The jail area was built without window bars, utilizing non-breakable tempered glass, and neoprene floors to reduce self-injuries.

A special control board in the lineup room could simulate different lighting conditions and a wire screen that acted like a one-way mirror.

The laboratories of the Scientific Investigation Division took up the entire fourth floor and included early versions of a breath-based alcohol impairment test.

[7] Two prominent artworks were commissioned for the building, a large bronze modernist sculpture by Bernard Rosenthal mounted at the entrance titled "The American Family" and a mosaic work in the lobby depicting architectural landmarks of Los Angeles by Joseph Young.

American Artist magazine called it "six tons of steel, copper, aluminum and glass, fused into a monolithic mosaic panel of beauty and permanence that seems to float on air."

[8][9][10] The building was one of the sites of unrest during the 1992 Los Angeles riots that followed a not guilty verdict for the four police officers involved in the Rodney King incident.

[11] In 2014, the City Department of Public Works and the Bureau of Engineering recommended razing the now-vacant Parker Center in favor of building a 27-story tower in its place.

[12] On January 29, 2015, a city panel, The Cultural Heritage Commission, nominated Parker Center for historical status.

[18] Following these developments, a group of civic leaders and land-use experts convened in May 2015 to discuss the future of Parker Center.

This suggested the possibility of an alternative location for the proposed office buildings intended to be erected on the plot currently inhabited by the Parker Center.

[24][25] The Cultural Heritage Commission mobilized another attempt the following month to award the Parker Center with a landmark status, after having failed to meet the deadline to do so during the preceding year.

[3] Parker Center appears in the police procedural media franchise Dragnet, beginning with the fifth season of the 1955 television series.