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50-462: The north three tunnels opened in 1931 as a bypass to a section of North Broadway ; the southernmost (and longest) opened in 1935, connecting to Figueroa Street downtown. In 1943, the Figueroa Street Viaduct was built to the north of the tunnels. This dedicated the tunnels to 4 lanes of eastward traffic, and the viaduct to 4 lanes of westward traffic. Several connections have been added to

100-644: A freeway from the Viaduct to Pasadena . However, the six-lane parkway narrowed to four lanes at the viaduct and through the tunnels, and had a number of at-grade intersections on its way downtown. The Southerly Extension of the Arroyo Seco Parkway supplemented the Figueroa Street Viaduct and Tunnels with a new southbound roadway to the west, and converted Figueroa Street to freeway standards south to Adobe Street. The new Los Angeles River Bridge left

150-543: A landscape, usually by bridging a river valley or other eroded opening in an otherwise flat area. Often such valleys had roads descending either side (with a small bridge over the river, where necessary) that become inadequate for the traffic load, necessitating a viaduct for "through" traffic. Such bridges also lend themselves for use by rail traffic, which requires straighter and flatter routes. Some viaducts have more than one deck, such that one deck has vehicular traffic and another deck carries rail traffic. One example of this

200-455: A long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide valley, road, river, or other low-lying terrain features and obstacles. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via meaning "road", and ducere meaning "to lead". It is a 19th-century derivation from an analogy with ancient Roman aqueducts . Like

250-519: A north-south orientation, parallel with Broadway, instead of running more northeasterly and meeting Main Street at Temple Street. As a result the Poundcake Hill buildings faced the newly aligned Spring Street until they were demolished. Adjacent to the south, mid-block, is a portion of Grand Park . The southwest corner, during Victorian times the site of unremarkable retail and office buildings,

300-595: A repurposed rail viaduct provides a garden promenade on top and workspace for artisans below. The garden promenade is called the Coulée verte René-Dumont while the workspaces in the arches below are the Viaduc des Arts . The project was inaugurated in 1993. Manhattan's High Line , inaugurated in 2009, also uses an elevated train line as a linear urban park . In Indonesia viaducts are used for railways in Java and also for highways such as

350-594: A stylized Seal of Los Angeles . Traffic through the tunnels is heavy at almost all times of day. At the north end of the tunnels is an interchange with Interstate 5 ( Golden State Freeway ), in which the leftmost lane makes a hard turn onto the offramp. There are also sharp exit and entrance ramps, on the right lane, at Solano Avenue after the first tunnel. Since the tunnels' incorporation into Arroyo Seco Parkway (now SR 110), Figueroa Street has been discontinuous. It merges into SR 110 at Alpine Street in Chinatown , south of

400-500: Is built across land rather than water, the space below the arches may be used for businesses such as car parking, vehicle repairs, light industry, bars and nightclubs. In the United Kingdom, many railway lines in urban areas have been constructed on viaducts, and so the infrastructure owner Network Rail has an extensive property portfolio in arches under viaducts. In Berlin the space under the arches of elevated subway lines ( S-Bahn )

450-581: Is that I don't think they want our types of businesses." The Downtown's real estate revitalization, using the City's adaptive reuse ordinance that makes it easier for developers to convert outmoded and/or vacant office and commercial buildings into residential buildings, has reached the Broadway Historic District. It includes the transformation of the United Artists Theater office tower into

500-883: Is the Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto, Canada, that carries motor traffic on the top deck as Bloor Street , and metro as the Bloor-Danforth subway line on the lower deck, over the steep Don River valley . Others were built to span settled areas, crossing over roads beneath—the reason for many viaducts in London. Viaducts over water make use of islands or successive arches. They are often combined with other types of bridges or tunnels to cross navigable waters as viaduct sections, while less expensive to design and build than tunnels or bridges with larger spans, typically lack sufficient horizontal and vertical clearance for large ships. See

