Grand Central Market has been an important part of downtown's history since 1917, when it first opened as the Wonder Market to cater to the upscale residents of Bunker Hill.

Central Market is in two buildings next to each other, one facing Broadway and the other facing Hill Street. The first one on Broadway was built in 1897 by Homer Laughlin, who made china. It's one of the oldest buildings still being used in downtown. It was the city's first building that was fireproof and had steel inside.

In 1905, they built another part of the market that connected to the first one and faced Hill Street. It was made by Architect Harrison Albright and was the first building in Southern California made with reinforced concrete. A big store called Ville de Paris used to be there but moved in 1917. The Grand Central Market opened in September of that same year and has been open since.

In the 1990s, they fixed up the market as part of a project to improve the area. They repaired old neon signs and made new ones. They also took off a tiled covering to show the windows and fixed up the fancy parts of the building.