Los Angeles
304 S Broadway
Los Angeles, CA
Behind a plain brick front downtown hides one of the most beautiful rooms in America, a block from a food hall that has fed the city for more than a century.
For all its reputation as an endless sprawl, Los Angeles has a genuine historic heart, and this is it. On a plain block of Broadway downtown stands the Bradbury Building, whose ordinary brick exterior gives no hint of what waits inside: a five-story atrium flooded with light from a glass roof, laced with ornamental iron, marble stairs, and open-cage elevators, one of the most beautiful interior spaces in the country.
Across the street, Grand Central Market has fed the city since 1917, a bustling hall where old-line butcher counters and produce stalls share the floor with tacos, dumplings, and coffee. Together they anchor a downtown of grand movie palaces and old streets that most visitors, racing between the beach and the studios, never think to explore.
What Guests Love
- The Bradbury Building's astonishing atrium of sunlight, open ironwork, and old wooden stairs
- Grand Central Market, a century-old hall of food stalls from around the world
- The grand old movie palaces of Broadway, the densest concentration of historic theaters in the country
- Discovering that the sprawling modern city has a walkable, deeply historic heart
Worth Knowing
- The Bradbury Building is a working office building, so visitors are welcome only in the lobby and first landing, not the upper floors
- Grand Central Market is busiest and best at lunch; some stalls keep their own hours, so a midday visit sees the most open
- Downtown blocks change character quickly street to street, so it helps to have a plan and stay aware as in any big city
- It is very walkable and well served by transit, so this is a corner of Los Angeles best seen on foot
Details
Los Angeles, CA
Learn about Los Angeles
The Bradbury Building
The Bradbury opened in 1893, built for a mining millionaire named Lewis Bradbury. The commission famously went to a young draftsman, George Wyman, who is said to have taken the job after consulting a Ouija board, and whatever the truth of that story, the result is unforgettable.
Behind its modest front, the building opens into a soaring court lit from above, with wrought and cast iron railings, glazed brick, marble, and open elevators rising through the light. It has appeared in countless films, and its atrium remains a working office lobby that anyone may step into and look up in wonder.
Grand Central Market
Grand Central Market has operated on Broadway since 1917, making it one of the oldest and largest public markets in the city. Generations of Angelenos have shopped its counters, and long-standing stalls still sell meat, produce, and Mexican staples alongside a newer wave of celebrated food vendors.
The market is a snapshot of the city's mix, its aisles crowded with office workers, families, and visitors sharing tables over tacos, egg sandwiches, dumplings, and coffee. It is the kind of place where the whole of Los Angeles seems to pass through in a single lunch hour.
The theaters of Broadway
The blocks around the market hold the Broadway Theater District, the greatest concentration of early movie palaces in the country. Grand old houses from the 1910s and 1920s, some restored, some faded, still line the street with ornate marquees and lavish lobbies from the dawn of Hollywood.
In their heyday these theaters premiered films to crowds in the thousands. Today some show films and host events again, and even from the sidewalk their facades and signs recall the era when this was the entertainment center of the West.
The old city around it
This district sits near the birthplace of the city. A few blocks north, Olvera Street and the old plaza mark the Mexican-era pueblo where Los Angeles began in 1781, with historic buildings, a lively market street, and the city's oldest standing house.
From here the modern downtown rises all around, with its concert hall, art museums, and towers, and the rest of the vast basin beyond. The historic core rewards the traveler willing to slow down and walk, revealing a Los Angeles far older and denser than its freeway image suggests.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Safari Inn, a Coast Hotel
Honorable Mention1911 West Olive Avenue, Burbank, CA
9 miles away|Learn More ›
Things to Do Near Los Angeles
Olvera Street and El Pueblo
About half a mile north
The historic birthplace of Los Angeles, a Mexican marketplace street and plaza with the city's oldest buildings and shops of crafts and food.
Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Broad
About half a mile north
Frank Gehry's billowing steel concert hall and the contemporary art museum beside it, anchors of downtown's cultural hill.
Griffith Park
About 7 miles northwest
A huge mountain park above the city with the Griffith Observatory, trails, and views to the Hollywood Sign and the sea.