550-902: Is the location of the Broadway Theater and Commercial District , the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). With twelve movie palaces located along a six-block stretch of Broadway, it is the only large concentration of movie palaces left in the United States. South Broadway's southern terminus is Main Street just north of the San Diego Freeway (I-405) in Carson . From there it runs 10 miles (16 km) north through Athens and South Los Angeles to Downtown Los Angeles – at Olympic Blvd. entering downtown's Historic Core , in which

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600-407: Is used for several different purposes, including small eateries or bars. Elevated expressways were built in major cities such as Boston ( Central Artery ), Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seoul , Tokyo and Toronto ( Gardiner Expressway ). Some were demolished because they were unappealing and divided the city. In other cases, viaducts were demolished because they were structurally unsafe, such as

650-470: The Ace Hotel Los Angeles , and restoration of its movie palace. The Bringing Back Broadway commission is working on further reviving the landmark Los Angeles boulevard in the historic district. Led by City Councilman Jose Huizar , the commission has recommended widening sidewalks, eliminating traffic lanes, constructing new parking structures, and bringing back streetcar service reminiscent of

700-485: The Arroyo Seco Parkway , while US 6 and US 99 turned northwest on San Fernando Road via Figueroa Street and Avenue 26, and SR 11 exited at Figueroa Street to run to Pasadena with U.S. Route 66 Alternate . US 99 moved to the new Golden State Freeway , bypassing the tunnels with Interstate 5 , when it opened in 1962. US 6 and US 66 were removed from the Los Angeles area in the 1964 renumbering , leaving only SR 11 through

750-526: The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel . The Millau Viaduct is a cable-stayed road-bridge that spans the valley of the river Tarn near Millau in southern France. It opened in 2004 and is the tallest vehicular bridge in the world, with one pier's summit at 343 metres (1,125 ft). The viaduct Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge in China was the longest bridge in the world as of 2011 . Where a viaduct

800-629: The Embarcadero Freeway in San Francisco, which was damaged by an earthquake in 1989. However, in developing nations such as Thailand ( Bang Na Expressway , the world's longest road bridge ), India ( Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway ), China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nicaragua, elevated expressways have been built and more are under construction to improve traffic flow, particularly as a workaround of land shortage when built atop surface roads. Other uses have been found for some viaducts. In Paris, France,

850-530: The Roman aqueducts , many early viaducts comprised a series of arches of roughly equal length. The longest viaduct in antiquity may have been the Pont Serme which crossed wide marshes in southern France. At its longest point, it measured 2,679 meters with a width of 22 meters. Viaducts are commonly used in many cities that are railroad hubs , such as Chicago, Birmingham, London and Manchester . These viaducts cross

900-547: The Western Shoe Co. (through 1922), later known as the Western Department Store (1922–1928). Lettering covered the face of the building from top to bottom through the end of the 1950s: "THE LARGEST SHOE DEPT. IN THE WEST". The southeast corner of 2nd and Broadway was the site of Viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting

950-558: The site of the Central Business District during the 1880s and 1890s ) Cable cars of the Temple Street Cable Railway ran along Temple Street starting in 1886 and were replaced with Pacific Electric streetcars in 1902. This location was at the time known as Pound Cake Hill. The buildings located here faced New High Street to their east and Broadway to their west. They were as follows: Currently on

1000-668: The 1950s, Broadway was considered the center of the city, where residents went to ornate movie palaces and live theaters, and shopped at major department stores and shops. See the Table of department stores on Broadway and Seventh streets below. The square footage of the four largest department stores alone — Bullock's at 806,000 sq ft (74,900 m ), The Broadway at 577,000 sq ft (53,600 m ), May Co. at over 1,000,000 sq ft (93,000 m ) and J. W. Robinson's (7th St. at Hope) at 623,700 sq ft (57,940 m ) — totaled over three million square feet,

