Los Angeles City Hall

Los Angeles City Hall, completed in 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council.^[5] It is located in the Civic Center district of downtown Los Angeles in the city block bounded by Main, Temple, First, and Spring streets, which was the heart of the city's central business district during the 1880s and 1890s.

Los Angeles City Hall

Completed

Government offices

Art Deco

200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California

34°03′13″N 118°14′35″W / 34.0536°N 118.2430°W / 34.0536; -118.2430

1926 (1926)

1928 (1928)

City of Los Angeles

138 m (453 ft)

79,510 m² (855,800 sq ft)

Austin, Parkinson and Martin

Nabih Youssef Associates

Bovis Lend Lease

March 24, 1976

150

The Observation Deck or Tom Bradley Tower located on the 27th floor is open to the public. Access to City Hall is located off of Main St. The rotunda is located on the 3rd floor accessible by all elevators. To access the Tom Bradley Tower requires the “Express Car Only” for floors 1, 3, and 10 through 22 elevators. Once on the 22nd floor transition to the Gold 22 thru 26 elevator bank. Finally once on the 26th floor, access to the 27th can be reached by stairs or one more elevator. Public restrooms are located on the 3rd and 26th floor.

1850s: used rented hotel and other buildings for city meetings

[15]

1860s: rented adobe house on Spring Street—across from current City Hall (now parking lot for )^[15]

Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center

1860s–1884: relocated to ^[15]

Los Angeles County Court House

1884–1888: moved to at South Spring Street and West 2nd Street (site of former Los Angeles Times Building)^[15]

Mirror Building

1888–1928: moved to new building on 226-238 South Broadway between 2nd Street and 3rd Street;^[16] demolished in 1928 and now site of parking lot between LA Times parking structure and 240 Broadway.^[17] Beams from the building ended up repurposed in the construction of writer Frank Scully's 1936 Mediterranean Revival home at 2071 Grace Ave,^[18] in the Whitley Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Romanesque Revival

Prior to the completion of the current structure, the L.A. City Council utilized various other buildings:

(1928): The newly constructed building appears in the background of some exterior shots in this silent crime drama starring Lon Chaney, even though the film is set in New York.

While the City Sleeps

: The building appears as the Daily Planet building beginning in the second season of the 1950s TV series. At the time the TV program was broadcast, the show's Daily Planet building (Los Angeles City Hall) was frequently confused with the similarly designed Pennsylvania Power & Light Building in Allentown, also built in 1928. Additionally, the exact design of this building is used as the Newstime magazine headquarters in the Superman comic books.

Adventures of Superman

: A CIA black ops unit is located behind a maintenance door at Civic Station.

Alias

: The building appears as itself in the TV series. The first episode of Dragnet (1951) Season 1, Episode 1: "The Human Bomb", original air date 16 December 1951, was filmed at Los Angeles City Hall. It was embossed on Sgt. Joe Friday's famous badge number 714 that was displayed under the credits.

Dragnet

: The City Hall building appears in the view from Perry's office window. This has led viewers of the show to speculate where the fictional office would have been located in downtown Los Angeles.^[19]

Perry Mason

: The police in the 1997 neo-noir film operate out of the City Hall, as well as the police badges featuring a depiction the building itself.^[20] At the time the film takes place no building in Los Angeles was allowed to be taller than City Hall, so the cameras were placed at certain points so that any building taller than City Hall would not be seen.^[21]

L.A. Confidential

: In this 1997 made-for-TV movie, the main character's love interest works at a fictional newspaper, The Los Angeles Banner. The newspaper's logo is based on the top of City Hall.

Tower of Terror

: During the seventh season opening credits montage, City Hall is shown directly at the end, as the building that officers Reed and Malloy drive away from. It is also shown on the embossed badges numbered 744 (Malloy) and 2430 (Reed).

Adam-12

The 2003 series used the L.A. City Hall building aerial shot and badge throughout its introduction.

Dragnet

: The City Hall was destroyed (albeit by miniature) in the 1953 film version (although the H. G. Wells book has the aliens attacking London, the setting was changed to Los Angeles for the film).

War of the Worlds

: City Hall was destroyed when the Visitors attack Earth. The same footage of the tower being destroyed from War of the Worlds was used but with different energy weapons superimposed.

V

The 1976 film included a scene both shot and set in the city council chamber that included a close-up of the electronic voting board with the names of the incumbent council members.

The Bad News Bears

The 1991 music video for 's "Diamonds and Pearls" features City Hall as the primary location.

Prince

's music video for their 2006 song "Miss Murder" was filmed at City Hall.

AFI

The 2011 film .

Atlas Shrugged: Part I

The 2011 series used the main entrance of City Hall to represent the CIA archive Esther Drummond visits in "The New World", and the exterior to the medical conference where Vera Juarez meets Jilly Kitzinger in "Rendition"/"Dead of Night".

Torchwood: Miracle Day

The 2013 film uses City Hall as the headquarters of the fictional Carcharias Corporation.

The Employer

The 2013 film features the Los Angeles City Hall, with the members of the Gangster Squad stood in the foreground of the building, as well as it being used in the background of some scenes. Mayor Villaraigosa's conference room was also used for the office of Police Chief Parker.

Gangster Squad

: City Hall appeared during the season finale with teams having to bring a film permit to the building.^[22]

The Amazing Race 25

The building has been featured in the following popular movies and television shows:

Detailed top of City Hall.

The silhouette of City Hall at sunrise.

Stairs of the city hall

Seen at night from the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

During the day from the Walt Disney Concert Hall.

City Hall with a street sign indicating Los Angeles' twin towns and sister cities.

As seen from Grand Park.

City Hall at night from Grand Park.

City Hall East[edit]

James K. Hahn City Hall East, 200 N. Main St., is located in the South Plaza of the Los Angeles Mall, a sunken, multi-level series of open spaces and retail space on the east side of Main Street straddling Temple Street. It is an 18-story, Brutalist, 1972 building by Stanton & Stockwell,^[24] featuring a mural by Millard Sheets, The Family of Man.^[25]^[26]

Regional Connector

Base isolation

Earthquake engineering

Grand Park

International Savings & Exchange Bank Building

Los Angeles Times Building

Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center

Archived 2012-04-24 at the Wayback Machine—with maps and photos

Los Angeles City Hall