Historically, downtown held a dense concentration of banks, department stores, and movie palaces that drew residents and visitors of all socioeconomic classes, but after the 1950s the area began to experience an economic decline.

[7][8] Father Juan Crespí, a Spanish Franciscan missionary charged with exploring sites for Catholic missions in California, noted in 1769 that the region had "all the requisites for a large settlement".

Like most urban centers in the Spanish Empire, the town grew in a grid-like street pattern around a central plaza which faced the first church.

By this time, a steady influx of residents and aggressive land developers had transformed the city into a large metropolitan area, with DTLA at its center.

Department stores, most that had grown from local dry goods businesses, moved from Spring and Main streets around Temple and 1st, to much larger stores along Broadway, including The Broadway, Hamburger's, which became May Co., Robinson's, Bullock's, Coulter's, Desmond's, Silverwoods, Harris & Frank, and the Fifth Street Store/Walker's, serving a variety of socioeconomic groups from across the city and suburbs.

Following World War II, suburbanization, the development of the Los Angeles freeway network, and increased automobile ownership led to decreased investment downtown.

As early as the 1920s once-stately Victorian mansions on Bunker Hill were dilapidated, serving as rooming houses for 20,000 working-class Angelenos.

[20] In the early 2000s, the neighborhood became popular with Artists and Creatives due to low rent, open loft space, and many vacancies.

In 1999, the Los Angeles City Council passed an adaptive reuse ordinance, making it easier for developers to convert outmoded, vacant office and commercial buildings into renovated lofts and luxury apartment and condo complexes.

This new bridge replaced a 1932 viaduct of the same name which was demolished in 2016 due to a fact that it would collapse if there were a major earthquake, and alkali-silica reaction – colloquially known as "concrete cancer".

[42][43][44] Downtown is bounded on the northeast by Cesar Chavez Avenue, on the east by the Los Angeles River, on the south by the Los Angeles city line with Vernon, on the southwest by East Washington Boulevard and on the west by the 110 Freeway or Beaudry Avenue, including the entire Four Level Interchange with the 101 Freeway.

[4] Downtown Los Angeles is the center of the region's growing rail transit system, with six commuter lines operated by Metrolink, as well as six urban rail transit lines and local and regional bus service operated by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

Amtrak operates intercity passenger train service on five routes through Los Angeles Union Station: the Coast Starlight, Pacific Surfliner, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, and Texas Eagle.

Greyhound Lines operates a major bus terminal in downtown Los Angeles at the intersection of Seventh and Alameda streets.

[73] Additionally, the city recently completed a new park located on the 400 block of South Spring Street in the Historic Core neighborhood.

The skyline has seen rapid growth due to improvements in seismic design standards, which has made certain building types highly earthquake-resistant.

Some current and upcoming examples of skyscraper construction include: The first height limit ordinance in Los Angeles was enacted following the completion of the 13-story Continental Building, located at the southeast corner of Fourth and Spring streets.

There was great hostility to skyscrapers in many cities in these years, mainly due to the congestion they could bring to the streets, and height limit ordinances were a common way of dealing with the problem.

This included mobile apps, hardware, digital media and clean-tech companies plus co-working spaces, start-up incubators, and other related businesses.

[96] BYD Company, a Chinese technology firm, has its North American headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

[43] These are the elementary or secondary schools within the neighborhood's boundaries:[100] The Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising is at 800 S. Hope St.,[44][101] and the Colburn School for music and the performing arts is at 200 S. Grand Ave.[102] The Los Angeles Fire Department operates the following fire stations in downtown Los Angeles: