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    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
    Ebook160 pages25 minutes

    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

    By Chris Epting

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    About this ebook

    Opened to the public in June of 1923, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum can arguably be called "America's Most Historic Sports Stadium." In 1984 the Memorial Coliseum was declared a State and Federal Historic Landmark for its contributions to both the State of California and the United States. The history of this institution is captured here in over 200 vintage images.The Memorial Coliseum's history spans eight decades, playing host to two Olympiads, two Super Bowls, one World Series, a multitude of concerts and political rallies, a Papal mass, and one of the most famous Democratic presidential nomination acceptance speeches of the 20th century by John F. Kennedy. Using photographs culled from its archives, pictured here are never-before-seen photographs of the Coliseum's construction; rare images of political and religious rallies held at the Stadium and the Los Angeles Sports Arena, and home to famous speeches by Franklin Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela; and a myriad of other sporting and entertainment events hosted by the Memorial Coliseum, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, motocross racing, and the Rolling Stones.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 18, 2012
    ISBN9781439630303
    Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
    Author

    Chris Epting

    Chris Epting is the author of many books, including Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, All I Really Need to Know I Learned from KISS, and Hello, It’s Me—Dispatches From a Pop Culture Junkie.

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      Book preview

      Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - Chris Epting

      Epting

      INTRODUCTION

      I am sitting in Section 6, Row 44, Seat 1, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. While I am the only one here, I have seen the stadium packed with 90,000 strong. Yet somehow, empty on this breezy spring day, it is no less dramatic. I was interested in doing this book to document not just the well-known events that occurred here, but also the more obscure events, because it’s the combination of both that give one a full appreciation of this site. It is what separates this grand stadium from others. It’s what, I believe, allows you to make the case that the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is the most historic stadium in America (if not the world.)

      No other place has hosted two Olympiads. Two Super Bowls. A World Series. Countless classic college football matchups featuring both USC and UCLA. The Los Angeles Dodgers. The Coliseum hosted six professional football teams (Rams, Dons, Chargers, and Raiders of the NFL, the Express of the USFL, and the Extreme of the short-lived XFL.), as well as the Aztecs Soccer team and dozens of world-class track events. There have been landmark appearances by John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, F.D.R., Charles Lindbergh, General Patton, Nelson Mandela, and Pope John Paul II. The entertainment roster has included the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd, and The Who. Not to forget other notable crowd pleasers, such as Evel Knievel, the Harlem Globetrotters (in front of the largest United States basketball crowd on record), prizefighter Jack Dempsey, tennis great Don Budge, football star Red Grange, and baseball icons such as Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, and Stan Musial. And the motocross, skiing, ice skating, rodeos, boat shows, circuses, fireworks shows, Pontifical Masses, auto races, Boy Scout jamborees... it is staggering. And it is significant.

      Construction on the Coliseum took less than two years, with ground-breaking ceremonies held on December 21, 1921, and work completed on time and on budget, May 1, 1923 (initial costs were $800,000.) It opened in June 1923, with the first football game being played on October 23, 1923, with the USC hosting Pomona College before a crowd of 12,836. From 1930–31, the Coliseum’s seating capacity was expanded from 75,000 seats to 101,573 in preparation for the Opening Ceremonies of the Xth Olympiad on July 30, 1932. Twenty-one-year-old Babe Didrikson won the hurdles and javelin, and took second in the high jump. Her heroics, along with American Eddie Tolan’s double in the 100 and 200 meters, were among the Games’

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