La Coliseum
It is located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena adjacent to the campus of the University of Southern California (USC). The stadium is owned by the State of California and is currently being leased (and managed) by the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission.
The Coliseum has the distinction of being the only stadium in the world to host the Olympic Games twice, in 1932 and 1984.
It is also the only Olympic stadium to have also hosted Super Bowls and World Series. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on July 27, 1984, the day before the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
Present use
The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team.
During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, attract a capacity 92,000 person crowd, although they regularly drew far less during the 1990s. The current official capacity of the Coliseum is 93,607. The Coliseum Commission also rents the Coliseum to various events, including international soccer games, musical concerts and other large outdoor events.
Celebrating their 50th anniversary in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox played an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
On March 29th, 2008 a Los Angeles and MLB record for attendance was broken. 115,300 people attended the game.
Olympic Cauldron
The Olympic Cauldron (also known as the Olympic Torch) was built for the stadium's two Olympic games.
It is still lit during the fourth quarter of USC football games, and other special occasions (e.g., when the Olympics are being held in another city). At the Los Angeles Dodgers Fiftieth Anniversary Game on March 29th, 2008, the torch was lit for the ThinkCure! charity ceremony, while Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was played and the majority of the attendees turned on their complimentary souvenir keychain flashlights.
In 2004, the cauldron was lit non-stop for seven days in tribute to Ronald Reagan, who had died; and it was lit again in April 2005 following the death of Pope John Paul II, who had celebrated Mass at the Coliseum during his visit to Los Angeles in 1987. The torch was also lit for over a week following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
It was lit for several days following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986.
History
Structure
The Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a memorial to veterans of World War I (rededicated to veterans of all wars in 1968). The official ground breaking ceremony took place on December 21, 1921 with work being completed less than two years later, on May 1, 1923.
Designed by John and Donald Parkinson, the original bowl's initial construction costs were $954,873. However, with the arrival of the Olympics only ten years later, the stadium was expanded to 101,574 and the now-signature torch was added.
The Olympic cauldron torch which burned through both Games remains above the peristyle at the east end of the stadium as a reminder of this, as do the Olympic rings symbols over one of the main entrances. The football field runs east-west with the press box on the south side of the stadium.
The analog clock and thermometer over the office windows at either end of the peristyle were installed in 1956. Between the peristyle arches at the east end are plaques recognizing many of the memorable events and participants in Coliseum history, including a full list of 1932 and 1984 Olympic gold medalists.
A pair of life-sized bronze nude statues of male and female athletes atop a 20,000 pound (9,000 kg) post-and-lintel frame formed the Olympic Gateway created by Robert Graham for the 1984 games.
Soldier Field was stripped of its landmark status as a result of its somewhat careless renovation. However, no details have been decided.
An article in the Wednesday, May 24, 2006 issue of the Los Angeles Times made light of a proposition to spend tens of millions of dollars of city funds to heavily renovate the stadium, and indicated that the city may make more than $100 million dollars in added funds available in the future toward further renovation.
Thousands of east-end seats were very far from home plate, and were not sold unless needed. The largest regular season attendance was 78,672, the Dodgers' home debut in the Coliseum, against the San Francisco Giants on April 18, 1958.
The May 7, 1959, exhibition game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the 1958 World Series Champion New York Yankees, in honor of crippled former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella, drew 93,103, which was a Major League Baseball record prior to 2008.
All three Dodgers home games in the 1959 World Series with the Chicago White Sox exceeded 90,000 attendance.
The stadium was shown filled to capacity, with each spectator participating in a classic card stunt. The Third episode of Alias used the Coliseum as a Berlin location.