Downtown's New Main Street

Crowding into the west side of the downtown freeway loop along the Harbor freeway (shown in 1953 and 1979), the new monuments to the corporate economy dominate the downtown cityscape, both as a major center of activity and as a visual focus.

The sites just east of the Harbor freeway were recommended not only by their easy access to the freeway system, but also by the availability of relatively inexpensive downtown property. Such high-rise construction required zoning changes to permit buildings more than 150 feet tall, robbing City Hall of its distinction as the tallest building in Los Angeles. (Left photo courtesy of CALTRANS; right photo by Mason Dooley.)