The Historic Core is a district within Downtown Los Angeles that includes the world's largest concentration of movie palaces,[citation needed] former large department stores, and office towers, all built chiefly between 1907 and 1931.

Upscale shopping had moved west to the Seventh & Hope area starting in the 1920s, and to Mid-Wilshire by the 1930s.

When consumers lived and worked near the prolific streetcar lines, it was relatively easy for them to reach downtown, the hub of both the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric systems.

Now, an ever increasing number of consumers had cars, lived further away from downtown, and due to the proliferation of suburban retail, were able to shop, dine, and go to the movies there without worries about downtown parking and traffic congestion.

In addition, after World War II, financial institutions moved several blocks to the west, ending up on Figueroa Street, Flower Street, and Grand Avenue.

In the 1950s the Historic Core became the center of Latino retail and entertainment in the city, e.g.: the Million Dollar Theatre featured the biggest names in the Spanish language entertainment world.

This paralleled the general white flight occurring in Central Los Angeles at the time, which saw Broadway become a major center for Latino life in the city.

Although prostitution and drug dealing had occurred in the area as far back as the early 1920s, they became epidemic in the 1960s.

The last of them closed in the 1990s; the Orpheum Theatre recently underwent a complete restoration at a cost of several million dollars, and is now used for major movie premieres (such as "Collateral" in 2005), celebrity events (Michael Jackson's birthday party), comedy shows (Bill Burr), fashion shows, concerts (Opeth), and plays.

Most of the older buildings have stores that cater to the Latino immigrant working class.

The developing street gang problem in Los Angeles which began to worsen at the end of the 1960s and got considerably worse in the late 1970s, also hurt traditional commercial activity in the area, as it did much of downtown.

In 1999, the Los Angeles City Council passed an Adaptive Re-Use Ordinance, allowing for the conversion of old, unused office buildings to apartments or "lofts."

Developer Tom Gilmore purchased a series of century-old buildings and converted them into lofts near Main and Spring streets, a development now known as the "Old Bank District."

As of 2005, redevelopment projects in downtown Los Angeles have been divided about evenly between rentals and condominiums; though projects near the Staples Center arena in the South Park neighborhood have been overwhelmingly dedicated to condominiums.

Landmarks are shown on the following street grid of the Historic Core of Downtown Los Angeles.

RR ticket office now Douglas Lofts 256 Stimson B.

301–9 Schwartz Block 1888⁠-⁠d⁠[19] Hotel Jackson 1890s Citizens Nat'l Bank/Cotton Exch Bldg 1906-?d[20]⁠[16]⁠[17]⁠HA

126–30 E. 3rdEmpire/ Unique Th.1905 RBYnow 🅿️ 1897 JP Homer Laughlin B. ds 1898–1905 Coulter's ds 1905–17 Ville de Paris 1917– Grand Central Market

1906–pres RBY Blackstone DS 1906-17 The Fair Cozy Theater 1930s-50s[24] 324-6  Shannon B.

355–363 1898/1902 JP Grant Bldg jewelers Montgomery Bros. shoes W. E. Cummings 340  Trustee B.

332–346 Hotel Westminster1888⁠–⁠1960d RBY now Medallion Apts⁠🏠 335–399 Germaine[30]Bldg d [22]Edison H. now retail, 🅿️

1915: 401–23 B'way, 414–34 Hill were joined as the: Broadway Dept Store Bldg 1915 P&B 1999 renamed Junípero Serra B.

1914⁠–⁠34 Owl Drugs 1913⁠–⁠26 Public Library Foreman& Clarkds c.⁠1915⁠–⁠28 1916⁠–⁠28 Janss land dev.

Fallas Paredesds 1996⁠-⁠2022 Now small/vacant retail,Downtown Metro Lofts Chester Williams B.

1926 453 Spring Arts Tower P&B Citizens Nat'l Bank 1915–63 Crocker Bank 1963–70s Pacific Stock Exchange 1970s Now art studios, The Last Bookstore

Pershing Square ‍ Fifth Street Store ds 518 Roxie Th.

Broadway Arcade) 543 Desmond's ds 1915–24 514 Security T&SB 1916 JP BA now L.A. Theater Center 545

1909 HH W & J. Sloane 1909–1935 Brooks Clothing Co 1935–47 Harris & Frank 1947⁠–⁠80

651–7 410 W. 7th1920 BMP BA Pantages/ Warner Bros Th now JewelryTheater Center

Bullock's ds 1907 P&B now St. Vincent Jewelry Ctr 656–666  (219 W 7th) Haas B.