Besides two recent retail announcements and the approaching premiere of underground speakeasy Crocker Club, much more is happening inside the stone and brick edifice at 453 S. Spring Street.

Over the last few years, the Spring Arts Tower has become a headquarters for creativity — establishing a community of artistic professionals and organizations, many of which have received recognition in some the nation’s biggest publications.

Offices for photographers, jewelry makers, painters, architecture firms and fashion designers can be found throughout the historic hallways, behind original wood and frosted glass entryways straight out of a 1940s detective film.

Magical Elves, the production company behind TV’s hit reality series Project Runaway, Top Chef and Project Greenlight, occupies two floors as the anchor tenant.

Other sections of the building house standing film sets, exhibition spaces and occasional runaway shows — creating an almost hive-like network of artistic pursuits where the “bees” are constantly buzzing floor to floor.

Just six years ago, however, things were very different.

Overcoming Abandonment

The 12-story, Art Deco building sat completely vacant (except for pigeons and squatter camps), and many of its Art Nouveau details had been buried or sealed away through decades of interior modifications. Dropped ceilings tiles hid the ground floor’s ornate, recessed ceiling, and Formica paneling concealed grand Italian marble columns.

Today, restoration efforts are nearly complete to bring back the lobby’s original splendor first seen in 1915 when the building debuted as the Crocker Citizens National Bank — one of many local works by famed architects John Parkinson and Edwin Bergstrom.

Earlier this week, a small team of artists continue to hand-paint finishing touches on the lobby ceiling.

According to Property Manager Kevin Taylor – the man who initiated most of the changes since his arrival in 2001 — says the reclaimed lobby space, totaling 9,000 square-feet, will most likely become home to a new restaurant.

Don’t Live in the Past

Ironically, as progress is made to revive those days of glory, other investments by the owner will make the Spring Arts Tower one of the most progressive structures in Downtown.

Plans to install 30-kilowatt solar electric panels on the rooftop should be complete by October. (Permits are currently being sought.) Approximately one-fourth of the building’s daily energy needs is expected to be provided by the system — equivalent to that of 30 average single-family homes.

Earlier this year, the St. George Hotel near Skid Row received a similar system through a donation made by the BP Solar Neighbors Program. The Federal Building, Los Angeles Convention Center and American Apparel Headquarters are a few of the other structures in Downtown equipped with solar electric technology — a trend becoming more popular throughout the city of Los Angeles.

-new bookstore/art gallery shows downtown’s eccentric side
-art gallery signs lease at 5th and spring
-crocker club on its way to 5th and spring
-Creative Central (Downtown News)

Today, the tower’s rooftop is dominated by a series of three murals by German graffiti artist Seak. By October, solar panels will take over the scene.