LA MEMORIAL SPORTS ARENA, 1959 TO 2016

1959 LA Memorial Sports Arena (1959-2016) and Coliseum

I can't recall ever seeing a basketball game here, though I may have.  But who would it have been?  Certainly not the Lakers since the Great Western Forum was their home.  

USC Trojan basketball team played at the Sports Arena from 1959-2006.  

Prior to the 1964 construction and 1965 opening of the Pauley Pavilion at UCLA, the Bruin basketball team also played at the Sports Arena from 1959 to 1965, and then for one temporary season in 2011-2012.  

So, no, I never saw a basketball game here, for I would never go to a Clipper game.  Before the LA Clippers came to LA, they were the San Diego Clippers, the old Buffalo Braves franchise imported to San Diego.  So no basketball game.  But I did see two concerts here.  One was Pat Benetar in 1983 with Don Densteadt, his first wife, Melanie, and Dori, and the second was Aerosmith with Kathy Braidhill in 1985.  

1960 LA Memorial Sports Arena and Coliseum

On Wednesday, June 5, 2024, Joe wrote, 

I remember going to see one of the Ali & Jerry Quarry fights on the big screen there with Dad...the crowd was packed, bumping shoulder to shoulder to get out of the place...

The Lakers actually did play here from 1960 to 1967 before Jack Kent Cooke completed construction of the Great Western Forum in 1967 when the Lakers completed their play in the "house that Jack built" in 1999 and moved over to the Staples Center.  

Will never forget the time that Chuck trusted me enough with his brand new 1974 white, 4-door Audi to take me and my friends to Inglewood to see a Laker game.  I was only a junior in high school, and Chuck trusted me.  Talk about your confidence booster.  Al Madrigal went.  Bill Vanderporten went.  Maybe Ernie went too.  So the four of us drove in class, arrived in class, sat in first-class seats that my dad scored.  My friends were impressed big time.  Who was on the Laker team that year?  None other than legends.  But not Wilt Chamberlain.  Wilt played with the Lakers from 1968-1972, then went to play for the ABA San Diego Conquistadors in 1973 and 1974 seasons for $600,000.  Though I'd seen Wilt with the Lakers on television, I never got to see him in person play as a Laker.  The great Elgin Baylor also retired from the Lakers in 1972 due to knee problems.  Wikipedia explains

Baylor finally retired nine games into the 1971–72 season  because of his nagging knee problems. The timing of his retirement could not have been worse as this caused him to miss two great achievements. First, the Lakers' next game after his retirement was the first of an NBA record of 33 consecutive wins.^[7] Second, the Lakers went on to win the NBA championship that season. The Lakers did give Baylor a championship ring, even though he had not been an active player.^[8]

I do remember climbing down to our seats floor side studying Gail Goodrich gliding down the court with terrific speed.  So for that spectacular 33 consecutive-wins season, 1971-1972, Elgin Baylor was still on the roster but saw little playtime due to his knees.

The Lakers posted an NBA-record 33 consecutive wins en route to an NBA-best 69-13 record led by Goodrich and fellow future Hall-of-Famers Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, and Elgin Baylor (although Baylor was out most of the year due to injury). 

All of this meaning to say that during that 1874 game, Chamberlain and Baylor were not on the roster, so I did not see them play in person.  

1967, Architect, Charles Luckman on the left, and Forum owner, Jack Kent Cooke on the right.  

I never saw a basketball game here.  I doubt it.  Before the LA Clippers came to LA they were the San Diego Clippers.  But I did see Pat Benatar here in 1983 with Don Densteadt, his first wife, Melanie, and Dori, and then Aerosmith with Kathy Braidhill in 1985.  

Was this the greatest Laker team, 1985 to 1986, that ever played?  

1985 Los Angeles Lakers.

Back Row: Left to right is Pat Riley, #4 Byron Scott, #45 AC Green, #25 Mitch Kupchak, #34 Peter Gudmusson, #20 Maurice Lucas, #12 Ronnie Lester . . . 

Front Row: Left to right is Jerry Buss, #40 Mike McGee, #31 Kurt Rambis, #42 James Worthy, #33 Kareen Abdul Jabbar, #35 Larry Spriggs, #21 Michael "Alley-oop de coop" Cooper, and #32 Irvin "Magic" Johnson, and at the far-right sitting next to Magic Johnson is Bill Bertka, Laker scout and Assistant Coach, but much more than that.  Wikipedia states that 

Bertka began his NBA career in 1968 when the Los Angeles Lakers followed the recommendation of former West Virginia great Rod Hundley and hired him to scout college players for the NBA Draft, making him the first full-time scout in league history.