1050-429: The 1970s and 1980s, but Broadway has been the premier shopping destination for working class Latinos for decades. The Broadway Theater District is the first and largest historic theater district listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The district, which spans from 2nd to 10th street, contains twelve movie palaces . In 2008, the City of Los Angeles launched a $ 40-million campaign to revitalize

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1100-466: The Broadway district, known as the " Bringing Back Broadway " campaign. Some Latino merchants in the district expressed concern that the campaign was an effort to spread the largely Anglo gentrification taking hold in other parts of downtown to an area that has become the city's leading Latino shopping district. A worker at one of the district's bridal shops noted, "On one side, I like the idea. The only thing

1150-474: The Buena Vista Street Bridge for a good while, was opened to traffic in late September 1911. For more than 50 years, Broadway from 1st Street to Olympic Boulevard was the main commercial street of Los Angeles, and one of its premier theater and movie palace districts as well. It contains a vast number of historic buildings and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Prior to

1200-543: The Mason Theatre, it showed Spanish-language films. Demolished 1955. 145 S. Broadway, site of the C. H. Frost Building , later known as the Haig M. Prince Building . Built 1898, architect John Parkinson , Now the location of the new United States Courthouse built in 2016, taking up the entire block between Broadway, Hill, First and Second. One of several Hellman Buildings across Downtown L.A. — not to be confused with

1250-516: The Potomac Block, and combined it with the Bicknell block to create its new store that opened in 1905. After Coulter's moved: The building was demolished in 1953 and is still the site of a parking lot. The Bicknell Block (or Bicknell Building) at 225–229 S. Broadway, with back entrances at 224–228 S. Hill Street. was part of Coulter's from 1905 from 1917. After Coulter's moved in 1917, it housed

1300-677: The buildings lining Broadway form the Broadway Theater and Commercial District . Crossing 3rd Street, Broadway passes through the Civic Center including Grand Park . After crossing the US-101 (Santa Ana Freeway) , signs read "North Broadway" as it enters Chinatown . It then curves northeast, passing through old railyards, crosses the Golden State Fwy. (I-5) and heads due east to its terminus at Mission Road in Lincoln Heights . Broadway, one of

1350-472: The effort represents "a shift from the way that our neighborhoods have been planned in Los Angeles," with a new focus on "walkability and transit." Broadway retail is transitioning from a broad mix of stores catering to Hispanic immigrants and a burgeoning sneaker and streetwear retail cluster has emerged from 4th to 9th streets: Sneaker Row. Retail in and around the Eastern Columbia, located at

1400-711: The entire block between Broadway, Hill, First and Second. Just south of the southwest corner was the Mason Theatre , 127 S. Broadway. Opened in 1903 as the Mason Opera House , 1,600 seats. Benjamin Marshall of the Chicago firm Marshall & Wilson designed the building in association with John Parkinson . Marshall is known for designing the Iroquois Theatre in Chicago. Remodeled in 1924 by Meyer & Holler . Later, as

1450-460: The existing road north of the original viaduct terminus at Figueroa Street, and crossed over the ramp to Figueroa Street, the Los Angeles River , and the northbound exit to Riverside Drive (now a ramp to Interstate 5 north, although Riverside Drive is still accessible from this ramp). Through Elysian Park, it was built higher than the tunnels, with open-cuts through the ridges through which

1500-463: The intersection of 9th Street & Broadway, has proliferated in recent years with the opening of Acne Studios , Oak NYC, Aesop , Tanner Goods, BNKR, Austere, A.P.C. , and Urban Outfitters located in the Rialto Theater ( Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 472). All landmarks in geographic order, north to south: This area south to Second Street is now the Civic Center , as well as

1550-498: The large railroad yards that are needed for freight trains there, and also cross the multi-track railroad lines that are needed for heavy rail traffic. These viaducts provide grade separation and keep highway and city street traffic from having to be continually interrupted by the train traffic. Likewise, some viaducts carry railroads over large valleys, or they carry railroads over cities with many cross-streets and avenues. Many viaducts over land connect points of similar height in

