This work documents Broadway Street as it is now, struggling to find a new identity. It’s hard to make a living with the depressed economy. Unused office space is being transformed into pricey lofts in a bad real estate market.
My passion for the Broadway Street retail corridor in Downtown Los Angeles started as a very young child in the early 1960s. I played in my Grandparents’ clothing store and office building located on the corner of 4th Street and Broadway Street. The building was known as The Grant Building. Completed in 1902, it was one of the oldest buildings on Broadway until a fire destroyed it in the 1970s.
I caught a glimpse of what Broadway used to be with its large department stores, majestic theaters and Red Cars running down the middle of the street. My fascination with the street never waned through the years. I watched it transition from major department stores to small merchants selling everything from perfume to produce.
