Curbed LA - New LA Rams Stadium in InglewoodLove where you live2020-01-31T16:29:35-08:00http://la.curbed.com/rss/stream/126572852020-01-31T16:29:35-08:002020-01-31T16:29:35-08:00LA’s NFL stadium—host of Super Bowl 2022—is nearly finished
<figure>
<img alt="A stadium with an open roof, seen from inside the stadium." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ovPRVkvWyxEmrQAPk1AkkSXFVWI=/334x0:5667x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/63566270/GettyImages_1201305311.7.jpg" />
<figcaption>The SoFi Stadium’s roof will hold an enormous video display screen, which is being assembled on the floor of the stadium now. | MediaNews Group via Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The $2.6 billion venue in Inglewood is on track to open this summer</p> <p id="EIdG72">The spacey, curving roof over <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood’</a>s <a href="https://la.curbed.com/nfl-stadium">NFL stadium</a> is coming together as the venue closes on completion. </p>
<p id="2gYhTW">The future home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers—officially, the SoFi Stadium—is now about 85 percent finished.<strong> </strong>There are about 3,200 workers on the site daily, working to ensure the stadium opens in July, according to the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park.</p>
<p id="2oWKGB">The stadium’s roof sports sections of the clear plastic cover made of a transparent material called <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/784723/etfe-the-rise-of-architectures-favorite-polymer">ETFE</a> that will eventually cover the entire canopy. Underneath, there will be a 70,000-square-foot “Oculus” display hanging from the rafters. </p>
<p id="eQnpmQ">Photos taken earlier this month on a media tour of the stadium show the enormous Oculus being assembled on the floor. The dual-sided video display will be the first of its kind, according to<strong> </strong>the Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District.</p>
<p id="umqQy4">The curving roof will also hang over a 2.5-acre open air plaza, a 6,000-seat performance venue, and a kind of reception plaza in front of the stadium entrance. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="The clear plastic panels that will make up the roof of the stadium are being put into place. Some gaps are visible, showing that work is still in progress." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vDHSsNkqk8tSFtNX9JBhluKSvo8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19622222/GettyImages_1201305183.jpg">
<cite>MediaNews Group via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>The EFTE roof coming together.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="vZCWcT">The $2.6 billion stadium was originally slated to be complete in time for the 2019 football season, but a rainy year <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers">pushed the opening date</a>. </p>
<p id="ePNZy0">The stadium is rising out of a giant 300-acre property that once housed the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/20/17691686/hollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-history">Hollywood Park</a> racetrack. Also planned for the project site is a whole new neighborhood that will hold shops, restaurants, a hotel, parks, an artificial lake, and 2,500 housing units. </p>
<p id="eflPUH">That component will open in phases, with the first phase scheduled to open by February 2022, when the stadium <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">will host Super Bowl LVI</a>. </p>
<p id="BRAiE3">Many locals are already feeling crunched by rising retail and residential rents and home prices in the neighborhood. In March 2019, the city moved to enact a <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2019/3/5/18252392/inglewood-rent-control-rules-approved">temporary freeze</a> on evictions, but the question remains what will happen in the long-term to the historically black enclave once the stadium is complete and <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/22/16347450/crenshaw-line-lax-leimert-park-metro-development">a new light rail stop</a> opens in Inglewood’s downtown. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A ground shot of cranes on pavement in front of the stadium. " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AXuW0l6bS42R-CZZ4wQHbizsmDY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19622367/GettyImages_1201305185.jpg">
<cite>MediaNews Group via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>Cranes outside the under-construction stadium.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="An aerial photo of the in-progress stadium, with cranes around it and the shell of the roof showing less progress than it does in current photos. " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/htApIDQUkBL6whAFmtOHhfkXUDY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19622369/GettyImages_1177824730.jpg">
<cite>AFP via Getty Images</cite>
<figcaption>An October photo of the work on the stadium.</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium plaza" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5gGhKfKOK-395qtwW8UZgl2PAPw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972965/North_Entry_Plaza.jpg">
<figcaption>Here’s what the stadium is expected to look like when it opens.</figcaption>
</figure>
<aside id="ROxgUx"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"la-curbed"}'></div></aside><p id="C7bfWF"></p>
<p id="ecBsn9"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2019/4/16/18410483/nfl-stadium-inglewood-los-angeles-rams-chargers-constructionBianca Barragan2019-09-17T09:58:15-07:002019-09-17T09:58:15-07:00Inglewood’s NFL stadium now officially SoFi Stadium
<figure>
<img alt="A rendering of the entry to the stadium. The words “SoFI Stadium” are visible on an arch over the entrance." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ZfRxiaNMG1a_x5ErEYtCWnyBpQo=/171x0:1162x743/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/65259650/Screen_Shot_2019_09_16_at_3.42.47_PM.0.png" />
</figure>
<p> The venue is slated to open next summer</p> <p id="8Ez5Hv">The <a href="https://la.curbed.com/nfl-stadium">under-construction future home</a> of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers in Inglewood is slated to open next summer, but already has a name. </p>
<p id="vSaADO">“In less than a year, the Rams will be running out of the tunnel into SoFi Stadium,” said Los Angeles Rams COO Kevin Demoff in a statement from the LA Stadium and Entertainment District at Hollywood Park, which owns the stadium. </p>
<p id="ZmHBKN">Renderings show the new name in enormous, glowing letters that appear on the transparent roof of the building. </p>
<p id="JdupIO">The multi-billion sports venue named for the “digital personal finance company” SoFi, which signed on to a 20-year agreement for exclusive naming rights to the venue. </p>
<p id="3yzg7N">The price tag for the agreement will not be released publicly, but these deals are usually big-ticket items. Last year United Airlines <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/29/16946718/memorial-coliseum-united-airlines-naming-rights">paid $69 million</a> for naming rights to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum—the temporary home of the Rams—for a 16-year period. </p>
<p id="ZtcvFW">The SoFi Stadium is part of a 298-acre redevelopment of land that once housed the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/20/17691686/hollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-history">Hollywood Park</a> racetrack. A whole new neighborhood is also planned for the expansive property, one that will hold shops, restaurants, a hotel, parks, an artificial lake, and 2,500 housing units when it opens in phases starting in the second half of 2020. </p>
<p id="wV2xJf">As for the stadium, it was originally expected to open in 2019, but <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers">a few rainy months</a> pushed the date back. It is slated to open in the summer of 2020. As of April, the stadium was <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2019/4/16/18410483/nfl-stadium-inglewood-los-angeles-rams-chargers-construction">two-thirds complete</a>. </p>
