Even though I grew up in Los Angeles, I’ve never really explored downtown Los Angeles.  Growing up it always seemed so congested, difficult to find parking, and frankly not much of a “scene” like in other large metropolitan cities like New York or Chicago.

I’ve been venturing downtown more lately as it does contain a treasure of art deco architecture and some fascinating history.  In addition, they’ve “cleaned up” parts of downtown and have restored many of the historical buildings.

There is an actual walking tour of downtown Los Angeles with maps and directions and plaques at points of interest.   This week I checked out three specific historical spots in the heart of downtown LA…Pershing Square, the Biltmore Hotel, and the Central Library.

For years the square was a dusty vacant parcel known as block number 15 in Ord's Survey of Los Angeles. However, in 1866, an ordinance was signed by Mayor Aguillar declaring the block "...a public square for the use and benefit of the citizens of the common." The square was designed as a formal Spanish plaza and became known as La Plaza Abaja.

By 1887 the area around the square was becoming residential, and the new residents referred to the square as Los Angeles Park. Cypress and citrus trees were planted and a white picket fence was constructed to discourage stray livestock from entering the park.

In the early 1890's, the park was renamed Central Park. It was redesigned by Fred Eaton, then a City Engineer and later Mayor. A serpentine promenade, wooden benches, new plantings, sidewalks, and a bandstand were provided.

In 1911 the park was again redesigned, this time by the noted architect John Parkinson. The design was formal and symmetrical, with European antecedents. There were classic walkways within the square, a beautiful central fountain, lush plantings, and ornamental corner balustrades. The perimeter walkways around the park, which has been an important component of the Central Park in the early 1900's were maintained by Parkinson.

In 1918, "in a fit of Armistice Day fever," Central Park's name was changed to Pershing Square, and a statue of a dough boy was added to the corner of the park.

Most of the buildings on or near the square were built in the 1920's and early 1930'sÉ.During this period the Square was widely known for its colorful orators, military posts, and newsstands. Even the public library set up shop here.

Tropical plantings were added to the park in 1928 by Frank Shearer, the Park Superintendent.
As early as 1928, there were suggestions to put a parking facility under Pershing Square. The intended purpose was to alleviate congestion downtown, and later, to revive the ailing Broadway Theater District.
In 1950-51, after two decades of pressure, the City permitted construction of an 1800-car garage under Pershing Square. The park became a roof of grass. Automobile ramps on each side cut off the park from the surrounding city, making the square into an island, difficult to approach.

Standing in the park now you can see all of the old 1920’s and 1930’s art deco buildings dwarfed by the more modern skyscrapers.

Directly across the street stand the Biltmore Hotel.  The Biltmore hotel has hosted 7 Presidents which even included John F. Kennedy’s accepting the Presidential Nominee in 1960!  The Biltmore was opened in 1923 and was the largest hotel west of Chicago!

The Biltmore is known for once being a home to the Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences was founded at a luncheon banquet in the Crystal Ballroom in May 1927, when guests like Louis B. Mayer met to discuss plans for the new organization and presenting achievement awards to colleagues in their industry. Legend has it that MGM art director Cedric Gibbons, who was in attendance, immediately grabbed a linen Biltmore napkin and sketched the design for the Oscar statue on it. In 1977 Bob Hope hosted the Academy's 50th Anniversary banquet in the same room.

During World War II, the Biltmore served as a military rest and recreation facility, with the entire second floor set up with cots for military personnel on leave.

On March 7, 1952, the well-known yogi and author Paramahansa Yogananda, while giving a speech in honor of the Indian ambassador Binay Ranjan Sen, dropped dead of a heart attack at the Biltmore Hotel. This site within the hotel is now revered by many as the place of the yogi's mahasamadhi, or conscious leave of the body.

In 1960 the Democratic National Convention appointed John F. Kennedy as the party's presidential nominee; he accepted the nomination at the Biltmore and set up his campaign headquarters in the Music Room (now the Lobby), with running mate Lyndon B. Johnson across the hall in the Emerald Room. Their press conferences in the Crystal Ballroom were heavily photographed and documented.

The Beatles paid a visit to the Presidential Suite in August 1964 during their first U.S. tour. Due to the overwhelming number of fans crowding the sidewalks in front of the hotel, the "Fab Four" were forced to access their room by landing atop the hotel in a helicopte

Another tid bit of information I learned at the Hotel was the hotel lobby is the last place the “Black Dahlia” was seen alive before she was murdered.

The "Biltmore Angel" is heavily incorporated into the design—as a symbol of the city as well as the hotel itself. With a thick steel and concrete frame, the structure takes up half a city block and rises over 11 stories.

