Thursday, May 14, 2009

Coliseum History

The Coliseum is in the news today, as one of many sites that may end up on the international real estate market to help cut our state's stinkin' deficit. I've blogged about the building before--

  • As the place where Vin Scully announced his first game with the Dodgers

  • As the venue for JFK's acceptance speech when he won the Democratic nomination for president

  • The blighted grand opening in 1923, which was supposed to feature President Warren G. Harding as speaker. Harding was on a West Coast trip, but died of pneumonia a half hour before his scheduled speech

According to the Coliseum's own website as well as USC's, the first football game played there was on October 6, 1923--only two months after aforestated grand opening. USC v. Pomona College, with an audience of 12,836 people. Trojans won! The Coliseum now seats 92,516.

I started this thinking I had a 1923 picture of the Coliseum, but I didn't. The dog ate it. The picture here is from WikiCommons, and shows the building under construction in 1922.

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