1914 downtown LA bank building where a night watchman bled to death in an elevator shaft in 1927 — and a girl in white still walks the staircase
453 S Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to enter; purchases optional
Access
Wheelchair OK
Multi-floor building with elevator access; some mezzanine areas via stairs
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1914 · Former Citizens National Bank building on Spring Street · Part of LA's early 20th-century 'Wall Street of the West' financial district · Documented 1927 workplace death of night watchman Al Breitenbecker
The building at 453 S Spring Street was constructed in 1914 as the home of Citizens National Bank, part of the Spring Street financial corridor that was known as the 'Wall Street of the West' during the early twentieth century. The Beaux-Arts structure features a soaring main banking hall, original vaulted ceilings, and the kind of scale that makes it immediately legible as a place where serious money once moved.
On July 16, 1927, night watchman Al Breitenbecker fell from the third floor into the cargo elevator shaft. According to accounts preserved in LA Magazine's coverage of the building's history, his groans were audible to bank employees — and were heard but not acted upon until he had already died from his injuries. The circumstances of why no one intervened are not clear from the surviving record.
The building changed tenants and uses over the following decades, cycling through the economic fortunes of downtown Los Angeles. The Last Bookstore moved in around 2011 and has since become one of the most visited independent bookstores in California — known for its labyrinthine upper floors, tunnel of books, and the original bank vault. Wikipedia's entry on the bookstore documents the building's bank origins and the store's expansion into the upper floors.
The Wikipedia article on the Last Bookstore notes the building's 1914 construction and the bookstore's tenure since 2011, confirming the continued operation at this address.
Sources
The paranormal tradition at the Last Bookstore is anchored to a specific death rather than generalized atmosphere. Al Breitenbecker, the night watchman who bled to death in the cargo elevator shaft on July 16, 1927, appears in LA Magazine's self-guided haunted downtown tour as the primary named entity — his death documented, its circumstances troubling, and the spot where he died still part of the building's physical fabric.
A second, distinct account involves a small girl in a white dress carrying a ball, reported by staff and visitors near the side staircase of the building. The girl is not tied to any documented historical death or event; she is the category of apparition that accumulates in old buildings through layered occupancy and the imagination that large spaces in half-light tend to encourage.
ScarePop documented a paranormal event held at the bookstore in 2016, providing some evidence that the location has been treated as an active site rather than merely a historically interesting one. The combination of the 1914 construction, the grand but slightly disorienting interior, and the documented 1927 death gives the location more historical grounding than most haunted-bar or haunted-shop accounts in downtown LA.
Notable Entities
The Last Bookstore occupies the former Citizens National Bank building, with its original vault, soaring ceilings, and mezzanine levels filled with used books and art. The side staircase where the girl apparition is reported is accessible to regular visitors; the elevator bank area is in the vicinity of the 1927 death.
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