Imagining Bunker Hill: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Thursday, Oct. 9, 2-5 pm
Transport: Walking tour. Meet at Rendezvous Court, Biltmore Hotel.
Tour Maximum: 30 people
Cost: $10
Tour Description:
Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill looms larger in the imagination than its geographical footprint would suggest. From its beginnings as an elite enclave at the end of the 19 th century to the gritty film noir fictions of the Cold War era and the global corporate skyscrapers of the late twentieth century, the neighborhood has been a testing ground for ideas about how cities should develop and what the urban life of Los Angeles should be. This walking tour examines Bunker Hill's shift from a residential neighborhood to a target for redevelopment and its reemergence as a commercial and cultural hub through the framework of thirty-year cycles of literal and symbolic imagining in the 1930s, 60s, 90s, and 2020s.
This engaging and interactive walking tour covers roughly 2 miles round trip, including some stairs. We begin at the base of Bunker Hill, view the Depression-era lobby of the One Bunker Hill building, ascend to Hope Street, and walk along Grand Avenue to LA’s mid-century “cultural acropolis” at the Music Center. The tour ends at the bottom of the Angels Flight funicular across from Grand Central Market, where participants can stop in for snacks or happy hour.
Tour Leaders:
Dr. Andrea Thabet is a historian and historic preservation consultant specializing in Los Angeles, urban, and public history. She is currently on the Humanities Faculty at the Colburn School, Conservatory of Music.
Dr. Meredith Drake Reitan is an Associate Dean at the University of Southern California’s Graduate School and Lecturer at the Price School of Public Policy and School of Architecture. She is founder and co-director of the Bunker Hill Refrain project, an immersive digital recreation of a neighborhood lost to urban renewal.