Hollywood Legion Stadium

2007-12-24T19:48:55Z

Boxrecisterriblewithinformation: you all wrong as always

===From answers.com to confused souls: matt, john, ric, conflicting articles from different sources on:==
===Legion Stadium not to be mixed with:====
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 other Friday night, as well as being the home to the roller-derby's Los Angeles T-Birds.

Some scenes in the 1976 film Rocky were filmed at the venue.

The arena closed its doors in the mid 1980s when promoter Mike Le Bell 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.(NOT 10 400 AS YOU CLAIM, HERE'S YOUR SOURCE AGAIN) 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').

Today the Olympic Auditorium is host to many music concerts and shows, as well as boxing and wrestling. 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 Christian church purchased the entire property.
According to old los angeles times, Legion Stadium was used for wrestling as well, you do not say one word about that in the article on boxrec.
As you can see there are disparities, the address for the above 1801 seems to be correct as morefact indicates, but to you truth is vandalism and so on, shame on you-exactly what Morefacts pointed out, but you ric, matt, john, you are idiots. Now, block us all you want.
You can not agree to truth, you can not face the truth when you are proven wrong, you are not men of peace. Thanx a lot.t your, matt's john's ignorance has no limits, both Legion Stadium and US Olympic Auditorium differ on other encyclopedias. Your job was to fix these things, not argue over 100 seating capacity.
= Hollywood, CA, USA ==

[[file:LegionStadium.jpg|Legion Stadium]]
<br clear=all>
The '''Hollywood (American) Legion Stadium''' was one of the two major boxing venues of Los Angeles from the 1920s on, the other being the [[Olympic Auditorium]]. It was the most stable and most successful venue in California during the 1920s and 1930s. Its cards were held on Fridays. It opened as an 8,000-seat venue [http://www.boxrec.com/date_search.php?yyyy=1921&mm=8&dd=12&SUBMIT=Go August 12, 1921] under the auspices of World War I veterans, American Legion Post No. 43. It was closed for a short time to add an arched roof over the formerly open-air venue, and reopened Dec. 16, 1921. It once again was closed briefly on July 11, 1923, to sink the boxing ring six feet, increasing the pitch of ringside seats so that all patrons had a good view of the ring, and to add a ventilation system that recycled the air every 10 minutes. According to the ''Los Angeles Times'' of the day, the venue then accommodated 5,100 people. (Other sources say the seating was reduced to 4,500.) A second version of this venue opened in late 1938 with a capacity of about 6,300. Black boxers were not allowed to fight here until 1940.

Some of the people associated with this venue include:
*[[George Blake]]: Referee from the start until ?
*[[Roy Marshall]]: Manager from its opening
*[[Frank Crowley]]: Matchmaker from its opening
[[file:HLSProgram2.jpg|right|250px|Program with Harry Greb on cover]]
*[[Tom Kennedy]]: After Roy Marshall and Frank Crowley abruptly resigned July 23, 1923, Kennedy became the matchmaker until March 24, 1925. He was a movie actor, and one of the original "Keystone Cops." His first card was conducted [http://www.boxrec.com/date_search.php?yyyy=1923&mm=8&dd=24&SUBMIT=Go August 24, 1923].
*[[Walter S. Long]] became the manager after the resignations of Crowley and Marshall.
*[[Tom Gallery]]: Replaced Tom Kennedy. He quit Nov. 11, 1931. (Reportedly, he had been a child actor.)
*[[Charlie McDonald]]: Took over the management for 15 years.
*[[Bobby Jackson]]: From January 1, 1948 until June. He had been the building superintendent for about 20 years when he replaced Charlie McDonald, briefly, in 1948.
*[[Baron Henry von Stumme]]: From July 2, 1948, until June 1950.
*[[Cal Working]]: From 1950 until October 1, 1953
*[[Hap Navarro]]: Matchmaker who replaced Cal Working from 1953 to October 1, 1955. Prior to that, he had been the Assistant Matchmaker since late 1948, whose duties was to put out the weekly program, including the cover story "Parade of Champions." He also had a column in the programs called "The Latin Touch."
*[[Jackie Leonard]]: Replaced Hap Navarro, lasting until September 1959, when he defaulted on the lease at Hollywood Legion Stadium, thus becoming the final matchmaker at this venue.

On March 15, 1952, shows moved from the regular Friday night slot to Saturday night. The reason for the move, was the televising of boxing shows from the East Coast on Friday nights, which had eroded the attendance, and made sellouts rare. With the move, Legion Stadium intended to televise their shows as well, showing them locally on KECA. The Hollywood Legion Stadium closed in 1959. At present, it is the Legion Lanes Bowling Alley on Gower Boulevard, up the street from Paramount Studios.

== Sources ==
*"Legion Stadium Television Experiment Starts Tonight," ''Los Angeles Times'', March 15, 1952

== Links ==
*[http://www.hollywoodphotographs.com/search.asp?im=-1&cat=17 Photos]
* [[:image:HLSProgram1.jpg|Souvenir Program]] (signed by [[Willie Ritchie]])

[[Category:Los Angeles Venues|Hollywood Legion Stadium]]
[[Category:California Venues|Hollywood Legion Stadium]]

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Hollywood Legion Stadium