WATCH: The visual history of DTLA’s skyscrapers

Downtown Los Angeles was not always, to quote Solange, like “cranes in the sky.” In fact, Downtown’s progress from 1928 — when the 453-foot-high ziggurat of City Hall reached taller than any other building — to its current state as a nexus of “metal clouds” is a sight to behold.

Which is why, with the Wilshire Grand inches from completion, Commercial Cafe created a visual timeline of the skyline’s evolution. Watch the video after the jump. 

[Commercial Cafe] — Hannah Miet