Yesterday I went to the observation deck of LA City Hall. Of course I took some pictures. I thought I'd do a then and now.
Looking southwest from the top of LA City Hall, November 12, 1930:
USC Archive
Same view, May 26, 2010:
Photo by me
I think downtown LA looks more interesting in the older photo. It also looks more dense with buildings, even minus today's skyscrapers. It's interesting to me to see what existed on the block that the current LA Times Building now occupies. In the lower right corner of the older photo, you can see the tower of the previous LA Times Building. Back then there weren't as many vacant lots and parking lots like today. There were also some great examples of Victorian architecture still existing in 1930.
I also thought that the foundation of the demolished old State Office Building was interesting; I didn't realize that many of the floor tiles still existed:
Photo by me
State Office Building, 1939
USC Archive
State Office Building under construction, May 1931
USC Archive
I also didn't realize that this building also had underground parking. In this photo I took, you can see the foundation in the lower left corner; there's a driveway leading underneath:
On second thought, could that just be a walkway? Hmm...