<p id="0ZZsMB">The stadium’s first events will be two <a href="https://www.taylorswift.com/">Taylor Swift</a> shows in July 2020. Swift will be the first female performer to open an NFL stadium, according to the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-09-17/taylor-swift-will-play-two-shows-open-sofi-stadium"><em>Los Angeles Times</em></a>. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A rendering of the entry to the stadium. The words “SoFI Stadium” are visible on an arch over the entrance." data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KU9vYR8U4d7fN0xG-_nxPs1qnpU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19205996/Screen_Shot_2019_09_16_at_3.42.47_PM.png">
<figcaption>An up-close look at the stadium and branding. </figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="A rendering of a football field. A display screen hangs from the roof, and the screen says “SoFi Stadium.”" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/TYXhAYbJDlp6JJLT6xWG5i8vCQw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/19206062/Screen_Shot_2019_09_12_at_2.20.44_PM__1_.png">
<figcaption>The view of the field at the new SoFi Stadium.</figcaption>
</figure>
https://la.curbed.com/2019/9/16/20869478/los-angeles-nfl-stadium-sofi-taylor-swiftBianca Barragan2019-02-03T09:35:16-08:002019-02-03T09:35:16-08:00Watch the LA’s $2.6B NFL stadium rise in real time
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/pFR1dkhBROx1E9bGySFoAmlXSFc=/229x0:5178x3712/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/62988764/GettyImages_1092497982.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Construction work continues on the new stadium for the LA Rams, before its completion in 2020 in Inglewood on February 1. | AFP/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The future home of the Rams and Chargers will open for the 2020 season</p> <p id="m4uaPJ">Construction is ramping up on the Inglewood NFL stadium set to become the state-of-the-art home of both the LA Rams—and now the LA Chargers. You can watch the stadium rise in real time, thanks to a <a href="https://www.therams.com/stadium/live-stadium-cam">live-stream</a> viewable on the Rams’ website.</p>
<p id="Xx4CKh">So far, the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/20/17691686/hollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-history">Hollywood Park</a> project site is mostly just a giant pit of dirt, but it’s somewhat hypnotic to watch the tiny workers making their way through the project’s massive footprint.</p>
<p id="E20HP1">Once complete, the $2.6 billion stadium will be the <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2016/1/13/10847080/nfl-stadium-inglewood-los-angeles-rams">largest in the nation</a>, at nearly 3 million square feet. It’ll include seating for 70,240 fans—and up to 100,000 in standing-room only scenarios. </p>
<p id="KABwxs">Also planned for the 300-acre project site is a huge urban village with retail, restaurants, a hotel, parks, an artificial lake, and 3,000 units of housing.</p>
<p id="q07CR1">The stadium is set to open in time for the 2020 football season, and has been selected to <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">host the 2022 Super Bowl</a>. It will be the first time Los Angeles has hosted the big game since 1993—a year before the Rams relocated to Saint Louis.</p>
<p id="NGF9Qy"><a href="https://www.therams.com/stadium/live-stadium-cam"><em><strong>Watch the live web cam of the NFL stadium’s construction in Inglewood.</strong></em></a></p>
<ul>
<li id="krEtGM">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">LA to host 2022 Super Bowl because of stadium delays</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="TgEK9I">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/5/18/11697054/inglewood-rams-development-hollywood-park">Here’s the huge new neighborhood rising around the NFL stadium in Inglewood</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="JkD10Z">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2017/1/12/14251666/los-angeles-chargers-move-rams-stadium">The Chargers are moving to LA and will share the Rams’ future Inglewood stadium</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="AVSYAk">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2016/9/12/12891522/rams-new-stadium-construction-photos">Take a look around the construction site for the new Rams stadium</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="z6Hj2f">
<a href="http://la.curbed.com/2016/1/13/10847080/nfl-stadium-inglewood-los-angeles-rams">Take a Good Look Around Los Angeles's Future NFL Stadium</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
</ul>
<p id="GqI8OX"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2017/3/2/14797866/los-angeles-rams-stadium-construction-chargers-inglewoodElijah Chiland2018-09-25T08:20:04-07:002018-09-25T08:20:04-07:00New renderings: Here’s the new neighborhood rising around Inglewood’s NFL stadium
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/-olxSbr_ntBWyZXCOobJ9we0Jr4=/667x0:3334x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/49617511/1._Lake_Plaza_18_BCV_Edit.1537378418.jpg" />
<figcaption>The lake at Hollywood Park. | Renderings courtesy of Hollywood Park</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>3,000 new residential units, an artificial lake, and a revamped casino are part of a huge Hollywood Park makeover</p> <p id="M3MOYo">With the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/nfl-stadium">under-construction Rams and Chargers stadium</a> in <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood</a> about half-way finished, there is, understandably, a lot of attention on the project. </p>
<p id="OgI9fJ">But the future home of the Rams and Chargers—and the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">2022 Super Bowl</a>—isn’t the only big project planned for the massive parcel of land left behind after the <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2015/6/1/9954768/hollywood-park-demolition">demolition of the Hollywood Park Racetrack</a>. </p>
<p id="Simlwj">Next to the $4.9 billion<strong> </strong>stadium, a massive new neighborhood and shopping complex with thousands of homes, plus new stores, restaurants, and a hotel,<strong> </strong>has been in the works for more than a decade. </p>
<p id="HoDDff">The entire 238-acre property<strong> </strong>was acquired by developers Wilson Meany and Stockridge in 2005, but construction <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2013/5/10/10244646/massive-hollywood-park-redevelopment-finally-beginning">didn’t break ground until 2014</a>, due to the downturn in the housing market. </p>
<p id="jORGr6">The site doesn’t look like much now; it’s mainly used as a staging area for the incredible amount of equipment needed to build the stadium. But as the stadium rumbles toward completion, work on the vast residential community is scheduled to ramp up. </p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KRxZjEUqa3HZp8xu613nYBJDgMc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13152957/2._Market_Garden_15_MLA_Edit_reduced.jpg">
</figure>
<div>
<div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/zJWAmpOw2m3AYe6ofrh8eJD41kE=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153033/3._The_Bar_09a_BCV_Edit.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/cAvGI2abpDK6ehnwlsAJYDfI22U=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13152995/6._Century_Plaza_03_BCV_Edit.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
</div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ST1ptwhs_Dukp-YW6ioSgM8eD4w=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153005/5._Market_Hall_18a_BCV_Edit.jpg">
<figcaption>The retail portion of the project, featuring a market (bottom and top), plaza (right) and bar (left). At top, the stadium’s roofline is visible in the background.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="YGnzGZ">When fully finished (representatives have not said when that will be), the <a href="http://www.hollywoodparklife.com/">new Hollywood Park</a> will be made up of 2,500 units of housing, 620,000 square feet of retail space, a “social hub” with a “culinary marketplace” and “giant outdoor movie screen,” a 300-room luxury hotel, and a revamped Hollywood Park Casino.</p>
