Franklin Avenue

Those of you who know your Los Angeles history know that downtown's Bunker Hill -- now home to skyscrapers like the Library Tower -- once consisted of beautiful Victorian homes. The neighborhood was inhabited by L.A.'s upper crust until the 30s and 40s, when the homes came into disrepair. Back then, no one even thought of building conservation, so the city didn't think twice about leveling the neighborhood to make room for the skyscraper boom in the 1960s. A few of those old Victorians still exist, having been moved to neighborhoods such as Angelino Heights. And at least a handful of homes, mostly on the northern tip of Bunker Hill, managed to escape destruction. Until this weekend, that is.
The last house in the Bunker Hill neighborhood was illegally torn down Saturday by the developer who has recently built some of downtown's new upscale apartment projects (not old buildings retrofitted to become lofts, but entire new buildings). The Queen Anne-style cottage (on Cesar Chavez Avenue near Figueroa Street) was built in 1887. It was obviously in bad shape, but the city was in talks with at least one person about moving the house to be rehabbed in Angelino Heights. No word on how the city might respond to the move by G.H. Palmer Associates to tear down the home without permission.