If walls could talk, indeed

In today's Downtown News, Michael Imlay looks into the colorful history (and the future) of the Hall of Justice downtown. Beaux-Arts in style, the 1925 hall is where big trials like the Manson family murder cases were held, where notorious bad guys like Bugsy Siegel and Sirhan Sirhan were locked up and where the autopsy of Marilyn Monroe was conducted.

The coroner was in the basement and the county jail on the top four floors. In between were courtrooms, the chief of L.A. police, the Sheriff and the DA. Newspaper photogs shot a ton of pictures in the corridors through the years. During the Manson trial for the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and others, large crowds gathered and young female followers such as Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme held sidewalk vigils outside. When Manson carved an X in his forehad and shaved his hair, Squeaky and friends did too.

Red-tagged since the Northridge earthquake in 1994, the building is being considered for a $127 million renovation into county offices. Says Ken Bernstein of the L.A. Conservancy:

"The Hall of Justice is clearly one of the most significant historic structures in the Los Angeles Civic Center."

Now a dingy brownish gray, it's hard to believe it was ever white. The hall faces Spring and Temple streets and Broadway.