<p id="HFopO0">Updated renderings, give a closer look, from the <a href="http://www.hollywoodparklife.com/retail.html">retail component</a> to the landscaping. They show a large, open-air shopping district; glassy office buildings; and a hotel with a rooftop terrace. Architecture firms <a href="https://www.gensler.com/">Gensler</a>, <a href="http://bcvarch.com/hollywood-park">BCV Architecture + Interiors</a>, <a href="http://www.architectsorange.com/">Architects Orange</a>, and <a href="http://www.harthowerton.com/">Hart Howerton</a> are part of the large team working to design the complex. </p>
<div>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/0GktMFW_PlBz7kKOhhFP7LPYIsU=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153089/1._Residential.jpg">
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/emCDZkQ2KZ4GtREqXdccW8NBpR8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153105/3._Residential.jpg">
<figcaption>Residences.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="OMdJxq">The stadium-adjacent housing will consist primarily of apartments and townhouses, interspersed with roughly two dozen acres of parks and open space, designed by <a href="http://studio-mla.com/">Studio-MLA</a>. An artificial lake, complete with waterfalls, will be a centerpiece to the community space. </p>
<p id="9IaPSu">The first phase of the project—two apartment buildings “inspired by high-design boutique hotels”—is scheduled to open in late 2020 or early 2021. In total, phase one will offer 314 apartments ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, according to the project website. </p>
<p id="hbTTps">Pricing for the new apartments hasn’t been released, but the cost of renting <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/19/17632488/inglewood-home-value-increase-nfl-stadium">in Inglewood</a> is soaring, thanks in part to Hollywood Park’s redevelopment. Prices have increased 12.2 percent since 2016, when the NFL agreed to let the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/1/12/10847246/football-rams-back-in-los-angeles">Rams and Chargers relocate to Inglewood</a>, according to according to <a href="http://www.costar.com/">CoStar</a>. </p>
<p id="3yl6hK">A representative for <a href="http://www.harthowerton.com/">Hart Howerton</a> says the firm has been trying to ensure that the housing and retail components of the complex will integrate smoothly with the surrounding neighborhood.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/N9eECJmSxEhR-TPUjHurfy3WtHQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153125/4._Office.jpg">
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/vXzHUSIzHLuRDh4zgU-09jVhwJc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13153119/3._Office.jpg">
<figcaption>Office buildings.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="9EZ54i">At the same time, the developers want the project to stand out. Winding streets and paths will set the area apart when viewed from above, or what Hart Howerton describes as the “Fifth Elevation.” The massive site is easily spotted through the windows of the 1,500 aircrafts that fly overhead and land nearby at <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/20/16337916/lax-airport-terminal-parking-shuttle-map">LAX</a> daily. </p>
<p id="1QzJqh">Those paths probably won’t be quite as eye-grabbing as the <a href="http://la.curbed.com/2015/3/23/9977994/inglewood-nfl-stadium-billboard-roof">giant billboard</a> that’s set to adorn the roof of the new stadium, but the aerial view is impressive.</p>
<ul>
<li id="EXlOwy">
<a href="http://www.hollywoodparklife.com/">Hollywood Park Life</a> [Official site]</li>
<li id="Ojbwna">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">LA to host 2022 Super Bowl because of stadium delays</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
</ul>
<p id="iWLidS"></p>
<p id="bvWgli"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2016/5/18/11697054/inglewood-rams-development-hollywood-parkElijah ChilandBianca Barragan2018-09-20T11:24:31-07:002018-09-20T11:24:31-07:00Inglewood home values are soaring—blame the NFL stadium?
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/oV2ILZ-AZoFRYdO61J68drJees0=/374x0:6347x4480/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61462139/LizKuball_180904_0047_HighRes.0.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>The massive venue isn’t open yet, but sellers are already collecting LA’s highest profits</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap p-large-text" id="AqyQzd">“Inglewood is to be the new home for the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers,” proclaims a listing for a three-bedroom home at the northern edge of the city, just a few miles from the<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/3/16847374/rams-nfl-stadium-los-angeles-chargers-construction-photos"> colossal steel husk</a> that will eventually become the world’s <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2018/05/16/rams-stadium-costs-top-4-billion.html">most expensive</a> sports arena.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><div id="kzrXBh"><a href="https://curbed.com/2018/9/19/17841682/city-development-urban-planning-neighborhood-restaurant-economy"><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13077695/EaterCurbed_RecircSquare_v2.0.png"></a></div></div>
<p id="QN8DfG">At the end of July, Curbed surveyed more than 80 online real estate listings in the city of Inglewood, where residents are preparing for the arrival of two major sports franchises two decades after the Lakers and Kings departed for the Staples Center in 1999. More than half of the listings mentioned the NFL stadium or the sprawling complex of apartments, restaurants, and retail businesses set to rise right next door.</p>
<p id="rearMG">One listing included just two photos: an exterior shot of a three-bedroom home and a flashy rendering of the future stadium, as if buying a house in Inglewood were equivalent to snagging a seat on the 45-yard line.</p>
<p id="GT5Pae">Inglewood’s <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/9/12/12893244/rams-stadium-inglewood-nfl-construction">massive new NFL stadium</a> will open to the public in just two short years. Eventually it will be joined by a huge mixed-use development with more than 3,000 units of housing. The projects will thoroughly transform the 300 acres of land where the old <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/20/17691686/hollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-history">Hollywood Park racetrack</a> once stood.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="84LH0a"><q>One listing included just two photos: an exterior shot of a three-bedroom home and a flashy rendering of the future stadium, as if buying a house in Inglewood were equivalent to snagging a seat on the 45-yard line. </q></aside></div>
<p id="v4J8VM">But what about the city around it? Home values in Inglewood are rising quickly. Between January 2016—when the NFL agreed to let the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/1/12/10847246/football-rams-back-in-los-angeles">Rams and Chargers relocate to Inglewood</a>—and June of this year, the median price of homes in the city jumped 37.3 percent to $542,100, according to data provided to Curbed by<a href="https://www.zillow.com/"> Zillow</a>.</p>
<p id="PaaK7M">That’s still less than the LA County median of $609,400, but Inglewood is catching up. Home values there rose at roughly double the rate of the county, where prices climbed 18.7 percent over the same time period.</p>
<p id="VmsSAm">Inglewood home prices went up in the two years leading up to 2016 as well, but at a rate closer to that of the rest of the county: 17 percent, compared to a little under 15 percent countywide.</p>
<p id="d3gp09">In less than seven years, the median price of a home in Inglewood has more than doubled.</p>
