When neighbors complained about his plans, Bryson chose instead to build a taller structure, but one set back 100 feet (30 m) from the centerlines of Wilshire Boulevard and Rampart Street.

[4] In March 1912, Bryson announced his revised plans: "It is my intention to make this apartment house in a class by itself on this coast and finer than any other west of New York City.

"[5] The interior was finished with cut-glass chandeliers, Italian marble stairs and wainscotting, tile floors, and richly upholstered mahogany furniture.

A 1920s brochure for The Bryson touted the view: It has three large loggias from which one can see the Pacific Ocean, Catalina Island 67 miles (108 km) away, on a clear day; green foothills, orange groves and snow-capped mountains.

"[4] When Bryson announced his plans, some thought Los Angeles was too small to support "an institution of this character,"[2] but the building proved to be a success.

Owing to its connection with Chandler, The Bryson has been described as one of the city's "high-rises that were meant to house wealthy transplants from back East but became the faded palaces of L.A.

"[12] Chandler used The Bryson as a setting when he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1944 film noir classic Double Indemnity, which starred Fred MacMurray (see also next section).

When Stephen Frears shot his 1990 neo-noir, The Grifters, he chose The Bryson Apartments as one of the principal locations, serving as the home of a main character and the site of the bloody climax.

In 1949, MacMurray secured a reduction in the property tax assessment to $100,000 ($1.3 million today), arguing that high costs made the building unprofitable.

The project drew attention by dressing the building's landmark statues of the lions in hard hats and orange construction vests.

[19] It is one of several Registered Historic Places encircling Lafayette Park, including the Granada Shoppes and Studios, The Town House, the Felipe De Neve Branch and Bullocks Wilshire one block to the west.