This section forms part of the Historic Core district of Downtown, together with portions of Hill, Broadway, Main and Los Angeles streets.

Originally named Calle Primavera, Spring Street was renamed in 1849 by city surveyor Edward Ord.

At least ten of the buildings in the district were designed in whole or in part by John Parkinson, who designed many of the city's landmark buildings in the early 20th century, including the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles City Hall, Bullocks Wilshire, and Union Station.

Ten of the buildings in the district have been designated as Historic-Cultural Monuments by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission.

[9] The city's central business district (CBD) in the 1880s and 1890s lay further north near South Spring and Temple Streets.

[11][3]: 1  In 1911, the Los Angeles Times boasted about the building boom on Spring Street: The visitor to this city can at this moment observe skyscrapers in all stages of construction.

It is a study which will provide the most comprehensible kind of answer to the query as to why Los Angeles is leading San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Detroit, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Boston, Buffalo and all other cities of anything near her in building activity as revealed by the monthly expenditures for construction work.

In the 1960s, many of the banks and financial institutions began moving to the western part of the downtown area, along Figueroa Street and Wilshire Boulevard.

One artist who had lived in the district for years said: The real problem with downtown lately, Gronk and his friends half-jokingly agreed is 'those people.'

Landlords who previously recruited artists to help make downtown 'safe' for gentrification, then jacked up their rents so only lawyers and screenwriters could afford it.

Many of the Beaux Arts façades along Spring Street remain virtually intact, making the district a popular shooting location for motion picture and television productions seeking authentic period cityscapes.

"[16] He hailed the district's "financial palaces" as "a solid architectural achievement" which give the street "beauty, strength, unity and dignity.

[60] It was also home to the Odd Fellows, the Fashion Saloon, the Temple and Workman Bank, Slotterbeck's gun shop, the Wells Fargo office.

An electric streetcar heads to Griffin Avenue in Montecito Heights, on what would become Line 2 of the Los Angeles Railway.