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Changing Face of Southern California

Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown

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Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown

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Identifier	post_00058
Title	Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown
Creator	unknown
Date Published	circa 1965
Subject (Topic)	Chinese Restaurants--California--Los Angeles; Decoration and ornament, Architectural--California--Los Angeles; Express highways--California--Los Angeles;
Subject (Place)	Chinatown (Los Angeles, Calif.);
Type	image
Form/Genre	Postcards
Physical Description	1 postcard : Color ; 9 x 14 cm.
Institution	Department of Archives and Special Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University
Country of Creation	US
Copyright Status	public domain
Copyright Statement	https://library.lmu.edu/policies&procedures/librarycopyrightpolicy/
Publisher	Western Publishing & Novelty Co.
Place of Publication	Los Angeles, Calif.
Language	eng
Description	Freeway and roads into downtown; illuminated pagodas; glowing streetlights; City Hall tower; Hall of Justice; Federal Building.
Historical Background	The Historic Arroyo Seco Parkway, the West's first freeway, was built in 1940. Renamed the Pasadena Freeway in 1954, it connects Pasadena with downtown and runs alongside the twenty mile Arroyo Seco, a stream and watershed. The third and current City Hall, with its obelisk tower, is bounded by Temple, Main, First, and Spring and was completed in 1928. At the time, the city had a height restriction of 12 stories, making the new 454 foot high, 32-story building the tallest in the city. At the peak is an airplane beacon named in honor of Lindbergh. The building material included sand from every county in California and water from all 21 California Missions. The Civic Center is bounded by Figueroa, San Pedro, 1st." and the Hollywood Freeway. One of the largest government complexes in the world, it includes the Federal Building, the Federal Post office, City Hall, County Hall of Justice, County Hall of Records, the Department of Water and Power, the Music Center Complex, and County Courts. Although plans for the Civic Center were underway as early as 1905, it was not completed until the 1950s. The original Los Angeles Chinatown "" began in the late 1800s as a small settlement on Calle De Los Negros, between El Pueblo Plaza and Old Arcadia Street, and expanded east across Alameda Street. Suffering from absentee landlords and a lack of municipal services and code enforcement, the area was in decline when the city forced residents out and demolished it to make way for the new Union Station Terminal. Two new Chinatowns were created: China City, a tourist attraction, complete with rickshaw rides, brainchild of Christine Sterling, founder of Olvera Street; and New Chinatown, a business and residential neighborhood created and funded by the Chinese community under the leadership of Peter Soo Hoo. Both opened to great fanfare in 1938.
Additional Printed Matter	On back:"as seen at night from the Arroyo-Seco Freeway, entering the downtown buisness area."
Publisher's Identifier	Publisher's serial number: 5C-K573; Series number: L-50
Contributors	Graham, William
Source	Werner von Boltenstern Postcard Collection