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*''[[Dragnet (drama)|Dragnet]]'': The building appears as itself in the TV series. The first episode of ''Dragnet'' (1951) Season 1, Episode 1: "The Human Bomb", Original Air Date: 16 December 1951, was filmed at Los Angeles City Hall. It was embossed on Sgt. Joe Friday's famous badge number 714 that was displayed under the credits.
*''[[Dragnet (drama)|Dragnet]]'': The building appears as itself in the TV series. The first episode of ''Dragnet'' (1951) Season 1, Episode 1: "The Human Bomb", Original Air Date: 16 December 1951, was filmed at Los Angeles City Hall. It was embossed on Sgt. Joe Friday's famous badge number 714 that was displayed under the credits.
*''[[Perry Mason (TV series)| Perry Mason]]'': The City Hall building appears in the view from Perry's office window. This has led viewers of the show to spectulate where the fictional office would have been located in downtown Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Perry Mason office locale | url=http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/pmo_locale.htm| publisher=D> M> Brockman | year=2007 | accessdate=5 November 2010}}</ref>
*''[[Perry Mason (TV series)| Perry Mason]]'': The City Hall building appears in the view from Perry's office window. This has led viewers of the show to spectulate where the fictional office would have been located in downtown Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Perry Mason office locale | url=http://www.perrymasontvseries.com/pmo_locale.htm| publisher=D> M> Brockman | year=2007 | accessdate=5 November 2010}}</ref>
*[[L.A. Confidential (film) | L.A. Confidential]]: The police in the 1997 neo-noir film operate out of the City hall, as well as the police badges featuring a depiction the building itself.<ref>{{cite web | author=Tony Reeves | title=Film Locations for L.A. Confidential(1997) | url=http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/l/laconf.html | accessdate=19 February 2013}}</ref> At the time the film takes place no building in Los Angeles was allowed to be taller than city hall, so the cameras were placed at certain points so that any building taller than city hall would not be seen.<ref>{{cite web | author=IMDB | title=L.A. Confidential (1997) - Trivia - IMDB) | url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119488/trivia | accessdate=19 February 2013}}</ref>
*[[Tower of Terror]]: In this 1997 made-for-TV movie, the main character's love interest works at a fictional newspaper, ''The Los Angeles Banner.'' The newspaper's logo is based on the top of the city hall.
*[[Tower of Terror]]: In this 1997 made-for-TV movie, the main character's love interest works at a fictional newspaper, ''The Los Angeles Banner.'' The newspaper's logo is based on the top of the city hall.
*''[[Adam-12]]'': During the seventh season opening credits montage, City Hall is shown directly at the end, as the building that officers Reed and Malloy drive away from. It is also shown on the embossed badges numbered 744 (Malloy) and 2430 (Reed).
*''[[Adam-12]]'': During the seventh season opening credits montage, City Hall is shown directly at the end, as the building that officers Reed and Malloy drive away from. It is also shown on the embossed badges numbered 744 (Malloy) and 2430 (Reed).

Revision as of 01:58, 19 February 2013

Los Angeles City Hall
Map
General information
TypeGovernment offices
Location200 North Spring Street
Los Angeles, California
Construction started1926
Completed1928
OwnerCity of Los Angeles
ManagementCity of Los Angeles
Height
Roof138 m (453 ft)
Technical details
Floor count32
Floor area79,510 m2 (855,800 sq ft)
Design and construction
Architect(s)Austin Parkinson and Martin
Structural engineerNabih Youssef Associates
Main contractorBovis Lend Lease
DesignatedMarch 24, 1976
Reference no.150
References
[1][2][3][4]

Los Angeles City Hall, completed 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council.[5] It is located in the Civic Center district of downtown Los Angeles in the city block bounded by Main, Temple, First, and Spring streets.

History

1931 photograph of then new City Hall with the now-demolished 10-story International Savings Bank to the immediate left.[6]

The building was designed by John Parkinson, John C. Austin, and Albert C. Martin, Sr., and was completed in 1928. Dedication ceremonies were held on April 26, 1928. It has 32 floors and, at 454 feet (138 m) high, is the tallest base-isolated structure in the world, having undergone a seismic retrofit from 1998 to 2001 so that the building will sustain minimal damage and remain functional after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake.[7] The concrete in its tower was made with sand from each of California's 58 counties and water from its 21 historical missions.[8] City Hall's distinctive tower was based on the purported shape of the Mausoleum of Mausolus[9] and shows the influence of the Los Angeles Public Library, completed soon before the structure was started. An image of City Hall has been on Los Angeles Police Department badges since 1940.[10]

To keep the City's architecture harmonious, prior to the late 1950s the Charter of the City of Los Angeles did not permit any portion of any building other than a purely decorative tower to be more than 150 feet (46 m) high.[citation needed] Therefore, from its completion in 1928 until 1964, the City Hall was the tallest building in Los Angeles, and shared the skyline with only a few structures having decorative towers, including the Richfield Tower and the Eastern Columbia Building. City Hall has an observation deck, free to the public.

