It is approximately 21 miles in length, running from Harry Bridges Boulevard in Wilmington; and through Carson, Compton, Lynwood, Watts, Florence-Graham, Huntington Park, Vernon and Arts District to Spring and College in Chinatown.

Alameda Street runs on the east side of the Old Plaza, Los Angeles, and once also ran along the westside of Old Chinatown.

In the 1820s, historian William David Estrada records that immigrants from France came to Los Angeles in small numbers and settled around the Commercial and Alameda streets, close to the original village site of Yaanga.

Prostitution reportedly peaked in the 1890s, "with the support of local police and elected officials, many of whom were regular visitors" to the brothels.

Those on North Alameda Street, adjacent to the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks, were the most active and became "the first view of Los Angeles for arriving train passengers.

[4] Metro Local Line 202 runs along Alameda Street between Del Amo Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.