Expert: Steve Summers - 4/3/2007

Question
QUESTION: Hello:

How much has the Bunker Hill area in Los Angeles changed?
Is there still a water and power building with fountains around it, and a music center across from this building?

Does this music center have a name now?

I asked you a similar question before, but I forgot your answer.

I thank you for your reply.

ANSWER: Bunker Hill, in the downtown area of Los Angeles, is a short, developed hill with its peak located roughly around 3rd Street. It is located directly east of the Harbor Freeway.

Due to the skyscrapers built on it, the hill stands out from the rest of the L.A. basin and is synonymous with downtown as far as most people are concerned.

You are probably thinking of the Los Angeles Music Center, as well as the old LA Department of Water and Power building. The area has, in recent years, experienced a resurgence of development, as exhibited by the construction of high-quality public venues, such as the new Walt Disney Concert Hall and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The official name of the Music Center is the Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County. It consists of several venues: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmundsen Theater, and Mark Taper Forum.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello:

I want to thank you for your reply.

Does the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power building with the fountains of water around or in front of it still exist? During the middle 1960's, it was across from the Music Center. From the information in your reply, this area seems to have changed considerably.  

I thank you for your follow-up reply.
ANSWER: Yes, it still exists. I drive by it regularly, and was inside it in 2000.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello Steve:

I cannot thank you enough for the help and assistance that you have provided.
I do, however, have one more request. Can you view the video at the following URL, and can you identify the street the musical group is singing on and the specific area if possible?

Here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag-7ceq8Rqo

If the URL does not provide the video, type in the search box, Turtles You Baby, and the video should appear.

Can you determine from the video where this specific area is, especially the street name?

I thank you for your follow-up reply!

Answer
Hey, Anonymous, you're really making me show my age here. I mean, c'mon, the Turtles?

That's South Hope Street, between Temple and First,looking southeast towards LA City Hall. The amount of open space there boggles my mind. Surprisingly, the view from that spot hasn't changed much. You can still see City Hall from DWP. You could also see glimpses of the Mark Taper Forum and Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in the background. Those dancers crack me up. And the fact that they couldn't have been "live", since the wind was blowing steady, rather hard. Perhaps it would fool the uninitiated from back then, but not now.