The first was this Romanesque building which was a popular during the late 1800's...
The Bradbury Building is one of the most photographed buildings in LA and has been featured in many films...
The brick, sandstone and terracotta Romanesque exterior doesn't even hint at how gorgeous the building looks from the INSIDE. Movie buffs will recognize the stairwells from "Blade Runner" and more recently, "The Artist" as well as the lobby where Tom meets Autumn at the end of "500 Days of Summer".
The Bradbury is open to the public, but only in the lobby and ONLY up to the first stair landing since office tenants still work and reside in the building.
The Bradbury Building is considered an architectural landmark and a real life "steampunk palace" (I'd have to agree with that one!). It was built in 1893 and commissioned by gold mining millionaire Lewis L. Bradbury (the building's namesake) and constructed by George Wyman from architect's Sumner Hunt's design. It is the city's oldest landmarked building.
As you walk in the narrow entrance of the lobby...
It opens up into a fantastic light-filled center court with beautiful filigree wrought iron detailing. It was like going back in time.What made our visit even better were the Christmas decorations that were still present on the stair railings.
The view from the first stair railing. There was one other visitor besides us three, also taking photographs. There were two security guards there but they mostly left us alone.
Looking up, we admired the atrium ceiling which let in loads of natural light. The effect is spectacular in here.
]The elevators were once run by steam!
"Blade Runner" is one of Bert's favorite movies and the visit was even cooler for him since he remembers many of the scenes in the movie...
A statue of Charlie Chaplin on a bench:
One of the original mail chutes:
As we stepped back out onto the street, it seemed a bit surreal to see modern day Los Angeles once more.
Across the street was this...I have no idea why pigs heads were on top of this metal thing...
The second historic landmark was across the street, an old movie theater with a very ornate exterior known as the Million Dollar Theater. It was the first movie house built by Sid Grauman (as in Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood). The Spanish Colonial Revival exterior should be familiar to most San Diegans who frequent Balboa Park. The archway uses Churrigueresque ornamentation like many of the museums and buildings in Balboa Park such as the Museum of Art and the Casa del Prado.
Although we did not go inside the Million Dollar Theater, we admired it from below at street level. So far, everything was within walking distance. We would be making a few more forays in DTLA before heading out to Litle Tokyo.
This is a really cool video by A.V. Club Pop Pilgrims featuring the Bradbury and its role in movies and pop culture:
Another neat video (or videos) featuring the Million Dollar Theatre (part 1 of 3; I only included part 1 but once the video ends, part 2 begins which I'm sure segues to part 3):
I actually just watched all three and found them quite fascinating. It's too bad the theater hasn't been restored to its full glory both outside and inside.
Posts/Writeups/Articles:
LAPlaces May 2009
WhippleRussel
GreatBuildings
Bradbury Building
304 S. Broadway
(213) 626-1893
www.thebradbury.com + reviews from tripadvisor and you know where
More info here:
www.laconservancy.org
Million Dollar Theater
307 S. Broadway
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 617-3600
There is no website but here are the reviews from you know where
While still in DTLA, we had plans to revisit an amazing bookstore not too far away...
2 comments:
Ooo, the Bradbury Building! I once did National Novel Writing Month and I set my story in LA with a key location being in the Bradbury Building and have been wanting to go since. But then I never finished/edited the novel and forgot about it. I still want to go and check out the building though, I love how it looks (especially with the Christmas decorations).
How cool! You have got to make a special road trip up to DTLA to do Grand Centeal Market, see the historic buildings, maybe take in Chinatown, the Velveteria, and so on.
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