Kia Forum
The Kia Forum, also known simply as The Forum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, part of the Los Angeles area. Located on West Manchester Boulevard, with Pincay Drive to the south and between Kareem Court and Prairie Avenue to the east and west, it is north of SoFi Stadium, Intuit Dome, and the Hollywood Park Casino, and about east of Los Angeles International Airport.
The Forum opened on December 30, 1967. Architect Charles Luckman's vision was realized by engineers Carl Johnson and Svend Nielsen. It was a groundbreaking structure without extensive internal support pillars that was unique in an indoor arena the size of the Forum. The arena's roof, a cable-suspended structure, has a diameter of approximately 407 feet.
From 1967 to 1999, the Forum was home to the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League before both teams joined the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena, then known as Staples Center. From 1997 to 2001, the Forum was also the home of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks until they moved to Crypto.com Arena as well.
Alongside Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Forum has been considered one of the best-known indoor sports venues in the U.S., largely due to the Lakers' success and the Hollywood celebrities often seen there. It was the site of the 1972 and 1983 NBA All-Star Games, the 1981 NHL All-Star Game, 1984 Olympic basketball, and the Big West Conference and 1989 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournaments. The venue has also hosted tennis and boxing matches, as well as major music concerts and political events.
In 2000, the Forum was acquired by the Faithful Central Bible Church, who used it for occasional church services and leased it for sporting, concerts, and other events. In 2012, the Forum was purchased by the Madison Square Garden Company, for $23.5 million; MSG announced plans to renovate the arena as a world-class concert venue. On September 24, 2014, the Forum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. On March 24, 2020, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer purchased The Forum from MSG for $400 million.
The Forum has previously been known as the Great Western Forum, as well as The Forum presented by Chase, and was nicknamed The Fabulous Forum by long-time Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn. It is also known informally as the LA Forum to distinguish it from other places with the name "Forum".
History
1960s and 1970s
On the site of a former golf course, the "fabulous" Forum was built in 1967 by Jack Kent Cooke. The Canadian Cooke, who enjoyed ice hockey, was determined to bring the National Hockey League to Los Angeles. In 1966, the NHL announced that it was adding six new franchises for 1967, and Cooke prepared a bid. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Commission, which operated the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, supported a competing bid headed by Los Angeles Rams owner Dan Reeves—who already had a hockey team at the Arena, the Western Hockey League's Los Angeles Blades. The Commission told Cooke that if he won the franchise, he would not be allowed to use the facility.In response, Cooke planned to build a new arena in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. Nearly 30 years later, Cooke told Los Angeles Times sportswriter Steve Springer that he remembered "one official representing the commission laughing at him" when Cooke said he would build in Inglewood. Cooke won the franchise, paying $2 million for the Los Angeles club, which he called the Kings. According to Springer, "Cooke went to Inglewood and built the Forum. Goodbye, Lakers. Goodbye, Kings." The round, $16 million building was designed by Los Angeles architect Charles Luckman to be "reminiscent of Roman coliseums." The arena seats 17,505 for basketball, 16,005 for hockey and up to 18,000 for musical concerts; although it has no luxury suites, it had 2,400 club seats for events. More than 70% of the seats are between the goals, and no seat is more than from the playing surface.
During the Cooke era, the Forum hosted five NBA Finals in its first six years. The Boston Celtics celebrated both the and championships in the arena, the latter of which marked the final games Bill Russell ever played. The Lakers won the 1972 NBA Finals at the Forum in Game 5, while the New York Knicks' second and most recent championship was also clinched in a Game 5 at the same venue the following season.
Cream played two shows during the band's farewell tour, on October 18–19, 1968, with Deep Purple as the opening act. The band's show of October 19 produced the live tracks on their farewell LP, Goodbye. Deep Purple also recorded their part of the show, which was later released as a live album entitled Inglewood – Live in California. The Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at the Forum for the first time on April 26, 1969. A soundboard recording of this concert has been officially released: Los Angeles Forum: April 26, 1969. Opening acts for this sold-out concert were Cat Mother and Chicago. The Experience later performed there again the following year on April 25, 1970, as part of their final U.S. tour. The concert has been widely circulated thanks to 3 available bootleg audience recordings. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recorded shows in June and July 1970, including at the Forum. Some of them ended up on their 1971 live album, 4 Way Street. The Rolling Stones performed at the Forum during their 1969, 1972 and 1975 North American tours. Steppenwolf played there during their At Your Birthday Party tour on July 14, 1969, with Three Dog Night as the opening act. Three Dog Night recorded their set, which was later released as a live album entitled Captured Live at the Forum.
