Hollywood’s Chameleon:
The Herald-Examiner Building’s Screen Legacy
Perched at 11th & Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, the Herald-Examiner Building (originally the Los Angeles Examiner) has had an extraordinary second life as one of LA’s most filmed landmarks. Designed by Julia Morgan for William Randolph Hearst and completed in 1914, the building served as newspaper headquarters until the Herald-Examiner folded in 1989.
The building became a go-to location for film and television producers. Its detailed Spanish Colonial–Mission Revival lobby, featuring marble columns, ornate woodwork, arched windows, and hand-painted tiles, evokes a sense of timeless elegance. Because the building houses some 15 standing sets and can mimic around 30 different “looks” — everything from police stations and courtrooms to industrial basements and hospital corridors — it is deeply flexible for storytellers.
Over the years, it hosted blockbusters such as The Usual Suspects and Dreamgirls, as well as Zoolander. Television series have also made heavy use of it: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Castle, Murder, She Wrote, and others. In fact, for Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s pilot, multiple internal sets (such as the bullpen, captain’s office, hallways) were shot there, and the lobby doubled for a bank scene in a later episode.
Its detailed Spanish Colonial–Mission Revival lobby, featuring marble columns, ornate woodwork, arched windows, and hand-painted tiles, evokes a sense of timeless elegance.
Restoring a Film Icon
The building’s resurgence depended on careful modernization — and that’s where Syska Hennessy entered the story. We led the mechanical, electrical, plumbing (MEP) design and vertical transportation upgrades for the $56.4 million renovation. The challenge was bringing the building’s utility systems into the 21st century without betraying its historical character.
Syska Hennessy conducted a full MEP study, designed new core systems, and replaced antiquated infrastructure (much of which had been relegated to the basement) with efficient, code-compliant systems. The mechanical well on the south side is one of the few visible alterations; otherwise, the new systems are mostly hidden from view. Elevator modernization was especially delicate: the lobby’s elevator is a centerpiece, so Syska and Gensler collaborated to adapt new elevator mechanics into existing hoistways without altering the historic aesthetic. To maintain flexibility for tenants (retail, restaurants, offices), they also engineered routing and hideaway conduits so future fit-outs would be seamless.
From newspaper pressrooms to Hollywood backlot, the Herald-Examiner Building is a rare structure that has starred in thousands of stories. And in its new life, guided by sensitive engineering and restoration, it continues to tell them.
From newspaper pressrooms to Hollywood backlot, the Herald-Examiner Building is a rare structure that has starred in thousands of stories.
© Images courtesy of Nathaniel Riley Photography