The building was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1976.[11]

Usage

An observation level is open to the public on the 27th floor. The Mayor of Los Angeles has an office in room 300 of this building and every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday at 10:00am, the Los Angeles City Council meets in its chambers. City Hall and the adjacent federal, state, and county buildings are served by the Civic Center station on the LA Metro Red Line and Purple Line.

The building has been featured in the following popular movies and television shows:

  • Adventures of Superman: The building appears as the Daily Planet building beginning in the second season of the 1950s TV series. At the time the TV program was broadcast, the show's Daily Planet building (Los Angeles City Hall) was frequently confused with the similarly designed Pennsylvania Power & Light Building in Allentown, also built in 1928. Additionally, the exact design of this building is used as the Newstime magazine headquarters in the Superman comic books.
  • Alias: A CIA black ops unit is located behind a maintenance door at Civic Station.
  • Dragnet: The building appears as itself in the TV series. The first episode of Dragnet (1951) Season 1, Episode 1: "The Human Bomb", Original Air Date: 16 December 1951, was filmed at Los Angeles City Hall. It was embossed on Sgt. Joe Friday's famous badge number 714 that was displayed under the credits.
  • Perry Mason: The City Hall building appears in the view from Perry's office window. This has led viewers of the show to spectulate where the fictional office would have been located in downtown Los Angeles.[12]
  • L.A. Confidential: The police in the 1997 neo-noir film operate out of the City hall, as well as the police badges featuring a depiction the building itself.[13] At the time the film takes place no building in Los Angeles was allowed to be taller than city hall, so the cameras were placed at certain points so that any building taller than city hall would not be seen.[14]
  • Tower of Terror: In this 1997 made-for-TV movie, the main character's love interest works at a fictional newspaper, The Los Angeles Banner. The newspaper's logo is based on the top of the city hall.
  • Adam-12: During the seventh season opening credits montage, City Hall is shown directly at the end, as the building that officers Reed and Malloy drive away from. It is also shown on the embossed badges numbered 744 (Malloy) and 2430 (Reed).
  • The 2003 Dragnet series used the L.A. City Hall building aerial shot and badge throughout its introduction.
The City Hall from Hill St

The building has also been featured in the following other media:

  • In the Midnight Club: Los Angeles video game as part of Downtown Los Angeles.
  • In the video game L.A. Noire, City Hall is featured as itself in 1947 Los Angeles.
  • In Mission: Impossible, "Ultimatum" 1972: A thermonuclear bomb is planted under City hall in a sewer duct by a frustrated nuclear scientist in order to blackmail the US government into changing of its foreign policy and replacing some "corrupt" Congress and cabinet members. If demands are not met, the 50-megaton bomb will detonate, destroying all of Los Angeles County. The IMF must locate and defuse the bomb before it is too late.
  • In GTA:San Andreas video game as part of the city of Los Santos.
  • In Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Japanese manga series), the building serves as the headquarters for one of the main occupation armies of the antagonist Principality of Zeon, under Garma Zabi.
  • In Miss Murder, music video by the band AFI (April 2006).
  • In Escape From L.A., the building is shown sunken, along with the ruins of Los Angeles, as Snake Plissken operates his submarine toward the prison.
  • In SWAT 3, one mission has the player rescuing hostages and defusing a bomb within the top floors of the building.
  • In the video game L.A. Noire the building covers almost an entire city block, bounded by 1st Street to the South, Spring Street to the West, Main Street to the East and Temple Street to the North. It is impossible to enter the building.

Photos

See also

References

  1. ^ Los Angeles City Hall at Emporis
  2. ^ Los Angeles City Hall at Glass Steel and Stone (archived)
  3. ^ "Los Angeles City Hall". SkyscraperPage.
  4. ^ Los Angeles City Hall at Structurae
  5. ^ "The Official Web Site of The City of Los Angeles". City of Los Angeles. 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  6. ^ Scott, Charles Fletcher (1931). "Los Angeles on Parade". Overland Monthly. 89 (8–9): 14. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  7. ^ "Projects". Clark Construction Group, LLC. 2010. Retrieved 28 May 2010.[dead link]
  8. ^ Architecture of Los Angeles City Hall - Los Angeles, California, United States of America
  9. ^ http://www.glamamor.com/2012/02/out-about-art-deco-design-of-los.html
  10. ^ "LAPD Badge Description". Los Angeles Police Department. 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
  11. ^ Los Angeles Department of City Planning (September 7, 2007). "Historic - Cultural Monuments (HCM) Listing: City Declared Monuments" (Document). City of Los Angeles. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |accessdate= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |format= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  12. ^ "Perry Mason office locale". D> M> Brockman. 2007. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  13. ^ Tony Reeves. "Film Locations for L.A. Confidential(1997)". Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  14. ^ IMDB. "L.A. Confidential (1997) - Trivia - IMDB)". Retrieved 19 February 2013.
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