Broadway (Los Angeles)
Broadway, until 1890 Fort Street, is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles, was the city's main commercial street from the 1910s until World War II, and is the location of the Broadway Theater and Commercial District, the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).[2] With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States.
Location
300—849 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, California
Multiple
Early Commercial, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals, Art Deco
May 9, 1979
17.75 mi (28.57 km)
SR 91 in Carson
I-105 in South Los Angeles
I-10 in Downtown
US 101 in Downtown
I-5 in Lincoln Heights
1890
Route[edit]
South Broadway's southern terminus is Main Street just north of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Carson. From there it runs 10 miles (16 km) north through Athens and South Los Angeles to Downtown Los Angeles – at Olympic Blvd. entering downtown's Historic Core, in which the buildings lining Broadway form the Broadway Theater and Commercial District. Crossing 3rd Street, Broadway passes through the Civic Center including Grand Park. After crossing the US-101 (Santa Ana Freeway), signs read "North Broadway" as it enters Chinatown. It then curves northeast, passing through old railyards, crosses the Golden State Fwy. (I-5) and heads due east to its terminus at Mission Road in Lincoln Heights.
History[edit]
Founding and extension[edit]
Broadway, one of the oldest streets in the city, was laid out as part of the 1849 plan of Los Angeles made by Lieutenant Edward Ord and named Fort Street. Fort Street began at the south side of Fort Moore Hill (a block north of Temple Street) at Sand Street (later California Street).
In 1890, the name of Fort Street, from 1st Street to 10th Street, was changed to Broadway. The rest of Fort Street, from California Street to 1st Street, was changed to North Broadway.[3][4]
Proposal for opening Broadway through to Buena Vista Street (now North Broadway), and extending the street south into what was then part of Main Street, below Tenth Street, in order to give a continuous, wide thoroughfare from the southern city limits to the Eastside, was made as early as February 1891.[5]
The Broadway Tunnel under Fort Moore Hill was opened in 1901, extending North Broadway to Buena Vista Street at Bellevue Avenue (later Sunset Boulevard, now Cesar Chavez Avenue). A section of Broadway in South Los Angeles was originally named Moneta Avenue until 1923.[6]
In 1909, construction on a bridge across the Los Angeles River was begun to connect Buena Vista Street to Downey Avenue, which ran from the river to Mission Road. The names of Buena Vista and Downey were then changed to North Broadway,[7][8][9] but not without significant objections from affected residents and landowners.[10][11][12][13] The bridge, which continued to be referred to as the Buena Vista Street Bridge for a good while, was opened to traffic in late September 1911.[14]
Broadway since 2008[edit]
In 2008, the City of Los Angeles launched a $40-million campaign to revitalize the Broadway district, known as the "Bringing Back Broadway" campaign. Some Latino merchants in the district expressed concern that the campaign was an effort to spread the largely Anglo gentrification taking hold in other parts of downtown to an area that has become the city's leading Latino shopping district.[31] A worker at one of the district's bridal shops noted, "On one side, I like the idea. The only thing is that I don't think they want our types of businesses."[31]
The Downtown's real estate revitalization, using the City's adaptive reuse ordinance that makes it easier for developers to convert outmoded and/or vacant office and commercial buildings into residential buildings, has reached the Broadway Historic District. It includes the transformation of the United Artists Theater office tower into the Ace Hotel Los Angeles, and restoration of its movie palace.
The Bringing Back Broadway commission is working on further reviving the landmark Los Angeles boulevard in the historic district. Led by City Councilman Jose Huizar, the commission has recommended widening sidewalks, eliminating traffic lanes, constructing new parking structures, and bringing back streetcar service reminiscent of the street's past.[32] A pedestrian-friendly project finished up in December 2014 that widened the sidewalks and replaced the parking lane with planters, chairs and round cafe tables with bright-red umbrellas. The Great Streets Initiative seeks to bolster the street-level health of the city by making several dozen boulevards more hospitable to pedestrians, cyclists and small businesses. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the effort represents "a shift from the way that our neighborhoods have been planned in Los Angeles," with a new focus on "walkability and transit."[33]
Broadway retail is transitioning from a broad mix of stores catering to Hispanic immigrants and a burgeoning sneaker and streetwear retail cluster has emerged from 4th to 9th streets: Sneaker Row.[34]
Retail in and around the Eastern Columbia, located at the intersection of 9th Street & Broadway, has proliferated in recent years with the opening of Acne Studios, Oak NYC, Aesop, Tanner Goods, BNKR, Austere, A.P.C., and Urban Outfitters located in the Rialto Theater (Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 472).[35][36]
Broadway Tunnel at Fort Moore Hill, built 1901, southern entrance at (lower right), with Los Angeles High School which stood on Fort Moore Hill 1891–1917 (upper left)
Street grid[edit]
South of Third Street[edit]
Landmarks are shown on the following street grid of the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles.
Public transportation[edit]
The Los Angeles Metro Rail's Historic Broadway station is an underground light rail station near the intersection of 2nd and Broadway,[191][192] which is served by the E Line east to East Los Angeles and west to Santa Monica, and on the A Line northeast to Union Station, Pasadena, and Azusa and south to Long Beach.[193]
Metro J Line bus rapid transit (BRT) has 5 stations adjacent to Broadway in South Los Angeles: 37th Street/USC, Slauson, Manchester/I-110, Harbor Freeway, and Rosecrans. These stations are along the Harbor Transitway, a dedicated busway between Downtown L.A. (Adams Blvd.) and the Harbor Gateway, near Carson, in the median of the Harbor Freeway (I-110), just west of Broadway. J Line BRT runs as far south as San Pedro and as far northeast as El Monte.
Metro Local bus line 45 serves most of the length of Broadway, between Lincoln Heights through Downtown to the Harbor Freeway Station. Local routes 4, 30, and 40 serve portions of Broadway downtown.