Los Angeles City Hall at night, circa 1951
Today the Walt Disney Concert Hall stands on this barren parcel of land, photographed in 1960. (USC Digital Library/Los Angeles Examiner Collection)
A trolley at Flower & Pico – the present day site of the Metro Los Angeles Pico Station – in 1897. (USC Digital Library/California Historical Society Collection)
Vintage L.A. rain—a towel truck can't soak up the puddles at 8th and Hill in downtown Los Angeles, 1952. (USC Libraries/Los Angeles Examiner Collection)
Locomotive vs. truck, 1957. This Southern Pacific switch engine hit a truck at Santa Fe Avenue and Violet Street in what's today the downtown Los Angeles Arts District. The truck driver was unhurt.
Part of the Los Angeles Examiner Collection in the USC Digital Library.
First Street in downtown Los Angeles, looking east from Hill Street circa 1884. (California Historical Society Collection/USC Digital Library)
Three muscular draft horses haul a Los Angeles fire engine up a First Street hill, circa 1900. Fire companies often hitched their horses into this unusual troika configuration due to the great weight of their engines. (California Historical Society Collection/USC Digital Library)
Looking south on downtown Los Angeles from Poundcake Hill, circa 1869. Broadway appears here as a dirt road, then known as Fort Street. Bunker Hill is the bald ridge on the right.
Part of the California Historical Society Collection in the USC Digital Library.
1904 groundbreaking for the Hotel Alexandria, which still stands today at 5th and Spring in downtown Los Angeles.
Skyscrapers rise in downtown Los Angeles, 1970.
Part of our Dick Whittington Photography Collection in the USC Digital Library.
1939 view from Los Angeles City Hall of Little Tokyo and, behind it, the present-day Arts District. Part of the Dick Whittington Photography Collection in the USC Digital Library.
Downtown L.A. from a balloon, circa 1910.
Part of the California Historical Society Collection in the USC Digital Library.
An 1899 view of Los Angeles, looking west down Aliso Street (the present-day 101 freeway) from the Maier Brewery.
More vintage L.A. rain. Here's a towel truck navigating the rainy downtown streets at 8th & Hill in 1952.
Part of the Los Angeles Examiner Collection in the USC Digital Library.
A model of "Old Los Angeles" at the Broadway department store in 1931. (Part of the Dick Whittington Photography Collection in the USC Digital Library.)
From our our Los Angeles Examiner Collection, a 1948 aerial view of downtown Los Angeles.
A rooftop view of downtown Los Angeles, circa 1913. That's Pershing Square in the middle.
Part of the California Historical Society Collection in the USC Digital Library.