St. Monica's Cathedral

The Cathedral of St. Monica, more commonly referred to as St. Monica's Cathedral, or simply St. Monica's was a church located at the corner of Main and Second Street of Downtown Los Angeles. One of its most prominent features was an Italianate bell tower rose elegantly into the sky.

The Cathedral had been completed in 1876 at a time when Downtown Los Angeles had been the beating heart of the city. However, as crime rose in Downtown, especially in nearby Skid Row, the effects showed itself on the building. Earthquakes had played their part, too, especially the Northridge earthquake in 1994 that had torn holes throughout the city. These two factors combined with neglect left the building badly broken.

Due to all this, the Cathedral's diocese, led by Cardinal Allen James Mulrooney, wanted to tear the building down replace it with a gleaming modern cathedral. Mulrooney’s efforts were stymied by preservationists who protested the destruction of one of the city’s few remaining works of nineteenth-century architecture. Thus the Cathedral remained unchanged.

In 1999, the Cathedral made it into news again when LAPD Detective Don Biehn murdered Father Frank Giggs in retaliation for the molestation of his son Aaron Biehn.