Olga Garay-English on Broadway Cultural Corridor

Broadway in Los Angeles is a nine block area listed on the National Register of Historic Places that boasts the largest concentration of historic theaters on one street in the nation, with 12 movie palaces as well as blocks of stunning art-deco buildings. Through the 1930s, the area was LA’s premier entertainment and retail destination. Post World War II to the present day, however, the area has witnessed decline and most theaters remain inactive. While adjacent areas in Downtown LA have seen a renaissance, Broadway continues to struggle with a 15-20% ground floor vacancy rate and more than 1 million square feet of vacant space on the upper floors of these historic commercial buildings.

To address this issue, Thom Mayne and Morphosis Architects have been commissioned by DCA to envision and design the Broadway Cultural Quarter. The BCQ will feature affordable subsidized artists’ housing and shared rehearsal and performance space through the Broadway Arts Center, as well as a Downtown campus for CalArts, an institution dedicated to training and nurturing the next generation of professional artists, with student housing developed in partnership with SCI-Arc, a leading independent architectural school located adjacent to the Broadway area.