Queen played a total of 12 concerts from 1977 to 1982, including their final U.S. concert with Freddie Mercury on September 15, 1982. David Bowie played concerts here on April 3, 4, and 6, 1978. Chicago played two long sets in front of nearly 18,000 people as the headline act on April 24, 1971. This performance was two weeks after their historic week-long sellout at Carnegie Hall where they played eight shows in six days from April 5 to 10, 1971. The Grateful Dead performed at the Forum during their vaunted Spring 1977 tour, as well as three-night runs in February and December 1989. Between 1970 and 1977, Led Zeppelin performed 16 times at the Forum, including a run of six sold-out dates in 1977. Part of their live album, How the West Was Won, was recorded at the arena. The band's first 1977 show is the source of the bootleg Listen to This Eddie. Another bootleg from the Forum shows, For Badgeholders Only, contains one of the last live performances by Keith Moon on drums, with his surprise performance there. The Jackson 5 performed numerous times at the Forum between 1970 and 1981. The 1970 show broke attendance records, with 18,675 paid admissions and a gross income of $105,000. By 1972, they had released seven albums on Motown, in addition to Michael and Jermaine Jackson's solo albums. Both shows were recorded and released as Live at the Forum.
On November 14, 1970, Elvis Presley played afternoon and evening shows, with 18,700 and 18,698 paid admissions. He returned for two more sold-out shows on May 11, 1974, with 18,500 paid admissions each. The Osmonds performed two shows on December 4, 1971, which were recorded and released as The Osmonds Live. Barbra Streisand performed on April 15, 1972, during Four for McGovern, a fundraiser for George McGovern's presidential campaign. Although ticket prices ranged from $5.50 to $100 and the event grossed $300,000, after expenses were deducted McGovern's campaign received only $18,000. During her set, Streisand asked the audience to choose between "Second Hand Rose" and "Stoney End" for her next song; the latter was the overwhelming choice. Her performance was recorded and released as Live Concert at the Forum.
Bob Dylan's live album Before the Flood with The Band was compiled from songs performed at the Forum over the course of three shows on February 13 and 14, 1974. The only song on the album not recorded at the Forum was "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", which was recorded in New York City. Jethro Tull played five sold-out shows in a seven-day stretch in 1975, here at The Forum. The dates were February 3+4, 8–10.
Kiss had their debut there in 1976 on February 23 for two consecutive nights, three days after getting their footprints outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and played three more consecutive nights shows the following year, 1977, on August 26–28, with live tracks from these 1977 shows included on their second live album, Alive II, released in October of that same year. On June 21, 1976, Paul McCartney and Wings began a three-night stand at the Forum during their Wings Over the World tour. The shows were McCartney's first live performances in Los Angeles since he played at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and 1965 with the Beatles. Some songs played at the Forum appeared on the Wings Over America live LP released later that year and re-released in 2013.
The Eagles performed three shows during their Hotel California tour on October 20–22, 1976. The shows were recorded, with some songs appearing on Eagles Live. The Bee Gees appeared at the Forum during their Children of the World tour on December 20, 1976; the show was recorded and released as Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live. Parliament-Funkadelic recorded half of their live album, Live: P-Funk Earth Tour, at the arena on January 19, 1977. Alice Cooper brought his big productions of Billion Dollar Babies, Welcome To My Nightmare and Mad House Rock to the Forum.
The Los Angeles Strings of the World Team Tennis league played home matches at the Forum from 1975 to 1978, led on the court by Chris Evert. The team was owned by Los Angeles businessman Jerry Buss. The Forum hosted several boxing fights, most notably the second Muhammad Ali vs. Ken Norton on September 10, 1973. Several events featured Latin American fighters like José Nápoles, Chucho Castillo, Rubén Olivares, Carlos Zárate Serna and Alfonso Zamora. In 1979, Cooke sold the Forum, the Lakers and the Kings to Buss for a then-record $67.5 million.