<p id="d5HJmV">It’s not just the stadium that’s enticing buyers, says Stuart Gabriel, director of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate.</p>
<p id="TngPN5">The arrival of the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/crenshaw-line">Crenshaw/LAX rail line</a>, which is set to open next year, along with a <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/7/21/16013316/inglewood-clippers-arena-displacement">proposed arena</a> for the Los Angeles Clippers and <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/26/17166044/lax-redevelopment-proposals-westchester">new development</a> in and around nearby LAX,<strong> </strong>could further inflate home values in the area.</p>
<p id="0MujPu">The city’s location—close to the beach cities of the South Bay and emerging tech hubs on the Westside—may also be attracting new buyers.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HSSarCAgxrC44mG69GJJnXnIF6o=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13109383/LizKuball_180904_0044_HighRes.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="bt0dCE">“It’s really the last affordable, extremely well-located community,” says Gabriel.</p>
<p id="Zum7je">At an open house in August, realtor Lori Penix showed a family from San Diego around a recently remodeled condo close to the city’s border with LA’s upscale Westchester neighborhood. Stepping across the fresh laminate floors of the living room, the prospective buyers asked whether it would be easy to get from Inglewood to Santa Monica once the Crenshaw/LAX Line opens.</p>
<p id="mkX1Lp">“The station’s only about a mile away,” said Penix, encouragingly.</p>
<p id="TldqbH">Scheduled to start service at the end of 2019, the light rail will link the city to the county’s<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/8/29/12687320/la-metro-map-gif-measure-m-sales-tax-ballot"> growing rail network</a>, connecting at its northern end to the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/expo-line-extension">Expo Line</a>, which began ferrying riders between Downtown LA and Santa Monica in 2016.</p>
<div class="c-float-right"><aside id="WN98oH"><q>The city’s location—close to the beach cities of the South Bay and emerging tech hubs on the Westside—may also be attracting new buyers. </q></aside></div>
<p id="8kBpGb">Inglewood’s location has always made it a “hot market,” says realtor Janet Singleton, who has 27 years of experience selling homes in the area. But, she says, the stadium and future train “brought more visibility” to buyers who might once have focused their searches on more upscale Westside communities.</p>
<p id="68ffht">Penix, who lives in Inglewood, says buyers from outside the community who have preconceived notions about the city are often surprised by what they find.</p>
<p id="Sx8aua">“A lot of people come with a certain perception of what the neighborhood is,” she says, “and then they get here and they say, ‘Oh, okay, this is just like Mar Vista.’”</p>
<p id="tLG9Bd">Property owners are reaping the benefits of new interest in the city. Homeowners in Inglewood collected higher profits when selling their residences in 2017 than those in any other city in Los Angeles County, according to sales data <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/6/26/17506912/los-angeles-home-profits-real-estate-seller-market">released by Zillow</a>.</p>
<aside id="uQMXCJ"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data='{"stories":[{"title":"How LA’s NFL Stadium Will Seal the Fate of Inglewood Restaurants","url":"https://la.eater.com/2018/9/19/17871714/nfl-stadium-inglewood-restaurants"}]}'></div></aside><p id="RPTACQ">Those who sold last year did so for a price that was, on average, nearly 80 percent higher than what they paid. The median dollar amount that sellers pocketed in these sales was $186,500 above the last purchase price.</p>
<p id="Y4i89d">Part of that is because Inglewood sellers held on to their homes for longer than those selling in other areas, allowing more time for the value of those residences to appreciate. The typical Inglewood seller in 2017 had owned their home for 11.6 years, compared to a median of 9.7 years across all cities in the county.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yoE0Z7WqbSQ6Nu3DHuJE4d2ASoQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13076425/LizKuball_180803_0064_HighRes.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
<p id="lgfnGa">The amount of time sellers have owned their homes can’t entirely explain the city’s rapid price growth. Homeowners in just three other LA County cities saw profits of more than 50 percent when selling in 2017.</p>
<p id="P1r5dW">But most Inglewood residents don’t stand to benefit from a hot real estate market—the majority of them are renters. <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF">Fewer than 35 percent of homes</a> in the city are owner-occupied.</p>
<p id="qS2kZh">Many renters worry they won’t have a place in the “new Inglewood” that emerges once construction wraps up on major projects like the NFL stadium and the Crenshaw Line, says Woodrow Curry, a member of the tenant coalition <a href="https://www.upliftinglewood.org/">Uplift Inglewood</a>, a group that has advocated for citywide rent control and more affordable housing.</p>
<p id="Bfqr6j">“We know how this plays out,” Curry says. “We’ve worked closely with people who have experienced this in their own communities, such as Boyle Heights, Silver Lake, Echo Park... this happens all over.”</p>
<p id="gN1A3D">Rents in Inglewood haven’t increased as quickly as home values, but that’s little consolation to tenants who’ve faced a 12.2 percent jump in rental prices since 2016, according to <a href="http://www.costar.com/">CoStar</a>. Countywide, rents have risen 7.4 percent over the same time period.</p>
<p id="KtIYYo">“There’s undoubtedly going to be a displacement effect for existing residents,” Gabriel says.</p>
<p id="QLH3XD">Uplift Inglewood launched a ballot initiative earlier this year to bring rent control protections to the city, but the group <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/6/22/17442778/rent-control-inglewood-long-beach-pasadena">wasn’t able to gather enough signatures</a> to put the issue before voters in November.</p>
<p id="FzZM5U">With limits on rent increases unlikely, Curry says he wants city leaders to do more to bring new affordable and senior housing to Inglewood.</p>
<p id="85b2kj">Inglewood hasn’t produced a single unit of affordable housing since the end of 2013, when all LA County cities were required to set housing goals for the next seven years, according to a<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/2/2/16964850/los-angeles-housing-goals-shortage-california"> report released earlier this year</a> by the California Department of Housing and Community Development.</p>
<p id="kzVxOE">A city spokesperson notes, however, that 619 units were constructed in the three years leading up to that period.</p>
<p id="PRY5dx">“After not having investment in our community for so long, we welcome new development,” says Curry. “We just want that investment to be people and community centered.”</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ecGojAOUWE8AZ5F058Xyb8S0NJw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13077499/LizKuball_180904_0091_HighRes.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
<p id="8YD43g">Inglewood has gone through dramatic changes before. Incorporated in 1908, it had a population of 1,536 in 1910. By 1930, after <a href="http://inglewoodoilfield.com/history-future/history-inglewood-oilfield/">oil was discovered beneath its soil</a>, the number of residents had increased more than tenfold, and that growth continued during and after World War II, fostered in part by the South Bay’s booming <a href="http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2011/08/08/north-american-aviation/">aviation industry</a>.</p>
