Los Angeles City Councilmember José Huizar, with support from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, an impressive slate of City leaders, downtown residents, civic and business organizations and property owners of the largest historic theater district west of the Mississippi, share a vision for Bringing Back Broadway.

The historic Broadway corridor, located in the center of downtown Los Angeles, in heart of the Historic Core, features one of the largest concentrations of historic theatres on one street in the nation. Twelve beautiful theatres are located within nine blocks, set between a bevy of beautiful architectural gems which stand in tribute to achievements in architecture and engineering constructed in the early part of the 20th century.  The Broadway corridor is part of an important National Register Historic District. 

Broadway enjoys a colorful history as the birthplace of vaudeville and cinematic entertainment in Los Angeles and was once considered the retail capital of the United States.  It was also an important west coast center for business and commerce and was one of the most popular destinations for Angelenos and tourists utilizing the city's former streetcar system.

For its rich history and tremendous future potential, Broadway is a true treasure in Los Angeles which is not meeting its potential in a number of different ways. Right now, Broadway bustles with Latino shoppers and many others during the day, but there is an increasingly high vacancy rate among ground floor retail shops and existing retail customers are being lured away in greater and greater numbers to other municipalities which offer busy families a wider variety of goods, services and things to do in one stop. Very few of the glorious historic theaters offer entertainment programming, more than a million square feet of commercial space is currently vacant in the upper floors of Broadway's buildings, and the boulevard does not serve the needs of the downtown community especially at night. These challenges combine to threaten the long-term utility of this precious historic corridor, and also reduce the City's ability to capture revenue, create and retain jobs and sustain the viability of its urban center downtown.

To address these challenges, and provide critically importance assistance and focus on Broadway's needs from both the public and private sectors, Bringing Back Broadway was launched in January, 2008. 

Bringing Back Broadway is a public-private partnership initiative focused on an ambitious ten-year plan to:

  • Revitalize the historic Broadway district between 2nd and 9th streets
  • Activate the theaters
  • Re-active more than a million square feet of vacant commercial space
  • Assist retailers and prevent further retail vacancies
  • Increase parking and transit options to serve Broadway
  • Encourage cultural, entertainment and retail uses on Broadway that will sustain generations
  • Create a sense of place and history through urban planning, design and lighting guidelines and streetscapes
  • And make the dream of riding a streetcar downtown by 2014 a reality.

As a link between the past and the future, the revitalized historic Broadway corridor will ensure that the vibrant, cultural character of Broadway remains, while helping Broadway provide something for everyone, day and night by complementing and connecting new large-scale downtown entertainment and cultural destinations, as well as galleries, restaurants, and cultural activities on Spring Street and throughout Downtown.

Explore this site for more information on this exciting initiative.