Los Angeles anchors the largest district dedicated to jewelry in the United States, with roughly $3 billion in annual reported sales across nearly 5,000 businesses on Hill, Olive and Broadway. If you own a piece there, a loan secured by it works under California statute we can walk through here.
The trade concentrates on Hill Street, Olive Street and Broadway, part of the larger Historic Core of downtown. Wikipedia places that core between Hill and Main Streets and 3rd and 9th Streets; the district itself is often bounded by 5th, 8th, Broadway and Olive. The median building here was put up in 1923, and the oldest surviving structure sits at 543 South Broadway, a three-story, 32,600-square-foot commercial space now occupied by Teresa's Bridals.
Two addresses recur when people describe the trade. The Downtown Jewelry Exchange at 401 W. 7th Street and 651 S. Hill opened August 17, 1920 and was renovated in 1975; the nine-story building was formerly the Pantages Theatre, later the Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre. The St. Vincent Jewelry Center at 650 S Hill St occupies the former Bullock's complex. The whole 65-block Downtown Center, which includes the Jewelry District, is managed by the DTLA Alliance, formerly the DCBID.
A loan against jewelry is secured by the item, not by your credit. You hand over the piece, it is appraised, and you receive money against its value. California sets the terms tightly, which is useful to know before you sign anything.
State law requires a written contract providing a four-month loan period for every loan a pawnbroker makes against goods received in pledge. It also extends the right of redemption for 10 days from the date notice is mailed. If a pledged article is not redeemed and the parties do not agree in writing to extend, the pawnbroker must notify the pledgor within one month after the loan period expires. Miss that notice window, and the pawnbroker cannot charge interest from the day after that one-month period ends. A "month" here is defined by statute as 30 consecutive days.
SB 285 (Block, Ch. 245, Stats. 2015) set the maximum monthly interest rate for a pawn loan at 3 percent, applied to the fourth and subsequent months on the unpaid principal balance. The same law set the loan setup fee at $5 or 3 percent, not to exceed $30, and collapsed the prior 21-tier fee schedule to six tiers. These are ceilings written into law, not quotes for your piece. Any figure you see on this site is general guidance, not a loan offer.
Two rules affect the item itself. Under Business and Professions Code section 21628, dealers report daily, or no later than the next business day, to the California Pawn and Secondhand Dealer System (CAPSS) the property they take in pawn, excluding firearms. And every dealer must retain that property for 30 days, a period that starts on the date the acquisition report was made. In practice, a redeemed piece stays put and identifiable during that window.
What matters most to the amount offered is the item in front of the appraiser: metal, stones, condition, and any signature. If you are unsure what you hold, our pages on loose diamonds, signed jewelry, and vintage and estate pieces explain how each is read. Our how it works page covers the appraisal and paperwork step by step, and how much for jewelry gives ranges to set expectations before you travel downtown.
A short checklist before you go:
Loans are originated by licensed lender partners. We do not promise approval, and no page here is a loan offer. The statutory terms described are California law as cited; the amount available against any specific piece depends on its appraisal.
Loans are originated by licensed lender partners. Loan offers, terms, rates and final decisions are made by the originating licensed lender at appraisal — figures shown here are general guidance, not loan offers.
Last reviewed August 6, 2026.
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