Grand Olympic Auditorium

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a sports venue in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at 1801 S. Grand Avenue, the venue was built in 1924 specifically for the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, which saw the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling events held there. At the time it was the largest indoor venue in the U.S., originally seating 15,300. The grand opening of the Olympic Auditorium was on August 5, 1925, and was a major media event, attended by such celebrities as Jack Dempsey and Rudolph Valentino.

Throughout the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s it was home to some of the biggest boxing, wrestling and roller derby events and has become somewhat of a landmark for boxing history.

The 1960s and 1970s were a major boom period for the Olympic, as major wrestling events were held at the arena every Friday night, as well as being the home to the roller-derby'sLos Angeles T-Birds.

The arena closed its doors in the mid 1980s when promoter Gene LaBell discontinued his weekly wrestling shows due to low attendance figures when the boom of the professional wrestling era began. It reopened in 1993, but the capacity was reduced to about 10,000. Currently the Auditorium seats 7,030 for boxing and wrestling, 4,514 for seated concerts, and 7,007 for general admission concerts. Up to 773 seats can be put on the arena floor, which measures 12,100 square feet (110' by 110').

On July 16, 2000, ECW held its Heatwave pay-per-view at the Grand Olympic Auditorium. It was ECW's first, and only West Coast appearance.

Today the Olympic Auditorium is host to many music concerts and shows, as well as boxing and wrestling. The arena is famous for its box office number RI-9-5171 which is still in use today as (213) 749-5171. The arena is one of the last known major boxing and wrestling arenas of its respective golden eras still in existence today.

In June 2005, the Glory Church of Jesus Christ, a Korean-American church purchased the entire property. It will be operated as their parish.

[edit] Trivia

Rock band Rage Against the Machine played their final show at the Olympic Auditorium in 2000 and released their DVD and CD Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in 2003.
32 by 40-foot portable stage.
55-foot ceiling height
2 large loading docks
13 dressing rooms
8 concession stands
5 ticket windows
2.8 kilowatt-per-channel stereo PA system with CD and cassette tape player, 2 wireless microphones and 1 wired microphone.
7 restrooms, all renovated (3 are handicap accessible)
10 C.M. Loadstar motors (4 for flying sound, 4 for stage lighting, 2 for additional lighting) plus 2 aluminum trusses (20.5 inches by 20.5 inches by 40 feet).
200 telephone lines, installed by SBC
Parking lot with 550 spaces; another 2,300 spaces at nearby garage.
Fully-equipped VIP (seating up to 40) and press rooms.
2 merchandising stands.
Three 200 ampere 480/277 volt 3-phase, 4-wire transformers, including an isolated transformer.
One 400 ampere 480/277 volt 3-phase, 4-wire transformer.
40 kW Caterpillar generator for "back-up" emergency lighting.
8-zone (dual control) dimming system for house lights by Lutron.
50' x 50' aluminum lighting truss with 72 par fixtures, permanently installed.