<p id="xNEEh9">Starting in the 1960s, the city underwent a different kind of change. As LA school districts <a href="https://library.csun.edu/SCA/Peek-in-the-Stacks/DesegregationBusing">made plans to desegregate</a> and black and brown residents moved into neighborhoods once governed by <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/2/22/16979700/west-adams-history-segregation-housing-covenants">racially exclusive covenants</a>, white residents across LA began abandoning some of the region’s most central urban areas.</p>
<p id="bwZ1Va">Inglewood was no exception.</p>
<p id="ofBK7T">In 1960, the city was more than 99 percent white and home to just 29 black residents, according to U.S. census data. By 1980, 57 percent of Inglewood residents were black and less than 30 percent were white. Between 1970 and 1980, the city lost almost 50,000 white residents while its overall population continued to rise.</p>
<p id="r6X5wp">Inglewood’s demographics continue to shift. Today, roughly 43 percent of residents are black, while more than 50 percent are Hispanic or Latino, according to the <a href="https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF">U.S. Census Bureau</a>.<strong> </strong></p>
<p id="aInFyx">Gabriel says it’s hard to predict how new development will change the community that now makes up Inglewood because the largest projects are concentrated in a relatively small portion of the city.</p>
<p id="GJxtdy">“One contending vision is that the combination of <a href="https://la.curbed.com/silicon-beach">Silicon Beach</a>; rail infrastructure; investment coming from the airport, the stadium; and all the rest will ultimately cause a very real, substantive, integrated economic revitalization of Inglewood,” Gabriel says.</p>
<div class="p-fullbleed-block"><div class="c-image-grid">
<div class="c-image-grid__item"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/n1naRdGUNnBD_MnvQvqUuff1AlQ=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13077831/LizKuball_180904_0035_HighRes.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-image-grid__item"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/OSpIOJPAsWSRAVKBAXqGYoD-6pY=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13079471/LizKuball_180904_0088_HighRes.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
</div></div>
<p id="zEe8Nm">“But another possibility is that the stadium will be a self-contained island of economic activity—that people will drive in and out of the stadium from all parts of the LA basin, but that all this economic activity will not extend to the local Main Street.”</p>
<p id="SJj2Hj">Whatever the long-term economic effects of the stadium turn out to be, there’s no question that real estate professionals are taking advantage of the excitement around its impending arrival.</p>
<p id="5seY9w">Many listings seem targeted specifically at developers and speculative buyers. “Huge upside potential,” reads an ad for a small three-bedroom residence. “Calling investors,” says another listing, for a two-bedroom on the north side of the city.<strong> </strong></p>
<p id="SqLUGj">Singleton says real estate investors are descending on the area, making it trickier for traditional buyers to close deals.</p>
<p id="hZuqJ5">“Buyers have to be ready to compete,” she says. “They’re up against cash offers all the time.”</p>
<p id="5qBEeZ">Residents who already own their homes also find themselves in a tight spot. </p>
<p id="zP4jp1">“Buyers who bought their first home in Inglewood are happy to hear what their home is worth,” Singleton says. “But their incomes have not tripled, so they can’t afford to buy up anywhere else.”</p>
<p id="WS2Jje">Penix says she has also noticed investor interest. But, she maintains, it’s not just the stadium driving buyers to the area.</p>
<p id="1KxTXZ">“Maybe it’s because I live here, but I really feel like it’s like any other part of LA,” she says.</p>
<p id="AyU5OV">Whether it’s the stadium or other forces driving up real estate prices, Penix says residents have taken notice.</p>
<p id="1ge70L">“Some people aren’t loving the changes,” she says. “They get upset when new people come in and try to steer the community, as if people haven’t been asking for the same things for years.”</p>
<p id="pKjkih">Curry says he’s worried that more affluent residents will fundamentally alter the city’s identity.</p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="GyMh5E">“My fear is that Inglewood loses its spirit,” he says. “We have a history of being a great working-class city... when you change that, you change the spirit of the city.”</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/wVFgLyAxjN6WZ9BIYaH50xS7X1E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13112113/EaterCurbed_Linebreak.png">
</figure>
<div id="pTI2zO"><a href="https://curbed.com/2018/9/19/17841682/city-development-urban-planning-neighborhood-restaurant-economy"><img src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13077741/EaterCurbed_RecircLong_v2.0.png"></a></div>
<p id="ZXsxRB"> </p>
<aside id="QhFosr"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"curbed_national"}'></div></aside><p id="QpC04g"></p>
<p id="edyRTr"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/19/17632488/inglewood-home-value-increase-nfl-stadiumElijah Chiland2018-09-20T09:00:00-07:002018-09-20T09:00:00-07:00The glitz and glamour of Hollywood Park
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/o29LT51FZSDUAgtKR4397TS2IC0=/427x102:2902x1958/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/61478031/p16855coll2_2180_full.7.jpg" />
</figure>
<p>LA’s flashy new football stadium is rising on the grounds of a legendary racetrack once described as too beautiful for words</p> <p class="p--has-dropcap p-large-text" id="FGkTHn">It was early summer, 1938 and the entertainment industry was abuzz. The talk was not of the latest premier or on-set romance. It was of the almost completed <a href="https://la.curbed.com/building/hollywood-park-racetrack">Hollywood Park Racetrack</a> in <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood</a>, set to open June 10. </p>
<p id="Nw9BI6">“Like all of Hollywood, I’ll be right there watching the sport of kings for the kings and queens of the cinema,” gossip columnist <a href="https://go.redirectingat.com?id=66960X1516509&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Ffilm%2Ftrumbo%2Fhedda-hopper-woman-who-scared-hollywood%2F&referrer=archive.curbed.com&sref=https%3A%2F%2Fla.curbed.com%2F2018%2F9%2F20%2F17691686%2Fhollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-history" rel="sponsored nofollow noopener" target="_blank">Hedda Hopper</a> <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-26/sports/sp-1688_1_hollywood-park">wrote</a> in the days leading up to Hollywood Park’s opening. “The studios have declared a half-holiday… Now our visitors wonder whether we’re producing pictures, racehorses or both.” </p>
<p id="3FsI9j">Hopper’s prying eyes would not be disappointed.</p>
<hr class="p-entry-hr" id="rSjfvH">
<p id="qTugAt">Claudette Colbert, <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2015/3/26/9976576/dolores-del-rio-outpost-estates">Dolores Del Rio</a>, and Joan Crawford were just a few of the movie stars watching the inaugural races, while famous entertainers Pat O’Brien, Jack Benny, George Burns, and Gracie Allen broadcast the day’s events live from the stands. Thus, began a love affair between celebrities and Hollywood Park that would not end until the track closed for good in 2013. </p>
<p id="aM0FWU">The seeds for Hollywood Park were planted in 1933, the same year prohibition was repealed nationally. That year, California voters approved Proposition 3, becoming one of the first states to legalize <a href="http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/departments/business-consumer-services-and-housing-agency/california_horse_racing_board?agencyid=219">pari-mutuel gambling</a> for horse racing. </p>
<p id="uVYFa9">Santa Anita was the first Southern California track to open in the winter of 1934, followed by the Del Mar track shortly after. Seeking a track closer to Los Angeles, a group of stockholders, including prominent Hollywood moguls like Jack Warner, formed the Hollywood Turf Club.</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/aVk9lzPcek5lbTAMHCrVMDS9dZc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12026799/00101581.jpg">
