12-03-2025
Secret New Crime Museum Opens in Downtown Los Angeles
A secret new museum opened yesterday deep inside downtown's imposing century-old Hall of Justice dedicated to the history of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, district attorney's office, and the L.A. county coroner. The current triumvirate of justice gathered on Monday to dedicate the new exhibit space at Spring Street and Temple.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Sheriff's Department in the United States and one hundred and seventy-five years of their history is told in the exhibits. From Wild West-era cowboy law enforcement to jail cells used by notorious gangsters like Mickey Cohen and Bugsy Siegel, cult leader Charles Manson and reefer smoker Robert Mitchum are on display alongside autopsy tables and historical equipment used in the post-mortem examinations of Marilyn Monroe and Robert F. Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna, District Attorney Nathan Hochman and L.A.'s Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Odey C. Ukpo gathered to cut an oversized cake decorated with a historic photo of the building. 'This feels like an old friend who has always been there and inspires us to do better,' Hochman said at the ceremony.
Today, the neoclassical Beaux Arts landmark is the oldest government building in the civic center. The three agencies originally shared the building with the top floors reserved for temporary jail cells and the basement home to the county coroner.
When it opened one hundred years ago, L.A.'s massive new Hall of Justice was undersized and overbudget. The original $3 million budget was doubled, allowing for an architectural dream team that included Octavius Morgan, Sumner Hunt, and Sumner Spaulding calling themselves the Allied Architects Association to go spectacular.
The entire imposing façade is covered in 14 stories of Sierra white granite and decorated with terra cotta ox skulls and acanthus leaves. Elevated high above street level, atop a grand iron, brass and marble staircase, a magnificent loggia lined with Ionic marble columns features a gilded, coffered ceiling over the main reported 12 escapes in the weeks after opening, prompting enhancements to the jail. The District Attorney eventually relocated to more spacious accommodations. Coroner Thomas Noguchi (subject of a new documentary film) fought to modernize and expand the examination rooms, prompting the creation of a new facility for the dead in Boyle Heights in the 1970s and the Sheriff's Department decamped to suburban Monterey Park in 1993.
The following year, the Northridge earthquake took a heavy toll on the building. 'I looked across the street in horror,' District Attorney Nathan Hochman said of the landmark damaged in the temblor. 'Thinking hopefully one day our friend will get better.'
The forgotten and forlorn building sat boarded-up for two decades before the political will and funds to restore it were found. Emerging from a $234-million renovation in 2014, the building once again became home to the Sheriff's Department and District Attorney, utilizing funds saved from leases at offsite locations.
The historical shivs, skeleton and scalpels on display are off-limits to the public for the foreseeable future since they are buried deep inside the highly secure building. Unless you have business in the Hall of Justice, our photo tour is going to have to be your window into this fascinating new museum.
'I believe it is the most beautiful building in Los Angeles and a cornerstone of law enforcement,' Sheriff Luna said at the dedication. 'We are the only county department that never closes our doors.' Well, except these doors. They're always closed.
