Parker Center
Encyclopedia
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
for the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
from 1954 until October 2009, and is located in Downtown LA
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. It is named for former LAPD
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
chief William H. Parker
William H. Parker (LAPD)
William Henry Parker III was the police chief of the Los Angeles Police Department and has been called "... Los Angeles's greatest and most controversial chief of police"...
. Originally with the prosaic name, the Police Administration Building, ground for the center was broken on December 30, 1952 and construction completed in 1955. The architect was Welton Becket
Welton Becket
Welton Becket was an architect who designed many buildings in Los Angeles, California.Becket was born in Seattle, Washington and graduated from the University of Washington program in Architecture in 1927 with a Bachelor of Architecture degree .He settled in Los Angeles in 1933 and formed a...
. The building combined police facilities that had been located throughout the Civic Center area. The location was previously home to the Olympic Hotel.
On July 16, 1966, Chief Parker had a fatal heart attack. Soon after-wards City Council made a motion to rename the Police Administration Building "Parker Center."
Plans were being considered for Parker Center as it was considered outdated and in need of expensive seismic retrofits to continue using it. A number of sites in downtown Los Angeles were discussed as possible sites for the new headquarters. Ultimately, the City Council selected the property directly south of City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall
Los Angeles City Hall, completed 1928, is the center of the government of the city of Los Angeles, California, and houses the mayor's office and the meeting chambers and offices of the Los Angeles City Council...
, where the old Caltrans Los Angeles Headquarters had been located. Ground was broken for the new Police Administration Building in January 2007, and the new building was dedicated October 24, 2009.
In entertainment
The Center appears in most episodes of the 19671967 in television
The year 1967 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1967.For the American TV schedule, see: 1967-68 American network television schedule.-Events:...
version of the television drama Dragnet. The earlier Dragnet series which ran from 1951
1951 in television
The year 1951 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1951.-Events:*March 22 - RCA introduces an eight-pound monochrome television camera with a 53-pound backpack transmitter, both operated by batteries...
through 1959
1959 in television
The year 1959 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1959:For the American TV schedule, see: 1959-60 American network television schedule.-Events:...
also featured the outside of the building beginning with the 5th season in 1955
1955 in television
The year 1955 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1955.-Events:*March 5 – Elvis Presley appears on television for the first time...
.
The popular NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
cop drama Hunter starring Fred Dryer
Fred Dryer
John Frederick "Fred" Dryer is an American actor and former football defensive end in the National Football League . Dryer played 13 years in the NFL, playing 176 games, starting 166, and recording 104 career sacks with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams...
and Stepfanie Kramer
Stepfanie Kramer
Stepfanie Kramer is an American actress, writer, and singer/songwriter. She is probably best known for her role as the tough-minded detective, "Sgt...
also used the Parker Center as police headquarters in seasons 6 and 7. The TNT series The Closer
The Closer
The Closer is an American crime drama, starring Kyra Sedgwick as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Georgia police detective who often closes her cases using sometimes-questionable methods...
also used Parker Center as a location.
The Center is also featured as one of the main locations in Police Quest: Open Season, the fourth installment of the Police Quest
Police Quest
Police Quest is a series of computer games produced and published by Sierra On-Line between 1987 and 1993. The original series was composed of four adventure games, the first three of which were designed by former policeman Jim Walls, with the fourth title designed by former LAPD Chief Daryl F....
series, a 1993 PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
video game by Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment Inc. was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams...
. The Center is often mentioned in the novels of the Harry Bosch series, written by Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. His books, which have been translated into 36 languages, have garnered him many awards...
, and was also one of the sites of the 1992 Los Angeles riots
1992 Los Angeles riots
The 1992 Los Angeles Riots or South Central Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted three white and one hispanic Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a...
following the not-guilty verdict on the alleged LAPD abuse of Rodney King
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King is an American best known for his involvement in a police brutality case involving the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991...
.
External links
34.0519261°N 118.240748°W