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I asked yesterday, in the caption on the big home page photo, if anybody could guess where this photo was taken. OK OK, too easy — longtime Downtown artist and photographer Ed Fuentes posted the answer on my Facebook wall within a few minutes. Others emailed with the right answer. Next time I'll make it a bit more challenging. Answer after the jump.
The gate to the underground parking level below the site of the razed State Building on Spring Street (at 1st, across from City Hall) has been an unofficial Downtown landmark for decades. The building itself was torn down around 1976, and since then the old concrete base has been used only occasionally — as a transportation hub for the 1984 Olympics, as an official homeless encampment, and unofficially for assorted other stuff. Larry Harnsich, who used to write the Daily Mirror blog for the Times across 1st Street from the spot, posted on my Facebook wall this great link to photos of the State Building compiled by Nathan Marsak.
Below: what the State Building looked like, facing 1st Street.
Current photos: LA Observed. Old photo: USC Digital Library