The top photo was taken at the intersection of Main and 11th streets in downtown Los Angeles on May 21, 1955, most likely from the front of a streetcar. The bottom photo was taken by yours truly on Friday, who had to quickly shoot and dodge cars turning south onto Broadway.

Southbound buses didn’t quite cooperate with my shooting schedule and the buses run curbside now, not down the middle of the street.

I don’t see much difference in the area in the past 58 years. The single story building at left at some point got a makeover. Everything else is still there. The other three corners of the intersection are depressing: a mostly empty Herald Examiner building (southwest corner), the Railway Building that appears vacant that was built by Howard Huntington in 1920 (son of Henry Huntington, northeast corner) and the old YWCA building that was (not sure if still is) used by the L.A. Job Corps (southeast corner).

They’re all great buildings, all sited on a busy transit street and just south of the many theaters on Broadway (some still theaters, some subdivided into tiny businesses). The Herald-Examiner closed shop in Nov. 1989 and the building is apparently used mostly for film shoots with occasional talk of redevelopment plans.

The proposed downtown L.A. Streetcar would travel through the 11th & Broadway intersection. Obviously there are some questions about the project’s budge in the news these days, but anything that could bring some much-needed investment to this intersection would be welcome. I love the old buildings. But they need some love, people.

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Then & Now: a streecar and a bus in Highland Park, 1955 and 2013

Then & Now: streetcars along the Crenshaw/LAX Line alignment

Then & Now: a streetcar and a bus on Florence Avenue in Inglewood, 1955 and 2013

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