. There were roughly 25 miles of routes, connecting 1st and Main in what was then the Los Angeles Central Business District as far as the communities known today as Lincoln Heights, Echo Park/Filipinotown, and the Pico-Union district.

Electrically-powered streetcar systems were numerous starting with the Los Angeles Electric Railway in 1887, but were over time consolidated into two large networks:

• In 1901, Henry Huntington bought various electric streetcar companies operating mostly within the City of Los Angeles (and not in the San Fernando Valley, Harbor area or Westside) and combined them into the Los Angeles Railway with its "yellow cars".
• In 1902, Huntington and banker Isaias W. Hellman established the Pacific Electric Railway, which would acquire other railways, providing interurban service to surrounding towns in what is now Greater Los Angeles (Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties) and new suburban developments. The Pacific Electric Building, with station underneath, was opened in 1905 at 6th and Main Street.

Angel's Flight and Court Flight were funicular railways operating from Broadway up Bunker Hill.

File:Exterior view of the Los Angeles and San Pedro Station, the first railroad into Los Angeles, ca.1880 (CHS-6107).jpg|Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad Depot, SW corner Alameda and Commercial streets, c.1880

File:Steam locomotive in front of the Los Angeles and Independence Rail Road Terminal at Fifth Street and San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, 1875 (CHS-14279).jpg|Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Depot, 5th & San Pedro streets, c.1875

File:Southern Pacific Arcade Station on Alameda Street between Fourth Street & Sixth Street, ca.1895-1900 (CHS-4258).jpg|Southern Pacific Railroad's Arcade Depot, Alameda between 5th/6th, c.1895-1900

File:Exterior view of the Southern Pacific Depot, ca.1918 (CHS-5724).jpg|Central Station of the Southern Pacific Railroad c.1918, Central & 5th streets, c.1918

File:The Santa Fe Station by night, Los Angeles, Cal..jpg|La Grande Station of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Santa Fe and 2nd streets, c.1915

• Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad Depot, SW corner Alameda and Commercial streets
• Los Angeles and Independence Railroad Depot, San Pedro and 5th street (southeast of the business district)
• Arcade Depot of the Southern Pacific Railroad along Alameda Street between 5th to 6th streets. Opened 1888, closed 1914.
• La Grande Station of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Santa Fe at 2nd (East of the business district), opened 1893, closed 1939
• Central Station of the Southern Pacific Railroad, Central and 5th streets (southeast of the business district), opened 1914. Union Pacific Railroad started operating from the station in 1924. Disused 1939.
• Union Station was opened in 1939, replacing the existing Central and La Grande stations.

{{Street grid of landmarks in Victorian Downtown Los Angeles}}

• Sonoratown, Los Angeles
• Old Chinatown, Los Angeles

{{reflist}}

• [https://calisphere.org/search/?q=los%20angeles&facet_decade=1880s&facet_decade=1890s Photos of Los Angeles during the 1880s and 1890s at Calisphere (University of California photo search across multiple libraries)]
• [http://losangelestheatres.blogspot.com Los Angeles Theatres (blog with detailed information about cinemas in Los Angeles including streetscapes, neighboring buildings, etc.)]
• [https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_City_Views%20(1900%20-%201925)_Page_1.html "Early Los Angeles city views", Water and Power Associates]
• [https://home.csulb.edu/~odinthor/socal1.html "A Visit to Old Los Angeles", with support from CSULB]
• [http://dtla1900.wordpress.com Victorian Downtown Los Angeles (blog)]

{{History of Retail in Southern California}}

{{Downtown Los Angeles}}

{{Coord|34.053|-118.244|display=title}}

Category:1880s in Los Angeles

Category:1890s in Los Angeles

Category:Civic Center, Los Angeles

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Category:Districts of Downtown Los Angeles

Category:Downtown Los Angeles

Category:History of Los Angeles