A 16-block square in Los Angeles was once so full of funeral homes it was nicknamed Mortuary Row.
The area, between the present-day Crypto.com Arena and the Natural History Museum, received special zoning in the early 20th century, leading to dozens of the facilities popping up. There were coffin companies, florists and hearse rental companies, too, said Douglas Goodreau, who is a local historian and an embalmer.
Among the largest was the Pierce Brothers Mortuary at 720 West Washington Boulevard. After becoming a church in the mid-2000s, the building closed when attendance dropped during the pandemic and was then adapted to serve an unlikely purpose: affordable housing for seniors.
Today, the building, its former hearse garage and four new structures on the site are home to roughly 100 people 55 and older. The 122 units, ranging from studios to two-bedrooms, cost 30 to 60 percent of the area median income.
“It’s a one-stop shop,” Louis Juarez, a resident of the complex, Washington View Apartments, joked of living so close to the area’s remaining funeral homes.
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