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The Spring Street Arcade

Shoppers stroll through the nearly empty Spring Street Arcade in downtown Los Angeles. The open air mall between Spring Street and Broadway features retailers that cater to a largely Latino clientele. However, it has recently fallen victim to a sluggish economy and changing demographics.

Shoppers stroll through the nearly empty Spring Street Arcade in downtown Los Angeles. The open air mall between Spring Street and Broadway features retailers that cater to a largely Latino clientele. However, it has recently fallen victim to a sluggish economy and changing demographics.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

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All around, a trendy downtown Los Angeles is on the rise. But inside the 88-year-old Spring Street Arcade, with its giant curved skylight, arched Spanish Renaissance entryways and Beaux Arts exterior, many of the stores are vacant, and the remaining merchants seem stuck in another era.
Read more: As downtown L.A. grows trendier, Spring Street Arcade is left behind

Western clothing store

Merchant Carlos Tejada operates several shops in the Spring Street Arcade, including a Western clothing store.  (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Cesar Balbuena

“Any store you opened here on Broadway, it was a gold mine,” says Cesar Balbuena, a 60-year-old electronics salesman who has worked downtown since 1971. For the last 28 of those years, he’s been a fixture at Audio Video Plaza, a glass-walled electronics shop at the edge of the arcade.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Bus stop

A commuter waits for a bus outside the Spring Street Arcade in downtown Los Angeles. In the last few years, the family that owns the arcade has started to embrace a vision of a trendier Broadway, fueled by downtown’s growing residential population. The family recently converted the floors above the arcade into upscale apartments. Next come major renovations to the arcade itself.   (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

Taking a break

Josh Gray-Emmer, Flora Bates and Max Perry, from left, relax outside the Spring F-o-r Coffee shop across the street from the Spring Street Arcade in downtown Los Angeles. The arcade is trying to attract young hip residents with renovations.  (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

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