Los Angeles Times building

Rumors abounded in the 1990s that the Los Angeles Times was doing so poorly that they were considering selling the Los Angeles Times building. Apparently, it might come to pass.

The announcement this week that Tribune Co., which owns The Times, is considering selling the paper's downtown offices is the latest sign of a decades-long corporate disappearance from the city center.

Arco, Standard Oil, First Interstate Bank and many other big corporations that once called downtown home are long gone.

The headquarters of Barker Bros., Westinghouse, Standard Oil and Nabisco have been converted to condos.

Google map street view of the intersection and the building. Those trees across the intersection surround Los Angeles City Hall. What you don't see around City Hall the winos and drunks sprawled on the grass. The street view of the City Hall and surrounds shows the ugliness they don't even try to conceal.

Face-on of the Los Angeles Times building. That's the one that won the "Ugliest Building" contest in 1970s when it was added by architect William L. Pereira in the 1970s. Times Mirror Square came in second.

Cash from the Newsday sale (sold to Comcast for $650 million) and from the expected sale of the Cubs, Tribune should be able to meet its debt obligations for this year.

AP (June 29) Newspapers, reeling from slumping ads, slash jobs

Editor & Publisher **(July 3) Tribune Gets $300 Million Cash Infusion
Debt-strapped Tribune Co. said Thursday it had signed a $300 million asset-backed commercial paper facility with Barclays Bank PLC, allowing it to raise cash through its outstanding trade receivables.Tribune said it initially borrowed $225 million under the facility, which was used to repay the company's term loan X.
** Editor & Publisher (self-described as "America's Oldest Journal Covering the Newspaper Industry" is Dutch-owned.)