LA　 LOS　ANGELES

Downtown
For year Los Angels was accused of being a city with no downtown,
and that may have been true a few decades ago.
The original and thriving downtown business district of 1920, 30s and 40s
was virtually ignored as residents and companies moved out toward the cleaner ,
more spacious suburbs,
Aside from weekday office worker, downtown was virtually deserted .
However down town Los Angels is enjoying a slow, but steady rebirth.
"Old down town" was typical urban center .
bustling with quality department stores , elegant office "towers" of eight,
10 or 12 stores , in height , large move houses, many hotels and electric
trolley system to move people around ,Most of these(except the trolley)
still exist in the old center of Los Angels, and the buildings although
mostly empty empty or converted to storefront. retail outlet,
have remained relatively untouched by the new development the occurred
just few blocks to the west .
A walk around the old section of downtown is a living history lesson about
America. Spectacular examples of classic Art Deco design can be admired
simply by wandering in and out of the lobbies of the older office buildings
many now regularly used as movie locations.
Old downtown was dominated by imposing 28-storucture of Los Angels
City Hall at the north end of spring Street. built in 1928,
it was the only building exceed the 13 story height limit until 1957.
The outside of City Hall is familiar to many who have never even been
in Los Angels- it frequently appeared in old movies and it was "regular"
on TV series "Superman"and "Dragnet."