Extreme Makeover: Downtown Los Angeles Edition

The downtown blogs are abuzz over the latest Broadway revival proposal, this one spearheaded by city councilman Jose Huizar (see Blogdowntown's coverage here.

"Bringing Back Broadway" -- official website here-- promises to revive some of the grand old movie palaces, clean up and restore building facades, make Broadway more pedestrian-friendly, and even install a streetcar to run up and down the street.

Of course, we've heard many Broadway proposals through the years, so it's hard to believe until we actually see some progress made. (And there has been some in recent years, includng the restoration of the Orpheum). The L.A. Times notes that the "Bringing Back Broadway" initiative is counting on $40 million -- including both private and public funds. The paper writes:

Broadway, which cuts through the heart of downtown, has long been one of the city's best barometers of demographic and social change.

Before World War II, it was considered by many to be the center of the city, where residents far and wide came by car and street trolley to catch movies at ornate theaters, such as the Globe, Orpheum and Million Dollar, and shop at department stores.

After the war, even as downtown declined, Broadway continued to bustle -- catering to the growing Latino immigrant population settling in neighborhoods to the east and west of the area."

More recently, however, Broadway has seen the number of consumers in the area decline, as shoppers go elsewhere. That's why the "Bringing Back Broadway" team doesn't expect to encounter much resistance.

MEANWHILE, the Times also writes about another revival campaign, this one to declare downtown's Los Angeles River bridges as historic-cultural monuments to the city's early-20th century architectural roots.

The paper notes:

The move comes as the city is undertaking a bridge-improvement program that will affect six of the river bridges. The impending upgrades have lent a sense of urgency to those who think that the structures deserve special status.

"Many of these bridges are proposed for sizable seismic upgrades and even possible reconstruction," said Ken Bernstein, manager of the Office of Historic Resources in the city's planning department. "We wanted to ensure that the city's own historic preservation commission was part of the conversation about the future treatment and alteration of these important historic bridges."

The bridges in question, most of which were constructed between 1910 and 1930, were part of a campaign to deal with a river that was prone to flooding and had destroyed many of the metal truss bridges built in the 1840s.

Beautification was also a goal: In 1903, the L.A. Municipal Art Commission wrote that the city had to "work for the gradual elimination of ugliness from the conspicuous parts of our city."

The result was a recommendation to begin construction of the Art Deco and beaux-arts bridges that today extend from downtown to Boyle Heights, Cypress Park and Lincoln Heights. Sculpted into the Washington Boulevard Bridge are scenes that depict the men who built it. In muted colors, the figures are shown drilling, pushing wheelbarrows and carrying beams.

As the paper writes, the bridges are very popular with Hollywood location scouts.