c. 1930s-2011
While detailed records about the lost structures in this view are scarce, it seems that the light-colored buildings with second-floor bay windows were completed before the mid-1880s, while the larger building to the left was built in 1886. For the duration of their existence, all were taken up by a single hotel, successively known as the Hotel Oxford, the Hoffman House, and the El Jalisco Hotel. All of the buildings were demolished in 1950, apparently without much ado, during the construction of the Santa Ana Freeway. Although briefly intended to be the relocated home of the doomed West Temple Apartments, the publicly-owned land has since been used as a parking lot for the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District.
The tragic tale of the West Temple Apartments [Big Orange Landmarks]
Sources:
“Chief Buildings.” Los Angeles Times. 2 Jan. 1887. 1.
“Oil in Civic Center! But state ignores it. 10 Jun. 1951. 3.
Dick Whittington Studio. “Office / retail buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, ca.1920-1940 – whit-m1866.” “Dick” Whittington Photography Collection. USC Digital Library. USC Libraries Special Collections. http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/view/DW-86-76-8-ISLA.
urban diachrony 