LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

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Visit our Tour Destination: Southern California page to see the entire tour of the area’s Save America’s Treasures sites.

Vickrey-Brunswig building on the left and the Plaza House on the right,
now the home of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
Photo courtesy of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

The Plaza House and Vickrey-Brunswig Building
501 North Main Street

Los Angeles, CA

Website:  LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

The Treasure:  The historic Vickrey-Brunswig building and the Plaza House have been folded into LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a multi-disciplinary cultural center that celebrates the Mexican-American culture of Southern California.

Accessibility:  LA Plaza is open Wednesday through Monday from noon to 7.

Background:  The construction of the Plaza House in 1883 and the Vickrey-Brunswig building in 1888 took place right near the beginning of the first major industrial expansion of the city of Los Angeles. Change really began with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1876. The Central Pacific Railroad crossed the Rockies, reaching the west coast in San Francisco, but the line wasn’t fully complete until it stretched southward down to its final freight destination—Los Angeles. Two years after the Plaza House was built, Los Angeles received another railroad boost when the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway connected with the city. Growth was swift. From the early 1870s to 1900, the city's population swelled from around 5,000 to over 100,000.

Kysor & Morgan was one of the first architectural firms in Los Angeles. Octavius Morgan designed the Plaza House in a Victorian Italianate style. Stores, markets, saloons, and restaurants lined the ground floor, with the upper floor reserved for private residences.

Five years later, Los Angeles buildings were already growing in size, reflecting the population growth. The Vickrey building (later the Vickrey-Brunswig) was a five-story structure built for the Eastside Bank. Over the years, both the Plaza House and the Vickrey-Brunswig building saw a wide variety of tenants and passed through good times and bad.

Thanks in part to the Save America’s Treasures funding, these two historic buildings were recently restored to serve as a new center for Mexican-American culture in the heart of Los Angeles. Just opened in 2011, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes offers interactive exhibits and exciting programs all revolving around the historic influence of Mexican and Mexican-American culture in this region.

Calle Principal: Main Street, Los Angeles, 1920s, at
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
Photo courtesy of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

Notes from the Editor:  LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes is brand new, still less than a year old as of this blog entry—just a blip of time compared to the ages of the two historic buildings! The idea sure seems solid. Create a new mission for these grand old buildings and harness them to a celebration of the city’s grand Mexican-American heritage.

Two exhibits focus on the historical details. LA Starts Here! uses artifacts and interactive experiences to explore the city’s history from the early days of the Spanish Empire to the current sprawling metropolis. The other exhibit, Calle Principal, lets you tour through a recreation of a 1920s-era Main Street serving a vibrant immigrant community.

Other Recommended Sites:  LA Plaza is just a five minute walk from Union Station, one of the great American rail stations. You may even recognize it as a movie location used in Bugsy, The Way We Were, and Blade Runner. Directly across from LA Plaza is El Pueblo Historical Monument which includes the Pico House, a historic fire station, Olvera Street, and the Sepulveda House.

The Vickrey-Brunswig building and the Plaza House, now the home of
LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.
Photo courtesy of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

Tour America's History Itinerary

Friday’s destination:  San Diego Museum of Man

© 2012 Lee Price