The Arts District, previously known as the Warehouse District, occupies the eastern side of Downtown Los Angeles. Its borders are roughly Alameda Street on the west, Temple Street on the north, the LA River on the east, and 6th Street on the south. The area is sometimes incorrectly called the "Artist" or "Artists District", even on official City of Los Angeles signs.

In the 1970s, these buildings started to became popular with the L.A. Art Community, and artists began buying and renting the buildings for their potential as art lofts. By the turn of the 21st Century, the popularity of the neighborhood started attracting more wealthy residents looking for the "artist lifestyle." However, many of the new residential developments of the 21st century have been done by traditional real estate developers, as opposed to artists themselves.

The Arts District is filled with older, industrial and former railroad buildings. In 1981, the City of Los Angeles passed its "Artist in Residence" or "AIR" ordinance, which allowed residential use of formerly industrial buildings (artists had long used such spaces as living quarters illegally, and the AIR law sought to bring this practice into legality and regulation). The neighborhood gained a cultural anchor when the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-ARC) moved in, occupying a historic railroad building on Santa Fe Avenue.