Finally, Justice for the Hall of Justice

It's been more than 12 years since downtown's Hall of Justice was inhabited. The building hasn't been used since the 1994 Northridge earthquake -- and last I heard, the building still contained items (like Christmas presents) hastily left behind in the wake of the tremblor (which made the building too unsafe to use).

After years of promised starts and stops, it appears that the long-awaited rehab of the Hall of Justice (seen above, in a photo from the always-excellent You-Are-Here.com) is finally happening.

From the L.A. Daily News:

After years of studies on how to renovate the historic Hall of Justice building downtown, supervisors on Tuesday approved a final environmental impact report that starts an eight-phase process to restore the vacant 1925 Beaux Arts building that has become a Hollywood icon.

"A lot of famous people went through those jails - from the entertainment industry to the worst serial killers and gangsters in this region," Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said. "It's a historic building."

Damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, the building at 211 W. Temple St. is the oldest surviving government building in the Civic Center. Its granite facade has been filmed innumerable times - as for the opening scene of the classic "Perry Mason" television show. The hall was also regularly featured on the "Dragnet" and "Get Smart" TV shows.

The autopsy of Robert F. Kennedy was also performed there.

After lengthy negotiations between Federal Emergency Management Agency officials and state and local historical agencies, many features of the building will be preserved for periodic public tours.

Work will include relocating a sample of the jail cells from the top floor to the basement or ground floor, rehabilitating the original wood-paneled library in Room 819 and retaining the historic features of the eighth-floor courtroom.

"We're thrilled it's going to be restored," said Linda Dishman, executive director of the Los Angeles Conservancy. "Our conversations with county staff were to save significant interior features. The ground floor lobby is phenomenal.

"We also felt it was important to save a courtroom so you could see what a court looked like in the 1920s. I also think it's important for people to see what the historic jails looked like."

If they pull it off, that's going to be pretty cool. I just wish it hadn't taken 12 years to finally get the building in shape!