Download or read book Early Downtown Los Angeles written by Cory Stargel and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2009-08-24 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Growing south from the plaza where the city of Los Angeles was founded as a tiny pueblo in 1781, the area now known as downtown L.A. was first developed in the late 1800s as a residential neighborhood, complete with churches and schools. As the population surged at the turn of the 20th century, the downtown area was transformed into a busy business and entertainment center of shops, banks, hotels, and theaters. The explosion of the postcard craze in the early 1900s coincided with this period of downtown's tremendous growth toward a formidable metropolis. This collection of vintage postcards offers a glimpse into the changing city through the 1940s.