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1600-703: The older tunnels were built, and viaducts over the valleys between the ridges. South of the southernmost tunnel, the older road was widened and upgraded to freeway standards south to Adobe Street. This new road opened December 30, 1943. A further extension was completed on September 22, 1953 to the Four Level Interchange with U.S. Route 101 ( Santa Ana Freeway and Hollywood Freeway ). The tunnels (and Figueroa Street north of them) were part of pre-1964 Legislative Route 165 , defined in 1933. By 1942, U.S. Route 6 , U.S. Route 66 , U.S. Route 99 and State Route 11 were signed through them. US 66 continued along

1650-433: The oldest streets in the city, was laid out as part of the 1849 plan of Los Angeles made by Lieutenant Edward Ord and named Fort Street. Fort Street began at the south side of Fort Moore Hill (a block north of Temple Street ) at Sand Street (later California Street). In 1890, the name of Fort Street, from 1st Street to 10th Street , was changed to Broadway. The rest of Fort Street, from California Street to 1st Street,

1700-562: The route south and southwest to Figueroa Street at Alpine Street. (Bridges over Figueroa Street on Temple Street and First Street were built in 1940, further improving that entrance to downtown.) The Figueroa Street Viaduct opened in 1937, providing a wider and direct Los Angeles River crossing than the Dayton Avenue Bridge. After passing over the river and San Fernando Road , it tied into Dayton Avenue (Figueroa Street) south of Avenue 26. The Arroyo Seco Parkway opened in late 1940 as

1750-414: The site are: The Poundcake Hill buildings originally backed up to Broadway to their west, and faced New High Street to their east. New High Street (see Sanborn map above) was a north-south street that ran parallel to Broadway, and to Spring Street to its east. As part of the construction of City Hall in the early 1920s, New High Street was removed south of Temple, and Spring Street was realigned more towards

1800-563: The size of American Dream Meadowlands , America's largest mall today. Among dozens of significant buildings from that era are the Bradbury Building , Ace Hotel Los Angeles , and the Los Angeles Examiner building designed by Julia Morgan . Some of the movie theaters on the street fell into disuse and disrepair, some were replaced with parking lots, but many have been repurposed and/or restored. The department stores closed in

1850-440: The south via Solano Avenue and Riverside Drive on the north. Riverside Drive was an earlier high-speed road along the Los Angeles River to Burbank , and also intersected the Dayton Avenue Bridge, which led to Dayton Avenue (now part of Figueroa Street) towards Pasadena. From opening, the tunnels carried two lanes in each direction, with a 5-foot (1.5 m) sidewalk on the side. The fourth tunnel opened on August 4, 1936, continuing

1900-691: The still-existing Hellman Building at Fourth and Spring — was located here (#138) from 1897 to 1959. The site is now a parking structure, part of the Times Mirror Square complex. The west side of the 200 block of South Broadway had a key place in the retail history of Los Angeles from the 1893 through 1917, as it was home to several prominent early department stores such as the Ville de Paris , Coulter's department store from 1905–1917, and J. W. Robinson's "Boston Dry Goods" store from 1895–1915. All three stores would move to Seventh Street when it became

1950-464: The street's past. A pedestrian-friendly project finished up in December 2014 that widened the sidewalks and replaced the parking lane with planters, chairs and round cafe tables with bright-red umbrellas. The Great Streets Initiative seeks to bolster the street-level health of the city by making several dozen boulevards more hospitable to pedestrians, cyclists and small businesses. Mayor Eric Garcetti said

2000-580: The street, most notably in 1940 to the Arroyo Seco Parkway and in 1953 to the Four Level Interchange . The tunnels were designed by engineer Merrill Butler, who was responsible for many iconic Los Angeles River bridges - notably the Sixth Street Viaduct and the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge . The tunnels featured Art Deco patterns, ornamental street lamps, reflective tiling (similar to the 2nd Street Tunnel ), and above all eight openings,

