Where the Past Is Present : You Can Relive a Bit of City History on a Walk Through Downtown L.A.

Easterners claim Los Angeles has no past. But hidden among the monoliths of downtown are historic jewels, reflecting a long saga of Indian villages, Mexican and Spanish occupation, Anglo influence, and 20th-Century industrialization.

Some of these buildings are world-famous. Others are legendary in their history and beauty.

All are accessible to the public if you just want to stroll around by yourself.

The Los Angeles Conservancy, 727 7th St., also offers formal tours of the historic downtown district and outlying areas on Saturdays starting at 10 a.m. The tour costs $5 for non-members and is free for members. It lasts approximately two hours. For information, call (213) 623-CITY.

1820s-1870s. California Gold Rush. Civil War. Downtown Los Angeles is a field of wheat and corn. Raw, one-story adobes with tar roofs dot its landscapes . . .

* Avila Adobe (1818), 10 Olvera St.--The oldest existing house in Los Angeles. Don Francisco Avila, a wealthy cattle rancher, built the house for his family. It was later used as military headquarters during the Mexican War, and over the next 100 years, it served as a boarding house, hotel and restaurant. Earthen floors, thick walls and cowhide furniture reflect the adobe’s original style. Its porch is covered with grapevines and the corridor faces a dusty Early California-style courtyard.

* La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles (1822), 535 N. Main St.--The first major public building in Los Angeles, La Iglesia was the center of social, political and religious life in the early 1800s. Franciscan fathers and local Indians built the original church. Today, after several restorations and additions, La Iglesia stands in its current form--a two-story adobe with Spanish-style facade, tiled roof and bell tower. It is the national church for Mexican Americans.

1800s-1900s. The Machine Age. Horses and buggies. Electric trolleys. Railroad Wars. The Gay Nineties. First World Series. The aqueduct brings water from Owens Valley to L.A. First air mail . . .

* Bradbury Building (1893), 304 S. Broadway--Inside this modest sandstone-and-brick building is a palatial expanse of light. Rising five stories, the Bradbury Building features a glass roof, Belgium marble staircases, a central court surrounded by Victorian cast-iron grillwork, open-cased elevators, and deeply-polished wood. The Bradbury Building was built by Lewis Bradbury, a mining millionaire-turned-real estate developer, and architect George Wyman, who was inspired, legend has it, by the ghost of his recently departed brother.

* Farmers and Merchants Bank (1904), 401 S. Main St.--An example of Los Angeles’ early Beaux Arts-styled “Temples of Finance.” Built by Los Angeles pioneer Isaias Hellman, the Farmers and Merchants Bank is one of the oldest continually operating banks in Los Angeles.

1910s-1920s. Ellis Island. The Titanic. World War I. The Jazz Age. Ford Model T’s. Babe Ruth. Prohibition. First major Los Angeles downtown building boom. The Great Depression . . .

* Million Dollar Theatre (1917), 307 S. Broadway--On opening night, Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Charlie Chaplin arrived at the Million Dollar Theatre to see William S. Hart in “The Silent Man.” Countless vaudeville and movie greats including Judy Garland and Rudolph Valentino also appeared here. The theater, built by entrepreneur Sid Grauman, is one of the earliest movie palaces in the United States. In its heyday, it boasted 2,200 seats, coffered ceilings, Wild West icons (bisons, six-shooters, longhorn skulls) and Fine Art statutes. Today it shows Spanish-language films and live shows.

* Barker Brothers Building (1925), 818 W. 7th St.--This Renaissance Revival building is the former headquarters of Barker Brothers furniture. It was inspired by the Strozzi Palace in Florence, and features a three-story arched entranceway and a 40-foot high lobby court with beamed and vaulted ceilings. Shoppers once enjoyed pipe organs playing in the mezzanine galleries as they shopped. Barker Brothers held public forums on home economics and decorations in a nearby 600-seat auditorium. The building now houses retail shops and offices.