</figure>
</div>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nWlwetB3jy0TIVL7OtXaduPDTVI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12026773/00101557.jpg">
<cite>Los Angeles Public Library photo collection</cite>
<figcaption>Top: Waiting for a race to start front of full grandstands at Hollywood Park. Right: Walking paths lined with hibiscus and palms.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="nwKgw0">In 1936 they bought more than 100 acres of undeveloped land in Inglewood, near the Potrero Country Club for around $250,000. </p>
<p id="8AtoU8"><a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood</a> was chosen because of the availability of flat rancho land and the ocean breezes, which made it significantly cooler than inland Los Angeles. </p>
<p id="X2TCSh">It was a middle-class community, dotted with small family homes and expansive agriculture and aerospace tracts—and some residents feared the new track would bring a questionable element into their quiet town. </p>
<p id="n65T3Z">Those who opposed it vigorously protested the track’s construction, going so far as to send the following wire to the head of the California Horse Racing Board saying that 200 residents had assembled in a “mass meeting” to register their “vigorous and emphatic protest” to any kind of horse racing track in their community. </p>
<p id="lkBDWT">They urged the board to revoke the track’s permit.</p>
<p id="GiuInL">But the Turf Club eventually prevailed. On October 23, 1936, it broke ground for the new Hollywood Park in Inglewood. It was backed by 600 stockholders, including movie stars Al Jolson, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy, Joan Blondell, and Bing Crosby. </p>
<p id="y5FVk1">Warner was named the chairman of the board. The unflappable J. F. MacKenzie, who had worked with the 1932 Olympics and collegiate athletics, was hired as general manager of the new plant. </p>
<p id="MFIwlD">The construction of Hollywood Park would be a massive undertaking. Shortly before it opened its first 33-day season in 1938, MacKenzie estimated that 6 million feet of lumber, 2,200 tons of steel, and 43,046 sacks of cement had been used in its construction. </p>
<p id="AZgE0g">Some of Hollywood Park’s most commented upon features were the plantings, artificial ponds, and waterfalls that dotted the property. </p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"><aside id="1acfnL"><q>Tens of thousands of “everyday” Southern Californians stood in the stands, eager to catch the first day of horse racing at the expensive plant, which critics claimed was architecturally “beautiful almost beyond description.” </q></aside></div>
<p id="Ag9lrP">“The stands are wonderfully spacious, the view is excellent, arrangements for the public are as fine as anyone could imagine, and they’ve even got a chain of lakes out in the infield with swans paddling about in the dignified manner of their kind and setting a fine example of placid contentment to the jittery two-dollar bettors,” columnist Bill Henry wrote. </p>
<p id="hq6ndD">Adopting the motto “the public be pleased,” Hollywood Park also boasted “five soda fountains divided between the clubhouse and grandstand,” so that those who didn’t “go for hard liquor” could enjoy sundaes and milkshakes between races.</p>
<p id="ucCb4w">There was a “privacy driveway” for the chauffeured cars of movie stars and high rollers and a plush clubhouse that could seat 500 gamblers at a time.</p>
<p id="8xAeuW">On the rainy opening day, June 10, 1938, Hollywood Park, employing a staff of 1,500 people, was dedicated to its patrons. “And now ladies and gentlemen, Hollywood Park belongs to you,” said racing announcer Joe Hernandez.</p>
<p id="jZeoCB">The most exclusive boxes and private rooms were filled with some of America’s most famously beautiful people, who had been eagerly awaiting this day for months. </p>
<p id="hbRWxH">Tens of thousands of “everyday” Southern Californians stood in the stands, eager to catch the first day of horse racing at the expensive plant, which critics claimed was architecturally “beautiful almost beyond description.”</p>
<div class="c-wide-block"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/QlX5Y_OaHzV0MAek9Bds-0yg_5k=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13109379/kt7000274w_d3e2916.jpg">
<cite>Inglewood Public Library</cite>
<figcaption>The Streamline Moderne-style Hollywood Park Racetrack Clubhouse, circa 1960.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="dmsBWp">So pretty in fact that it almost seemed unreal.</p>
<p id="GLCE5b">“In keeping with the name, the place is reminiscent of some gigantic motion picture set, but it’s all very real because the stockholders have spent more than $2,000,000 to make it so,” the <em>Los Angeles Times</em> wrote.</p>
<p id="YzFQQS">A horse named Valley Lass won the first race, though the Park’s “goose girl”—an attractive young woman dressed as a shepherdess and who hung out in the infield with the ducks and swans—would garner a great deal of the crowd’s attention.</p>
<p id="cLp7jm">Hollywood Park offered a massive $350,000 in purse money, making it <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eEG9GAAACAAJ&dq=the+history+of+thoroughbred+racing+in+california&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjE7ZSGyNncAhWKwFQKHeRWA94Q6AEINDAC">one of the most</a> “lucrative programs then known to racing.” </p>
<p id="0foMat">This large purse meant class-A horses were brought to the park from all over the country, including Lawrin, the winner of the 1938 Kentucky Derby. The legendary Seabiscuit would win the Park’s first lucrative Gold Cup.</p>
<div class="c-float-left c-float-hang"> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xWf9PApf5y5VDrvjQZQ8Mc5dGOs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12026659/00106213.jpg">
<cite>Los Angeles Public Library photo collection</cite>
<figcaption>Betty Grable, “America’s favorite pinup,” and Harry James, “America’s favorite trumpet player,” lay their bet.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="mPtcq0">But park patrons were often more interested in those watching the races than those running in them.</p>
<p id="TyjBmi">“You could see a celebrity just about every time you looked up into one of the boxes,” Howard W. Koch, the movie producer-director, <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1987-11-21/news/vw-5356_1_hollywood-park">remembered</a>.</p>
<p id="uWf8qJ">Regulars included Barbara Stanwyck (who owned a successful horse farm with Zeppo Marx in <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/773/northridge">Northridge</a>), racehorse owners Fred and Phyllis Astaire (Fred’s second wife would be the successful jockey Robyn Smith), Cary Grant, George Raft, Mickey Rooney, Greer Garson, <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2015/3/16/9980300/goldwyn-estate-beverly-hills-39-million">Sam Goldwyn</a>, Errol Flynn, and Darryl Zanuck. Del Mar founder Crosby was a fixture, often running his prize-winning horse Ligarotti.</p>
<p id="9JjhEr">“It is hard to get a good photo finish at any Southern California racetrack, because the horses have associated with actors so much that they insist on looking at the camera,” writer Irving S. Cobb joked.</p>
<p id="ieG6qp">Movie-industry folks would go to great lengths to get to the park on race days, using tricks of the trade to sneak away. According to columnist Lee Shippey:</p>
<blockquote><p id="Ntp9IC">One writer at Warner Brothers is having the makeup department perfect him a disguise so that Jack Warner won’t recognize him when they meet at the races every day. Warner is said to believe that somebody around a studio should keep on working, even when races are on.</p></blockquote>
<p id="J428c1">All this fun would come to a standstill with America’s entry into World War Two. In April of 1942, MacKenzie, the park’s longtime general manager, became assistant director to the South California office of Civilian Defense. Racetracks and most other forms of public sporting land were leased or taken over by the government; their large plants used to aid the war effort.</p>