2050-585: The tunnel is used as the gateway from the Grand Avenue area to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge . Broadway (Los Angeles) Broadway , until 1890 Fort Street , is a thoroughfare in Los Angeles County, California , United States. The portion of Broadway from 3rd to 9th streets, in the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles , was the city's main commercial street from the 1910s until World War II, and

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2100-400: The tunnel while listening to the recording of an attempted murder. Featured in the 1971 film Duel , in the begin credits sequence. Seen in the end credits of the 1995 PlayStation video game Twisted Metal In the 2005 film Rumor Has It… , three of the characters hold their breaths while driving through the tunnels. At Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World , a replica of

2150-536: The tunnels (and on the Parkway after 1964). SR 11 became State Route 110 in 1981, when the Harbor Freeway section of it became Interstate 110 . In April, 2008, retrofitting of the tunnel lighting was completed, replacing the tandem fluorescent lighting arrangement in place since 1964, with a more efficient lighting array. Famously featured in the 1982 Ridley Scott film Blade Runner , Harrison Ford drives through

2200-630: The tunnels, and splits in Highland Park , north of the Figueroa Street Viaduct over the Los Angeles River . Circa 1911, traffic between Los Angeles and Pasadena crossed the Los Angeles River on the congested North Broadway Bridge, the largest concrete bridge in California at the time. The Dayton Avenue Bridge provided another crossing to the north, but the hills of Elysian Park prevented it from being connected to downtown. The north three tunnels opened by November 1, 1931, connecting to North Broadway on

2250-477: The turn of the 20th century, the city's Central Business District was further north, along Spring and Main streets between the Plaza and 2nd Street. In 1895 J.W. Robinson's opened what was then considered a very large and impressive four-story department store at 239 S. Broadway, signaling of the shift over the next decade and a half of the main shopping district to Broadway below 2nd Street. From around 1905 through

2300-547: The upscale shopping street between 1915 and 1917. Further south on the west side of Broadway, was 207–211, location of the: The YMCA Building was demolished to make way for the: The adjacent Potomac Block and Bicknell Block originally housed prominent retailers of the day, then were joined together in 1906 by Coulter's department store to form a complex, opening it as a new, 157,000 sq ft (14,600 m ) store in June, 1905. The Potomac Block , 213–223 S. Broadway,

2350-686: Was changed to North Broadway. Proposal for opening Broadway through to Buena Vista Street (now North Broadway), and extending the street south into what was then part of Main Street , below Tenth Street, in order to give a continuous, wide thoroughfare from the southern city limits to the Eastside , was made as early as February 1891. The Broadway Tunnel under Fort Moore Hill was opened in 1901, extending North Broadway to Buena Vista Street at Bellevue Avenue (later Sunset Boulevard , now Cesar Chavez Avenue ). A section of Broadway in South Los Angeles

2400-549: Was from 1905 to 1917 known as the B. F. Coulter Building . It was originally developed by lumberyard and mill owner J. M. Griffith. It was designed in 1888 by Block, Curlett and Eisen in Romanesque architectural style and opened on July 17, 1890. Tenants included: It was the first time major retail stores opened on South Broadway, in what would be a shift of the upmarket shopping district from 1890 to 1905 from around First and Spring to South Broadway. In 1904, Coulter's bought

2450-589: Was from 1958 the location of the State Office Building, (1958-60, architect Anson C. Boyd, razed 2006). It was named the Junipero Serra State Office Building , and this moniker would be transferred to the former Broadway Department Store building at 4th and Broadway when it was opened to replace this building in 1998. It is now the location of the New U.S. Courthouse built in 2016, taking up

2500-424: Was originally named Moneta Avenue until 1923. In 1909, construction on a bridge across the Los Angeles River was begun to connect Buena Vista Street to Downey Avenue, which ran from the river to Mission Road. The names of Buena Vista and Downey were then changed to North Broadway, but not without significant objections from affected residents and landowners. The bridge, which continued to be referred to as

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