By: Emily Wang

From racing to war shows, The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has it all. It has held everything from ski jumps to NASCAR races. Rock concerts and auto races. Community festivals. Motocross competitions require an army of trucks hauling dirt.

Describing the endless switches, grounds manager Lupold says, “Plenty of sleepless nights. I’m a worrier by nature.” His position isn’t the only one that must adapt to various conditions; consider how often the Arena switches from hardwood to ice to floor seating for shows, especially with a growing number of concerts. In 2020 it was staged at 7 concerts.

But, in the 100 years since its opening, the Coliseum has learned a few tricks when it comes to transforming from standard turf to such unexpected surfaces as dirt, ice, and even snow, practically overnight. “The Coliseum wasn’t built for just one purpose,” says Frank Guridy, a Columbia University professor who studies the impact of and arenas. “It’s a good, old-fashioned, single-tiered facility big enough to accommodate a bunch of different things.”

The arena’s history of dramatic makeovers can be traced back to its opening in 1923, the start of a long, long, trial-and-error cycle. In June of 1936, a couple of years after the 1932 Summer Olympics, the Coliseum invited figure-skating world champion Sonja Henie for a performance. Engineers placed coils across the field and used ice-making machines to create an 80-foot rink. The cooling systems proved no match in a fight against an unbearably hot June sun and thus, the show had to be canceled.

In Hollywood, set designers helped the military create a South Pacific island on the stadium’s floor for a World War II rally. Roy Rogers held annual rodeos with film stars such as Hoot Gibson and Wild Bill Elliott.