The Art Deco Lincoln Heights Jail opened in 1931 as the new Los Angeles City Jail and central police station. By the early 1950s, the structure was expanded with a Bauhaus-influenced Modern addition that presented as a unified façade with the original structure. The complex reflected the strengths and challenges of a growing city.

On December 25, 1951, Lincoln Heights Jail was involved in the notorious “Bloody Christmas” police brutality scandal. The incident later inspired author James Ellroy’s 1990 neo-noir novel L.A. Confidential, which was adapted into a film featuring a fictionalized version of the beating.

By the late 1950s, the jail was costly and overcrowded. It featured dedicated wings for the high volume of female inmates and people arrested over suspicions regarding their sexual orientation.

Burgeoning Herald Examiner reporter Agness “Aggie” Underwood uncovered details of arrests and, often, obtain unfiltered interviews from inmates. She developed an excellent reputation as a reporter through her daily visits to the jail. Underwood became the editor of the Herald Examiner in 1947 and kept the role until her retirement in 1968.  

In its 34 years open, the jail housed notable prisoners, including the mobster Al Capone, actress Lucile Watson, and people arrested during the Zoot Suit Riots and the Watts Riots. The jail was decommissioned in 1965, when the Los Angeles City Council and the County Board of Supervisors determined that it would be more cost effective to close the prison and place inmates in the nearby county jail.

Lincoln Heights Jail became Historic-Cultural Monument #587 in 1994, and, for thirty-five years, housed the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, co-founded by trailblazing visionary artists, Estela Scarlata, Carmen Zapata, and Margarita Galban. The building has also been used as a filming location and for sports tournaments. The site is currently vacant and in disrepair.

In 2024, as a part of the Los Angeles Women’s Landmarks Project, a partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Historic-Cultural Monument nomination for Lincoln Heights Jail was evaluated for its inclusion of its role in the history of women in Los Angeles. 

Built in 1927 at a cost of $5 million, the Lincoln Heights Jail officially opened in 1931. 

The five-story, Art Deco-style jail was designed to accommodate 625 prisoners at full capacity. By the early 1950s, the jail was known to hold up to 2,800 prisoners. As a result of overcrowding, the City of Los Angeles approved an expansion in 1951. The jail was decommissioned in 1965 after the Los Angeles City Council and the County of Board of Supervisors determined that it would be more cost effective to move inmates to the nearby county jail.  

While in operation, the Lincoln Heights Jail maintained separate wings for women and for LGBTQ+ inmates who had violated Morality Laws or refused to conform to gender norms of the time. This coincided with the establishment of the Sex Bureau of the City of Los Angeles in 1937, which was created in direct response to public outcry over “sexual degenerates” in the city. Individuals could receive sentences for “masquerading” as the opposite sex or for engaging in “indecent behaviors.” In the 1950s, Lincoln Heights Jail counted Tamara Reese as an inmate – the third transgender woman in the United States to undergo gender affirming surgery.  

The rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment led to the Sexual Deviation Act of 1950. The act funded medical clinics and research studies to identify “solutions” for homosexuality, and these clinics and studies used jails to find their test subjects. Lincoln Heights Jail came to represent these discriminatory policies and violent practices that target Los Angeles’s LGBTQ+ community.  

The women’s wing at Lincoln Heights Jail came to attract the attention of burgeoning reporter Agness “Aggie” Underwood, who used her position to share the stories of imprisoned women. Early in her reporting career at the Herald Examiner, Underwood participated in daily morning visits to Lincoln Heights Jail to uncover details of arrests and, often, obtain unfiltered interviews from inmates. She developed an excellent reputation as a reporter through her daily visits to the jail. Underwood became the editor of the Herald Examiner in 1947 and kept the role until her retirement in 1968.  

In 1979, over a decade after the jail’s decommission, Lincoln Heights Jail became the permanent home of the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts (BFA). Co-founders Estela Scarlata, Carmen Zapata, and Margarita Galban established the bilingual theater group to provide acting opportunities for women, youth, and the broader community of Lincoln Heights. Its formation was a direct response to the challenges that the women experienced in theaters in Los Angeles, New York, Mexico, and South America. The group operated out of Lincoln Heights Jail until 2014.  

Since the jail’s closing, many new uses have been proposed for the building, including a state prison, trade technical high school, mixed-use space, and a 24,000-square-foot urban rooftop garden. 

As a part of the Los Angeles Women’s Landmarks project—a partnership between the Los Angeles Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation—the Historic-Cultural Monument nomination for Lincoln Heights Jail was evaluated for its inclusion of women’s history. This study was essential for understanding the underrepresentation of women in L.A. Historic-Cultural Monuments (HCM). Only 2% of the 1,300 existing HCM nominations represent women. 

The original HCM nomination focused on the site’s use as a jail, with limited mention of the jail’s impact on women, LGBTQ+ people, and the Latinx communities. The Bilingual Foundation of the Arts only received a brief mention. Through a partnership with the University of Southern California, Master of Heritage Conservation student, Mel James, researched women’s contributions and identified significant figures Agness “Aggie” Underwood, Tamara Reese, Estela Scarlata, Carmen Zapata, and Margarita Galban. The HCM record should be updated to reflect these histories and individuals.