Inside, the hotel is decorated with vivid frescoes, murals, carved marble fountains and columns, wood-beam ceilings, imported travertine stone walls, crystal chandeliers, bronze stairwells and doorways, stately columns, fine mill work and heavy drapery. Most notable are the ceilings in the main Galleria and the Crystal Ballroom, which were hand painted in 1922 by Italian artist Giovanni Smeraldi, known for his work in the Vatican and the White House. Smeraldi and his team famously painted the ballroom's colorful, seamless fresco over a period of 7 months, decorating it with figures of Greek and Roman gods, angels, cupids and other mythological creatures. It was meticulously restored in the 1980s by Smeraldi's apprentice, Anthony Heinsbergen The imported Austrian crystal chandeliers that adorn it are 12 feet in diameter.

The Rendezvous Court, once the hotel's lobby but now used primarily for afternoon tea, is decorated with a Moorish plaster ceiling painted with 24-carat gold accents, two imported Italian chandeliers dating back to 1923, and a grand Spanish-Baroque bronze doorway, whose astrological clock still keeps time today. Two figures appear on the stairwell front—on the left is the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres, while on the right is the Spanish conquistador Balboa. The current lobby at the hotel's Grand Ave. entrance still has its original travertine walls and oak paneling as well as the large artificial skylight ceiling, reflected in the custom carpet below.

Each ballroom on the Galleria level is themed either after the rooms’ original function or the hotel's overall California-heritage premise. The Emerald Room was once the hotel's main guest dining room; its decor features images of hunt and harvest, with hand-painted animals and fish on the cast-plaster ceiling beams. The Tiffany Room was formerly an open corridor used as a drop-off point for Crystal Ballroom functions. Now enclosed, the elegant space centers around exploration, with relief sculptures and panels depicting Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus, and other Spanish explorers. The split-level Gold Room, once a dining room for elite guests, features Prohibition-era hidden liquor compartments and panels along the ceiling for press photographers to take pictures of the event below. It is decorated with a gold cast-plaster ceiling, hand-oiled wood paneling, and nine mirrored windows along three sides.

The South Galleria is painted with floral friezes inspired by the decor of Pompeii, Italy, and features a vaulted ceiling, marble balustrades and heavy Roman piers. Gold-painted wrought iron gates (made famous in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo) open to a staircase leading down to the Biltmore Bowl.
Also of interest is the hotel's health club and indoor pool, which was modeled after the decks of 1920s cruiseliners such as the Queen Mary. Solid brass trim on windows, doors and railings, teakwood deck chairs and hand-laid Italian mosaic tile on the walls and in the pool are original. All designs are of a nautical theme

My final stop across the street from the Biltmore Hotel was the Central Libray! 
The Richard Riordan Central Library, originally constructed in 1926, is a downtown Los Angeles landmark. It is the third largest public library in the United States in terms of book and periodical holdings. Originally simply the Central Library, the building was renamed in honor of the longtime president of the Board of Library Commissioners and President of the University of Southern California, Rufus B. von KleinSmid. The building was subsequently renamed in 2001 after Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan.

Architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue designed the original Los Angeles Central Library to mimic the architecture of ancient Egypt. The central tower is topped with a tiled mosaic pyramid with suns on either side with a hand holding a torch representing the "Light of Learning" at the apex. Other elements include sphinxes, snakes and celestial mosaics. It has similarities to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska also designed by Goodhue and which also featured sculpture by the architectural sculptor Lee Lawrie

It was extensively renovated and expanded in a "Modernist/Beaux Arts style" (according to the principal architect of the renovation Norman Pfeiffer) from 1988 through 1993, including an enormous, eight-story atrium dedicated to former mayor Tom Bradley. The interior of the library is decorated with various figures, statues, chandeliers, and grilles, notably a four-part mural by illustrator Dean Cornwell depicting stages of the history of California.

The building's limited access had caused a number of problems. Generally, the accessible public stacks in the reading rooms only displayed about 10-20% of the actual collections of the Central Library.
The catalyst for the renovation was the devastating arson fire of April 29, 1986. Although the building was safely evacuated, its vintage construction precluded the ventilation of heat and smoke, and limited firefighter access. Some 400,000 volumes—20 percent of the library's holdings—were destroyed, with significant water and smoke damage done to the surviving works. A second fire on September 3 of the same year destroyed the contents of the Music Department Reading Room.

The Library's renovation was completed in 1993. The Central Library reopened on October 3, 1993.  Clearly a case of a good coming out of a tragedy.

Aside from containing such a large collection of books and media, the library also houses some incredible art work and provides walking tours of the grounds.  You can also print out the self guided tour and map of the library.