Downtown's 83-year-old Grand Olympic Auditorium, located at 18th and Grand (near the 10, a few blocks south of Venice), has transitioned into its latest phase— a Korean church. Repainted to its original beige palette, a reader alerts us to the new signage being festooned to the building's facade this week. What's the sign say? Lily Kim, a reporter for Korea Times, fills us in: "It basically says Glory Church of Jesus Christ in Los Angeles." Also: Wikipedia (yes, take with a grain of salt) has some juicy historical tidbits on the former boxing palace; Rocky anyone?
-Built in 1924 as a sports venue for the '32 LA Olympics, the GOA opened on August 5, 1925, with Jack Dempsey and Rudolph Valentino at the kick-off shindig
-From the '30s through the '70s, the GOA hosted many boxing, wrestling, and roller derby events
-Some scenes of 1976's Rocky were shot at the venue
-In 1980, the GOA began hosting musical events and was a part of the early '80s LA punk scene
-The GOA closed in the mid-80s, reopening in 1993
-Rage Against The Machine, who put out the '99 album The Battle of Los Angeles, played their final show (before reuniting at Coachella 2007) at GOA
-The auditorium was purchased by the Glory Church of Jesus Christ three years ago
Some features:
-32 by 40-foot portable stage
-55-foot ceiling height
-2 large loading docks
-3 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
And there you have it.
· Grand Olympic Auditorium [Wikipedia]
Loading comments...