* Mayan Theatre (1926), 1044 S. Hill--Resembling the monumental Pre-Columbian buildings of Uxmal and Chichen Itza in Yucatan, Mexico, the Mayan features cast-stone walls etched with entwined serpents, owl heads, and colossal king-warriors in ceremonial robes. The theater has a colorful past. Opening Aug. 15, 1927, to a Gershwin musical, the Mayan later evolved into a movie theater, burlesque house, pornography theater (featuring “Stephanee’s Lust Story” and “Ring of Desire”), and a Spanish-language film house. It is currently a nightclub. Legend has it that in 1948 (according to Richard Lamparski’s “Hidden Hollywood”), Marilyn Monroe appeared here as a stripper.

* Oviatt Building (1928), 617 S. Olive St.--In the 1920s, the Oviatt was “the last word in men’s furnishing stores.” Completely embellished in glass and marble from France, the Oviatt Building was an emblem of pre-Depression opulence. It contained the largest collection of Lalique glass lamps, panels and chandeliers ever assembled in the world. Its style was Art Deco, against a Romanesque facade. A crest of angels and chime bells framed its entranceway. The Oviatt was renovated in 1976 for $4.5 million. Today, cast-iron, nymph-topped gates and panels of brilliant Deco-esque designs greet visitors.

* The Eastern Columbia Building (1929), 849 S. Broadway--The last major office building constructed downtown before the Depression until the end of World War II. The Eastern Columbia Building was built by an optimist, Polish immigrant Adolph Sieroty, who believed in America’s future. The Eastern Columbia Building is an Art Deco-styled, bluish terra-cotta building pulsating with zigzags, plant motifs and chevrons. A sunburst explodes from its entranceway.

1930s-1940s. Marathon Dancing. Bread lines. Jean Harlow. The New Deal. Hollywood movies. World War II. Suburbia. Second major downtown building boom . . .

* Los Angeles Theatre (1931), 615 S. Broadway--The last great movie palace built in downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Theatre took only 90 days to construct, using prefabricated material. It opened featuring Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights,” and Broadway had to be closed that day because of crowds and limousines. The theater’s exterior is an extravagant French Renaissance design. Its interior--considered the most lavish of all Los Angeles theaters--is a narrow, elaborate lobby awash in ornamented ivory and gold. The ladies room features mahogany vanities and 13 types of marble. Today the theater shows Spanish-language films.

* Union Station (1939), 800 N. Alameda St.--The last major railroad terminal built in the United States. Such famous transcontinental trains as Santa Fe’s “El Capitan,” “Super Chief,” and Union Pacific’s “City of L.A.” arrived here. During opening ceremonies in 1939, half a million people attended. On its grounds, in 1869, once stood the first railroad ever built in Los Angeles. Its earliest trains carried white settlers and Chinese laborers to adobe settlements and farmlands. The building’s exterior is Spanish-styled, with graceful Streamline Moderne touches. Inside are spacious halls, 50-foot ceilings, 3,000-pound chandeliers, an Art Deco cocktail lounge, tiled floors and roofs, and tall-arched windows.

DOWNTOWN L.A. WLAKING TOUR 1. Mayan Theatre, 1044 S. Hill St. 2. The Eastern Columbia Building, 849 S. Broadway 3. Barker Brothers Building, 818 “. 7th St. 4. Oviatt Building, 617 S. Olive St. 5. The Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway 6. Farmers and Merchants Bank, 401 S. Main St. 7. Bradbury Building, 304 S. Broadway 8. Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S. Broadway 9. La Iglesia de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles 535 N. Main St. 10. Avila Adobe, 10 Olvera St. 11. Union Station, 800 N. Alameda St.

1950s and beyond. Freeway system starts. Los Angeles becomes the fourth-largest city in the United States. High-rises. Disneyland. The Space Age. Tomorrow . . .