<p id="rl3V2h">Santa Anita was turned into a way station for <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/30/17147942/san-pedro-history-terminal-island-internment">Japanese-Americans awaiting internment</a>. Hollywood Park’s war service would be much more benign, quartering soldiers and being used as a storage facility for the North American Aviation Company.</p>
<div class="c-float-right c-float-hang"><aside id="PG2YMS"><q>“You could see a celebrity just about every time you looked up into one of the boxes,” Howard W. Koch, the movie producer-director, remembered. </q></aside></div>
<p id="TRnWuW">In 1944, the California Horse Racing Board permitted Hollywood Park to hold a new charitable season. The board approved an “extensive war relief program,” and, in both 1944 and 1945, Hollywood Park would raise more than $1 million for charities and schools. </p>
<p id="bIlqMD">In 1949, a newly renovated Hollywood Park debuted, boasting $1 million of upgrades, including fresh paint and a luxurious new clubhouse. But like a gambler’s lucky streak, the new Hollywood Park’s reign would be remarkably short-lived.</p>
<p id="OaYCB6">On the night of May 5, 1949, pilots flying into the Los Angeles Airport (now <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/30/17147942/san-pedro-history-terminal-island-internment">LAX</a>) began to call in suspicious flames rising in Inglewood. Around the same time, Hollywood Park’s night watchman was making his rounds on the top deck of the facility when he discovered the fire. </p>
<p id="gMrep7">Even as he pulled the emergency alarm, the fire was spreading to the 8-story elevator. Soon the wooden roof, seats and benches were in flames, the metal grandstand melting and twisting as it fell to the ground. </p>
<p id="3n8Tc4">It was later hypothesized that the fresh paint on the grandstands also added to the fire’s quick spread. Like rabid movie-goers, an estimated 100,000 spectators from all over Inglewood and Hawthorne gathered to watch the flames and the devastation they left, jamming roads and blocking emergency vehicles. </p>
<p id="BN7zsa">Luckily, the wind saved all of the over 600 horses stabled at the park. As ever, general manager MacKenzie (who had returned after the war) was calm and stoic.</p>
<p id="BzCq6b">“We’re burned out, but we’re not licked,” he stated. </p>
<p id="JsMzXn">Rebuilding began almost immediately. <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1985-10-05/sports/sp-1206_1_hollywood-park">Arthur Froehlich</a>, who had designed Hollywood Park’s 1949 clubhouse and the grandstand extension, was hired to design the new plant. It was reported that only fireproof materials would be used.</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BIN_t07HXyNpYGZJW__jUMC3U_E=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/12026521/00060132.jpg">
<cite>Los Angeles Public Library photo collection</cite>
<figcaption>Tony Curtis, Carol Burnett, and Cary Grant, 1978. </figcaption>
</figure>
<p id="UGNYMF">Amazingly, the rebuilt Hollywood Park opened on time for its 1950 season. The park continued to attract celebrities under the leadership of succeeding general manager James Stewart, who ran the track from 1953 to 1972. </p>
<p id="p5bnQg">“We have to put on something much more than great racing,” <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-26/sports/sp-1688_1_hollywood-park/2">he said</a>. “We have to stage a show.”</p>
<p id="AmgjhU">During the ’70s and ’80s, the park plugged along, leading the way in many racing innovations. It slowly lost its luster as the place to see and be seen, although occasionally you could still see superstars like Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson popping in to catch a race.</p>
<p id="N5tats">TV stars like Tim Conway and Jack Klugman were still regulars and horse owners to boot. “Horse racing, gives celebrities an opportunity to spend the inheritance before the kids grow up,” <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1988-04-26/sports/sp-1688_1_hollywood-park/2">Conway joked</a>.</p>
<p id="1WTDYO">In 1991, the plant underwent a $20-million reconstruction. It was during the mid-’90s that the idea of building an NFL Stadium on the now 298-acre park was first floated in the media. In 2005, Hollywood Park was <a href="https://www.drf.com/news/land-company-buys-hollywood-park">bought</a> by the Bay Meadows Land Company from Churchill Downs for $260 million.</p>
<p id="1aHw2g">A year later, it installed the first synthetic track surface in California. But attendance plummeted as horse racing fell out of fashion.</p>
<div> <figure class="e-image">
<img alt=" " data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/nvZmDs6npGT0cEW5MuqNpc9gXjs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13109493/AP_739842044795.jpg">
<cite>AP</cite>
<figcaption>The first of a series of explosions begins to bring down the grandstand at the former Hollywood Park racetrack on May 31, 2015.</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
<p id="6GDMdI">The writing was on the wall, and it was announced that Hollywood Park would close after its last day of races in December of 2013. </p>
<p id="TTbBsk">On closing day, December 22, 2013, television star Dick Van Patten, who attended the track almost every race day, shuffled into the Hollywood Turf Club. His eyes filled with tears when he saw the longtime ticket taker and remembered the days, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/sports/a-last-hurrah-for-hollywood-park.html">long ago</a>, when “the name ‘Hollywood Park’ meant Hollywood.” </p>
<p id="jpn4fw">On May 31, 2015, the Hollywood Park track was <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2015/6/1/9954768/hollywood-park-demolition">imploded</a> in 30 seconds—a spectacle watched by dozens of NFL <a href="https://www.dailybreeze.com/2015/05/31/video-shows-hollywood-park-grandstand-implosion-to-make-way-for-nfl-stadium/">fans chanting</a> “L.A. Rams.” They hoped that the implosion would lead the way to an <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/9/12/12893244/rams-stadium-inglewood-nfl-construction">NFL stadium in Inglewood</a>. </p>
<p id="eIXuWg">The fans got their wish. A new 80,000-seat NFL stadium is now rising where Hollywood Park once stood. </p>
<p class="c-end-para" id="EhoYhj">The show must go on. </p>
<p id="Ww1mI5"></p>
<p id="Bo3WuS"></p>
<p id="bkEbSZ"></p>
<p id="heLWqc"></p>
<p id="YpaBMV"></p>
<p id="DxPwM4"></p>
<p id="LDxQMt"></p>
<p id="KEt2yX"></p>
<p id="msoViQ"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2018/9/20/17691686/hollywood-park-inglewood-race-track-historyHadley Meares2018-01-03T17:29:48-08:002018-01-03T17:29:48-08:00See LA’s new NFL stadium take shape in Inglewood
<figure>
<img alt="Aerial view of construction at Inglewood NFL stadium" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Hs7V2X1c1q11t1_0uA_6Zshz0tI=/254x0:4311x3043/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58197481/Aerial2.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Construction on the stadium is slated to wrap up in 2020. | All images courtesy Los Angeles Stadium & Entertainment District</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Construction is ramping up on the huge arena</p> <p id="yKjqpZ">Last year’s unusually wet winter <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers">held back construction</a> on the future home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers in <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood</a>, forcing the stadium’s developers to push back its opening day to 2020.</p>
<p id="JSpnkD">But <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/12/28/16826728/los-angeles-weather-drought-climate">scarcely a drop of rain</a> has fallen this winter, and construction is now moving right along.</p>
<p id="uGYzsv">Builders of the 70,000-seat arena announced Wednesday that thus far roughly 6 million cubic yards of dirt have been excavated, 45,000 cubic yards of concrete poured, and eight cranes brought to the construction site.</p>
