Full list of L.A. County-owned buildings facing potential earthquake risk

Rebecca Ellis, Rong-Gong Lin II
·3 min read
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 25, 2023 - L.A. County officials are aware of 33 county-owned buildings at possible risk of collapse in an earthquake including the L.A. County Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, pictured, in downtown Los Angeles on March 25, 2023. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
The Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles is one of 33 county-owned buildings at potential risk of collapse in a major earthquake. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Los Angeles County recently set out on a landmark effort to protect the types of vulnerable concrete buildings that collapsed in the earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria last month.

As part of the push, the Board of Supervisors asked officials to craft new rules that would require “non-ductile” concrete buildings owned by the county, as well as any in unincorporated areas, to be retrofitted.

The Times received the list of these county-owned concrete structures deemed vulnerable to collapse in the next major earthquake.

Among the most important buildings are the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which is home to the five county supervisors; the Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, where autopsies are performed; and the headquarters for the departments of public health and health services, where some of the county's top health officials are employed.

Michael Wilson, a spokesperson for the county's Chief Executive Office, said the buildings on the list were included because they all meet the established criteria for retrofitting.

"The buildings on the compiled list are not in imminent danger," he said. "The county is methodically working on approaches to complete the retrofits as expeditiously as possible."

The 33 structures are considered to be non-ductile concrete buildings, were built before 1978 and have multiple stories. Non-ductile buildings have an inadequate configuration of steel reinforcing bars, which allows concrete to explode out of columns when shaken in an earthquake, a prelude to a catastrophic collapse.

This flaw, now well-known, was discovered in the 1971 Sylmar quake, and caused building and freeway collapses in L.A. in that temblor as well as the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

Here's the full list:

Hall of Administration (500 W. Temple St., Los Angeles)

Chief Medical Examiner Service (1104 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles)

Chief Medical Examiner Administration/Investigation (1102 N. Mission Road, Los Angeles)

Hall of Records (320 W. Temple St., Los Angeles)

Fire Station 171 (141 W. Regent St., Inglewood)

Fire Station 8 (7643 W. Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood)

Historic General Hospital (1200 N. State St., Los Angeles)

L.A. County-USC S. Mark Taper Foundation Family Advocacy, home of the Violence Intervention Program (1721 Griffin Ave., Los Angeles)

County-USC Medical Center-Science Hall - Building 90, also known as the Santana House, home of the Violence Intervention Program (1733 Griffin Ave., Los Angeles)

County-USC Outpatient Clinic (2010 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles)

County-USC Medical Center Parking Structure (Lot 12) (2020 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles)

County-USC Medical Center Interns & Residents Building (2020 Zonal Ave., Los Angeles)

County-USC Medical Center-Pharmacy Building (1100 Mission Road, Los Angeles)

MLK Leroy Weekes Medical Support Building - North (12021 Wilmington Ave., Willowbrook)

MLK Service and Supply Building - South (12021 Wilmington Ave., Willowbrook)

MLK Interns & Residents Building (12012 Compton Ave., Willowbrook)

Health Services Administration, the headquarters for the county departments of Health Services and Public Health (313 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles)

Health Services Headquarter Lot 29 Parking Structure (346 N. Fremont Ave., Los Angeles)

Hubert H. Humphrey Comprehensive Health Center (5850 S. Main St., Los Angeles)

H. Claude Hudson Comprehensive Health Center (2829 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles)

Central Public Health Center (241 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles)

Hollywood/Wilshire Public Health Center (5205 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles)

Department of Public Social Services' Adams & Grand building (2615 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles)

Department of Public Social Services' Metro Special District Office (2707 S. Grand Ave, Los Angeles)

Adams/Grand Complex Parking Garage (Lot 46) (318 W. Adams Blvd., Los Angeles)

Alameda Street Garage (1055 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles)

Internal Services Department Administrative Headquarters (1100 N. Eastern Ave., East Los Angeles)

Compton Library (240 W. Compton Blvd., Compton)

Huntington Park Library (6518 Miles Ave., Huntington Park)

Montebello Library (1550 W. Beverly Blvd., Montebello)

Eastlake Juvenile Court Parking Structure (1605 Eastlake Ave., Los Angeles)

Ferguson Administrative Services Center (5555 Ferguson Drive, Commerce)

Pitchess Detention Center East (29340 The Old Road, Castaic)

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.