Downtown’s Best Parking Garage?

Could this be Downtown LA’s best parking garage?

Situated at the southeast corner of 9th and Hill, this garage was built in 1927 for the May Co. and its department stores nearby. It features a number of great aspects not found in most garages Downtown.

First, there’s a real sense of architectural style. From the outside, you may not even believe it is a parking structure. It looks like the office buildings, department stores, and other structures built around the time.

It also features ground floor retail. What a novel idea. There is currently a small market on 9th and a restaurant on Hill. The large corner space has For Lease signs in the window, but also a notice of public hearing that happened last month.

The hearing is for a permit to sell a full line of alcoholic beverages, which means there could be a bar or restarting in the works. Or the owner is just getting a permit to make the lease more attractive — I’m not really sure how these things work. Either way, it means there’s potential.

A garage like this provides the parking that is necessary for the area while also activating the street level. Honestly, I wish we had more parking garages like this in Downtown instead of the many surface lots we have. The architectural style is just icing on the cake.