<p id="n4tieE">A massive structural retaining wall, which will support the stadium, is now 65 percent complete, and the outline of the ovular structure is taking shape.</p>
<p id="QPzPiS">Work on the project is about to ramp up. About 850 workers are now employed on the stadium on a given day, but that number will more than quadruple by next year. </p>
<p id="DGu6zQ">At that point, work will have begun on the glassy roof canopy, which builders promise will be constructed using the help of “one of the largest cranes in the world.”</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Aerial view of Inglewood NFL Stadium" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q1OgYDFleAxdroA1MwJX2lCK1ck=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9973051/Aerial1.jpg">
</figure>
<p id="l1KwbV">That’s par for the course for this particular project, which seems to be gunning for nearly every available superlative.</p>
<p id="rKiLGa">With a projected cost of $2.6 billion, the stadium and surrounding entertainment district and <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/5/18/11697054/inglewood-rams-development-hollywood-park">urban village</a> will be the <a href="http://www.cnn.com/style/article/new-nfl-stadium-los-angeles/index.html">costliest NFL complex</a> ever built (it could also be the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/3/16250342/la-rams-stadium-ticket-prices-inglewood-chargers-nfl">most expensive for fans</a>). At 3 million square feet, it will be the largest stadium in professional football. Its 120-yard video screen (<a href="https://www.si.com/nfl/2016/01/15/los-angeles-rams-inglewood-stadium-project-videoboard">dubbed Oculus</a>) will be the biggest around.</p>
<p id="XnEvsG">As the renderings below illustrate, the screen will encircle the top of the field like a glittery halo. Above the screen will be a clear roofline allowing light to shine down on fans assembled in seats or luxury suites (there will be 275 of them).</p>
<p id="iot2Gp">Here’s a closer look at what the stadium will look like when complete:</p>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium field" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/SL9s79xEjT-brLaosmUiMIJltf8=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972949/Level_2_Midfield_Seating_Bowl_V3.jpg">
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium view of field" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7YE3-UjkBLxBeUoo81n6Q1oT7lg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972961/Level_3_Southeast_Seating_Bowl_V3.jpg">
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium plaza" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5gGhKfKOK-395qtwW8UZgl2PAPw=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972965/North_Entry_Plaza.jpg">
<cite>Courtesy Los Angeles Stadium and Entertainment District</cite>
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium promenade" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VcL2dRFi6wIetobncj54F27g0qc=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972967/Level_3_Patio_Club_Entry_V2.jpg">
</figure>
<figure class="e-image">
<img alt="Inglewood NFL stadium aerial night" data-mask-text="false" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xIT_h5g4nu7NJkATzZR5pwISKR0=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/9972971/South_Aerial_Perspective_V2.jpg">
</figure>
<aside id="5sTiMv"><div data-anthem-component="readmore" data-anthem-component-data="{"stories":[{"title":"Rams stadium opening delayed until 2020 due to rain, officials say","url":"https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers"},{"title":"Take a Good Look Around Los Angeles's Future NFL Stadium","url":"https://la.curbed.com/2016/1/13/10847080/nfl-stadium-inglewood-los-angeles-rams"},{"title":"Here's the Huge New Neighborhood Rising Around the Rams Stadium in Inglewood","url":"https://la.curbed.com/2016/5/18/11697054/inglewood-rams-development-hollywood-park"}]}"></div></aside><aside id="lZgFaf"><div data-anthem-component="newsletter" data-anthem-component-data='{"slug":"la-curbed"}'></div></aside><p id="m4jAuz"></p>
https://la.curbed.com/2018/1/3/16847374/rams-nfl-stadium-los-angeles-chargers-construction-photosElijah Chiland2017-09-03T16:41:40-07:002017-09-03T16:41:40-07:00Rams stadium could have the priciest tickets in NFL history
<figure>
<img alt="Crowds outside of the Rams stadium" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/JlJAlYOnTDCGQzP9DSSSErY7jZo=/250x0:1250x750/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/56503163/14_001_N22_medium__1_.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>The under-construction Rams stadium will be the largest in the NFL, with seating for over 70,000 fans. | Rendering courtesy Hart Howerton</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The under-construction stadium is set to open in 2020</p> <p id="aXWEJH">The new <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/9/12/12893244/rams-stadium-inglewood-nfl-construction">Los Angeles Rams stadium</a>, soon to be the largest in the NFL, could also be its most expensive, according to documents <a href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/sportsnow/la-sp-rams-psl-20170831-story.html">obtained by the <em>Los Angeles Times</em></a>. </p>
<p id="8V7NBs">Still under construction in <a href="https://la.curbed.com/neighborhood/827/inglewood">Inglewood</a>, the stadium won’t open <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers">until 2020</a>, but the Rams organization is already studying possible ticket prices, as well as fees associated with season ticket purchases. </p>
<p id="JqPjQj">According to the <em>Times</em>, the team is considering charging between $175,000 and $225,000 per seat for the stadium’s most expensive personal seat licenses—one-time deposits that allow fans to purchase season tickets in the future.</p>
<p id="jxz1Hu">Those would be the highest-priced personal seat licenses in NFL history, though they would eventually be refundable—50 years from the date of purchase.</p>
<p id="yH8PF1">After purchasing the license, buyers would be able to acquire season tickets for between $350 and $400 per game.</p>
<p id="P0VWD2">Rams fans looking to spend a little less than the price of a Ferrari on season tickets won’t be out of options. Under the proposed pricing scheme, personal seat licenses for the most economical tickets would start at $500—with the actual tickets costing $50 per game.</p>
<p id="4GRf8f">It’s not clear yet whether Chargers fans will face similar costs. The team, which <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/1/12/14251666/los-angeles-chargers-move-rams-stadium">moved from San Diego to Los Angeles</a> this year, will share the new stadium once it opens, but team executives haven’t figured out a pricing plan yet.</p>
<p id="fz4NEf">Plans initially called for the new stadium to open in 2019, but construction delays pushed the date back to 2020. Because of the delay, NFL team owners voted to bring the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">2022 Super Bowl</a> to Los Angeles—rather than the <a href="https://la.curbed.com/2016/5/24/11763400/los-angeles-super-bowl-2021">2021 game</a>, as originally planned.</p>
<p id="Vc9xFB">Once complete, the stadium will be nearly 3 million square feet in size, with seating for 70,240 fans—and up to 100,000 people in standing-room only scenarios.</p>
<ul>
<li id="quT7Gp">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/23/15682280/la-super-bowl-2022-rams-stadium">LA to host 2022 Super Bowl because of stadium delays</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="tHcl1B">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/5/18/15659704/inglewood-football-stadium-delayed-rams-chargers">Rams stadium opening delayed until 2020 due to rain, officials say</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
<li id="DX2rVo">
<a href="https://la.curbed.com/2017/3/2/14797866/los-angeles-rams-stadium-construction-chargers-inglewood">Watch LA’s new NFL Stadium rise in real time</a> [Curbed LA]</li>
</ul>
https://la.curbed.com/2017/9/3/16250342/la-rams-stadium-ticket-prices-inglewood-chargers-nflElijah Chiland