Skip to main content
Donate

Lincoln Heights Jail

By Jillian Olivas
June 6, 2013
Support Provided By
lincoln-heights-jail

The Lincoln Heights Jail, overlooking the River and railroad tracks, was once a spot for prisoners to be incarcerated since the historic days of the Gold Rush in California. In 1931, the old jail buildings were demolished to make room for the new Lincoln Heights Jail and a central police station. The new jail, constructed in Art Deco architectural style, could hold 625 prisoners. It was open for business in December 1931. By the early 1950s, it expanded with another Bauhaus addition. At its peak, it crammed about 2,800 inmates at a time. Both infamous and notables alike served their time, including Al Capone, Zoot Suit rioters, and Watts rioters - who clocked in jail time right before Lincoln Heights Jail was decommissioned in 1965. The dark and dinginess of the site has also made it on the big screen; its architecture and history has earned the site the status of Historical Cultural Monument. The site is within the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan, provides easy access to the Los Angeles River, adjacent to the Metro Gold and provides an opportunity for cultural open public space, enriched with a thrilling story of Los Angeles' past.

Located within the CASP, this site has huge potential for adaptive reuse. Owned by the City, the future use of this building will serve as a catalytic project for the area, especially as it sits along the River. Local community and economic development organizations, along with financial intermediaries, have considered uses such as a historic museum, community college campus, rock climbing facility, rooftop garden, or residential lofts.

Support Provided By
Read More
An oil pump painted white with red accents stands mid-pump on a dirt road under a blue, cloudy sky with a green, grassy slope in the background.

California’s First Carbon Capture Project: Vital Climate Tool or License to Pollute?

California’s first attempt to capture and sequester carbon involves California Resources Corp. collecting emissions at its Elk Hills Oil and Gas Field, and then inject the gases more than a mile deep into a depleted oil reservoir. The goal is to keep carbon underground and out of the atmosphere, where it traps heat and contributes to climate change. But some argue polluting industries need to cease altogether.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
Gray industrial towers and stacks rise up from behind the pitched roofs of warehouse buildings against a gray-blue sky, with a row of yellow-gold barrels with black lids lined up in the foreground to the right of a portable toilet.

California Isn't on Track To Meet Its Climate Change Mandates. It's Not Even Close.

According to the annual California Green Innovation Index released by Next 10 last week, California is off track from meeting its climate goals for the year 2030, as well as reaching carbon neutrality by 2045.
By Alejandro Lazo, CalMatters
A row of cows stands in individual cages along a line of light-colored enclosures, placed along a dirt path under a blue sky dotted with white puffy clouds.

A Battle Is Underway Over California’s Lucrative Dairy Biogas Market

California is considering changes to a program that has incentivized dairy biogas, to transform methane emissions into a source of natural gas. Neighbors are pushing for an end to the subsidies because of its impact on air quality and possible water pollution.
By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Inside Climate News