I actually find those aerial shots fascinating too. It's interesting to me to see Grand Avenue before it was double-decked, and before General Thaddeus Kosciusko Way existed... what is up with that street name, too?
In my opinion, on the positive side of the razing of old Bunker Hill, at least the CRA's concentration on Bunker Hill meant that they basically left the Historic Core of downtown alone; yeah, some structures did fall to the wrecking ball there, but I'm sure that was mostly the result of the individual property owners and not because the LA CRA had a grand "urban renewal" master plan for the Historic Core.