Bradbury Building

Architectural photographer Julius Shulman has come out of retirement and he's raring to go. "My wife said, 'What are you doing? You're 80 years old. You don't need to work,' but it didn't take much arm-twisting to get me here," he says, strolling into the historic Bradbury Building in downtown Los Angeles.

David Rousseve says that his multimedia dance/theater piece, "Had Somebody But I Lost Her Very Young," exists on many levels. And, as performed today through Tuesday in the unorthodox setting of downtown L.A.'s Bradbury Building--the city's oldest historical landmark structure--it will also exist on several floors.

The Bradbury Building, Los Angeles' oldest historical landmark structure, is undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation and restoration. According to new owner Sydney Irmas, who purchased the 96-year-old office/retail structure from Western Management last April, the rehab project will be completed by next summer. The project architect is Brenda Levin of Levin & Associates.

Developer Ira Yellin's dream to make Broadway the focal point of downtown took another step toward reality last week with his purchase of the historic Bradbury Building, owned by the McKelvey family since 1943. The 96-year-old city landmark at 304 S. Broadway, across the street from Yellin's recently purchased Grand Central Market and the Million Dollar Building, closed escrow last Monday for slightly more than $8 million. 'Monument Forever' "We plan to keep the Bradbury a monument forever and will do major work, cleaning up the facade and the interior so it will be a polished gem when we're finished," Yellin said, estimating restoration cost at $4 million.

From atop his ornate Million Dollar Building at 3rd and Broadway, Ira E. Yellin surveys the patchwork that makes up downtown Los Angeles and dreams of ways to tie the diverse pieces together with Broadway as the centerpiece. To the west rise the gleaming office and residential towers of Bunker Hill. To the east lie Little Tokyo and the site of the new state office building.

Becky Vega has come a long way. When she dropped out of Garfield High School two years ago, Vega went to work as an elevator operator, earning the minimum wage, at the historic Bradbury Building located downtown at 3rd Street and Broadway. Today, the 19-year-old is manager of a restaurant in the building and earns enough to have moved out of her parents' home and have her own apartment. Vega is typical of the staff at Bradbury's 1893 Cos., which is 100% owned by Terry McKelvey.