Mr LA: Los Angeles Under the Radar: South Figueroa Corridor, Part 1

Today, I went on a tour of a landmark that is not only one of the most famous buildings in Los Angeles, it is one that has displayed Los Angeles on film for a world audience on many occasions. This landmark is the only one to have done this one thing: host two Summer Olympic Games. By this time, you know I'm referring to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. I've been one of those people suffering from what I call "The Disneyland Syndrome": those people who grow up in the shadow of a landmark yet wait until middle age before visiting it. I saw the Coliseum, like many do, as merely an aging, out-of-date, stadium that is increasingly forgotten. Many people, I'm sure don't even know it exists, so long has it been out of the general L. A. consciousness although the Coliseum is the home of the USC Trojans. As the Coliseum Tours tour I took points out, it is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much more!

It is the home to one of only three cities in the world that have hosted more than one Olympic Games (1932, 1984, and, if given the games, in 2024)! It was Knute Rockne's first college football coaching before he went on to glory at Notre Dame! It was the first home of the Los Angeles Dodgers, after Brooklyn, before Dodger Stadium, and home to the first three World Series titles the Dodgers played in their first five years (they won in 1959!)! It is the oldest multipurpose sports stadium complex in Los Angeles! Although this has some negative history attached to it, the Los Angeles Coliseum is the prototype that cities since the 1932 Olympics have used in designing their stadiums in subsequent Olympic Games, starting with Adolf Hitler's designs for his 1936 Olympic Games stadiums. So, when one thinks of Olympic stadiums, the Los Angeles Coliseum created the image! The Coliseum Tour takes you into virtually every nook and cranny of the Coliseum that includes the locker rooms that have been used by the Dodgers, Rams, Raiders, as well as the Bruins and Trojans.

As if the Coliseum were not fascinating and worth a tour lasting hours all on it's own, it is part of the complex of buildings in Exposition Park, one of Los Angeles' oldest parks and home to some of Los Angeles' iconic features. such as the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, the California Science Center, as well as one of the most beautiful rose gardens in the United States, Exposition Park and the Coliseum make the southern end of one of L. A.'s most interesting and quickly-changing neighborhoods: South Figueroa Corridor.

Los Angeles Coliseum

One of the Greatest Stadiums in the World-Home to Two Olympic Games

St. Vincent de Paul Church, Adams & Figueroa

While this sounds sterile and industrial, there is sooooooooooooooooo Whmuch to see and do that taking in the sights, smells, foods, galleries, architecture, and communities would take a week to calmly and completely experience. It is that packed with places to see and things to do within the 2-mile stretch of South Figueroa Street starting at L. A. Live on Olympic Blvd. and ending at Exposition Park and the Coliseum. While everything along the corridor can be reached by car for a quick drive-by, the vivacity, color, and incredible cultural/architectural wonders really reveal themselves in a comfortable 4-hour walk or by getting a Metro TAP Card for $1.00 plus a $7.00 Metro Day Pass paid on the TAP Card to use the Expo Line and comfortably visit the entire corridor. Stay tuned for more to see on the South Figueroa Corridor and why you'll get to spend a wonderful day visiting it and feeling as if you saw all the sights of Paris, London, Rome or any other great city in the world.