Going to Court

Correction: The CJC is between Broadway and Spring St. on Temple, and not Broadway and Main, as originally reported. Sprocket.



Clara Shortridge-Foltz Criminal Justice Center (This is a rear view of the building from Spring Street before they tore out the parking lot.)

Several T&T readers have inquired about coming down to the courthouse to attend the trial. Here are directions on how to get to the building.

The Clara Shortridge-Foltz Criminal Justice Center (CJC) is located at 210 West Temple Street in downtown Los Angeles. The building takes up the entire block on the south side of Temple between Broadway and Spring Street. You can enter through the front of the building or through the back entrance. Give yourself plenty of time to get to court by train or car. You also have to plan for the possibility that there may be long lines to get through security and into the building. I've seen lines go outside the building and reach the corner of Temple and Broadway. That's usually when they will have lots of jurors show up for potential cases that are starting. You can never tell when that might happen.

Arriving By Train
The CJC is a little over a block away from the Civic Center Station on the Metro Red Line or Purple Line. The fee for taking the train is $1.50 one way. You need to purchase your ticket on the upper level before going down to the train platform. The ticket for riding the subway without a ticket if you get caught (and they do random checks on the trains) is about $250.00. Buy a ticket. You can pay with cash, debit or credit card.

You can connect to the Red or Purple Lines at Union Station from other lines. The Blue Line also connects to the Red and Purple Lines at 7th Street Metro Center. When you get off the train at the Civic Center, you want to take the Temple Street stairs. That set of stairs/escalators opens up in the middle of Hill Street between Temple and 1st Street. You will want to turn right, walking up a slight incline on Hill Street to Temple. At Temple Street, turn right and walk one block downhill to Broadway. As you approach Broadway, you will see the big sign on the corner announcing the building.

Driving To Court
There are several parking lots near the court but the fees are around $18.00 and up. If you can handle a five minute walk slightly uphill, there are two Joe's Parking lots on Broadway, just south of 2nd Street. The Joe's Parking on the southeast corner of Broadway and 2nd Street is $12.00 a day and the lot on the west side of Broadway just a little past 2nd Street is $9.00 a day. The monthly rate in the $9.00 lot is $120.00. Just walk north on Broadway to 1st Street. Cross Broadway to get on the east side of the street. You will approach the building from the rear. There is construction going on directly behind the CJC. As soon as you pass the painted plywood you will see a walkway to your right to enter the rear of the building.

Inside The CJC
Once you clear the first floor security station the cafeteria is on your left and the elevator bays are directly in front of you. Understand that there is no photography allowed inside the CJC without prior written permission. The men's restroom on the ground floor is a little ways to the left of the cafeteria in the southwest corner of the building. The women's restroom is a little ways to the right of the cafeteria in the northwest corner.

The first set of six elevators (three on each side) service the 12th to 19th floors. Walk past those to the next set of four elevators (two on each side that service the 1st through 11th floors. Be aware that these elevators take forever. The floor you want is the 9th floor. You cannot take the stairs to the 9th floor because it's a security floor. When you get off the elevator there is another security station. That station doesn't doesn't open up until 8:00 AM so if you get there before that, there will be a line of people waiting for it to open. Once you clear the security station, there will be two courtroom doors directly in front of you when you pass into the hallway. The courtroom on the left is Department 104, Judge Perry's courtroom.

And that's it. There may be someone from the Public Information Office (PIO) with a clipboard checking off the media that have arrived. You can ask them or one of the courtroom bailiff's (Sheriff's Deputy) where they are seating the general public that day. If you would like to stop by and say hello, I have long, elbow length brown and gray hair. I wear wire-rimmed glasses, jeans and black tennis shoes.