[Fiji Hill]

Downtown was still happening in the 1950’s, when on an occasional Saturday, our family would dress up—suits, ties, etc.—then pile into our 1954 Ford and head for the May Company department store on Hill Street to spend a full day shopping. We would eat lunch at the cafeteria inside the store, and if we stayed long enough, have dinner at the Italian Kitchen across the street, or maybe Clifton’s Cafeteria.

The May Company closed around 1967, although I believe the building that housed it still exists. I last ate at the Italian Kitchen in the 1970’s, but it was gone by the early ‘90’s. Clifton’s Cafeteria, from what I understand, still exists.

[Pelham]

Clifton’s Cafeteria even has a website:

http://www.cliftonscafeteria.com/

[norton]

You're just showing off.
Most of us took the Yellow Car.

[LantzALot]

You do describe the Los Angeles of my late wife. She was raised in an orphanage in what is now Boyle Heights, and downtown was then what it was in just about any city. I arrived in the early 60's, and by then LA was already described as "seventeen suburbs looking for a city."

To be fair, I think that line came from a San Fransiscan unable to find anything real to criticize.

[Clemenza]

Didn’t the action shift to Wilshire (which, for the most part, is not technically downtown) and then out to the Westside and the Valley, all within a span of 15-20 years?