Parker Center was the headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department from 1954 until October 2009 and is located in Downtown LA. The building was named for former LAPD chief William H. Parker. Originally called the Police Administration Building (PAB), groundbreaking for the center began on December 30, 1952, and construction was completed in 1955. The architect was Welton Becket. 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 afterwards, the Los Angeles City Council renamed the building "Parker Center." The building was one of the sites of unrest during the 1992 Los Angeles riots following a not-guilty verdict for the four police officers in the Rodney King matter.
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Famous quotes containing the words parker and/or center:
“... if this world were anything near what it should be there would be no more need of a Book Week than there would be a of a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)
“There is nothing more natural than to consider everything as starting from oneself, chosen as the center of the world; one finds oneself thus capable of condemning the world without even wanting to hear its deceitful chatter.”
—Guy Debord (b. 1931)