April 26, 1928 was a big day for Angelenos – their new City Hall opened at 200 N. Spring St. Not only did it become the tallest building in Los Angeles, but, by law, it remained its tallest skyscraper for the next few decades. The hundreds of people gathered out front watching the parade pass by probably didn’t know that their new city hall would become an icon of L.A.
Aside from those palm trees, L.A. City Hall has remained largely unchanged since it opened. This image is from February 2021. You can see the photos I took of the impressive interiors on my Facebook page.
I was lucky enough to work in City Hall for three decades and I never tired of exploring it to find new and enjoyable architectural and design details. I recognized many of the images in your photos. One of my favorite is an image above one of the third-floor elevators, in which two or three men in togas stand next to a silent-era movie camera. That, for me, always captured the humor of the city.
As an employee of the Public Works Department, I often attended Board of Public Works meetings. At one such meeting in the early 1990s, the Board was discussing possible approaches to retrofitting and renovating City Hall. One of the Board members, who shall remain nameless, but who was famous for never speaking and appearing to be in a semi-stupor most of the time, suddenly perked up and asked the City Engineer, “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to tear it down and build a new one?” There was a long, embarrassed silence from the public and the other Board members, until the City Engineer said, as politely as he could, that the building was beloved and tearing it down would not be popular. After the Board member harrumphed and returned to his usual silence, planning continued on the City Hall retrofit, which, happily, were carried out very successfully.
Water & Power Associates site, on page 2 of early Los Angeles Aviation, has an amazing view of a Fokker F-10 cutting above the structure which allows a perspective of the entire area surrounding it. All the old stuff is still standing with this ultra-modern building dropped right smack in there. I think you can even see that Bradbury mansion on Bunker Hill. Here’s a page link, just scroll a good way down: https://waterandpower.org/museum/Aviation_in_Early_LA_(Page_2).html
Footnote: The belly of the aircraft is lettered RICHFIELD. This was the era when the gas giant was installing the lighted beacon towers along the west coast as air navigation aids, and a good bit of promo work too. [One of the original stations that stood under a beacon tower still survives along the old Pacific Highway section above Eugene Oregon..top end of Santa Clara….which is now the intersection of River Road and Beacon Drive. It serves a school site of some sort.]