Temple Street (Los Angeles)

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels as seen from Hill Street bridge by Temple Street

Temple Street is a street in the City of Los Angeles, California. The street is an east-west thoroughfare that runs through Downtown Los Angeles parallel to the Hollywood Freeway between Virgil Avenue past Alameda Street to the banks of the Los Angeles River. It was developed as a simple one-block long lane by Jonathan Temple, a mid-19th Century Los Angeles cattle rancher and merchant.

Originally, Temple terminated at the intersection of Main and Spring streets and, for decades, extended west only from that point. Later, Temple was extended eastward into the industrial district of town, while Main and Spring were rerouted so that they did not conjoin at Temple. From the late 1860s, as development pushed westward from the older downtown, Temple Street became a fashionable residential thoroughfare and remained so into the 1880s. When the county courthouse, hall of records, and other civic structures were built along or near the road, it became more of a civic roadway and remains so today with the federal court, hall of records and city hall all adjoining the street. Until the 1920s, Temple Street, as the city continued to grow west towards the ocean, was extended all the way to Beverly Hills. With, however, the creation of Beverly Boulevard, Temple Street was terminated at its current location at Virgil Avenue, near Silver Lake Boulevard. From that point, the roadway is Beverly Boulevard to Santa Monica Boulevard. Eastward, Temple Street terminates just east of Center Street and just west of Los Angeles River and railroad switch yards.

Notable landmarks

United States Court House at Temple and Main Streets

Several important Los Angeles landmarks are on the street:

• Ahmanson Theater
• Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
• Echo Park
• Grand Park
• Historic Filipinotown
• Little Tokyo
• Los Angeles City Hall
• Los Angeles County Hall of Records
• Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
• Los Angeles Public Library's Echo Park Branch
• Los Angeles Police Department's Rampart Station
• Edward R. Roybal Federal Building
• Triforium
• United States Court House

Education and Transportation

Edward R. Roybal Learning Center near Downtown Los Angeles

Number of LAUSD schools are located at Temple Street, including Downtown Magnets High School, Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, and Camino Nuevo Charter Academy.

Los Angeles Public Library's Echo Park Branch Library is located on the corner of Temple Street and Douglas Street.

Metro Local lines 10 and 92 run on Temple Street.

References