Since its founding in 1877 the church has been a leader in social justice activism for the Unitarian Universalist faith, and for the city of Los Angeles.
Its affiliated organization, Urban Partners Los Angeles, provides numerous programs in the neighborhood around the church.
[1] Located on the border between the Koreatown and Westlake neighborhoods of Los Angeles, and three blocks from the LA Metro stop at Wilshire and Vermont, First Church serves a racially and economically diverse population.
In response, First Church and other Unitarian Universalist churches in the greater Los Angeles area founded the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry offering social service programs that continue to this day under the name Urban Partners Los Angeles.
The Caroline Severance Manor offers 85 units of affordable housing for singles and families and subterranean parking for residents and for First Church.
The Caroline Severance School located on the ground floor of the eighth street building opened in 2016 and houses a low and no-cost preschool operated by the YMCA.
Ground was broken for the current church building on October 10, 1926, on three previously vacant lots on 8th Street between Vermont and Westmoreland.
The cornerstone was laid on September 18, 1927, in a ceremony officiated by the President of the American Unitarian Association, Samuel A. Eliot.
In 1962 a separate religious education building, called the Hardyman Center, was constructed on Francis Avenue behind the existing church.
Intended as a means of support for elderly persons with progressive values in the days before social security, the home thrived for several decades before declining and eventually closing.
By the 1980s occupancy had dwindled as seniors preferred to remain at home until they required a level of medical care that Sunset Hall did not offer.
[11] The Francis Avenue location finally closed in 2005 with the last remaining residents moved to Bethany Towers in Hollywood.
[12] Endowed by the sale of the Francis Avenue property, the Sunset Hall organization continues to provide a variety of senior services and programs at locations throughout the mid-Wilshire and Hollywood areas of Los Angeles.
[20] His published works include Men of Liberty (a book of short biographies of historical Unitarians intended for young readers), and Heretic: A Partisan Autobiography (Beacon Press, Boston 1977).
[22] In a 7 to 1 decision, with Justice Brennan writing for the majority opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated the state's loyalty oath requirement.
(Chief Justice Earl Warren, who had signed the Levering Act when he was the governor of California prior to joining the court on January 11, 1954, recused himself.)
Roy Ockert, the new assistant minister at First Church, received word of the meeting and urged members of BURR to attend.
In November 1967, "[d]uring a meeting of about 50 members of Pacific Southwest District societies [held at First Church, Los Angeles], Louis Gothard, chair of BURR, reported that the UUA board has rejected the proposal for BAC.
Originally a separate congregation, named for Catholic Archbishop of San Salvador Óscar Romero, nested within First Unitarian Church, Los Angeles.
The Oscar Romero Congregation was organized in 1985 around Ricardo Zelada, a refugee from El Salvador given sanctuary within the church.