It's Friday. Readers share their favorite memories of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as it turns 100. Plus, can California use A.I. to detect wildfires? |
 | | The opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.Dave Tenenbaum/Associated Press |
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This summer, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum turned 100. |
The Coliseum, in Exposition Park, opened in 1923 to honor those who had served in World War I, and for decades it has been a central meeting place and civic hub for Angelenos. It's one of several Los Angeles landmarks celebrating their centennials this year, a reflection of how rapidly L.A. was growing in the early 1920s. |
For the past few weeks, readers have been sharing with me their memories of the Coliseum, where the Dodgers played when they first arrived in California and where sports fans flocked to U.S.C. and U.C.L.A. football games. |
The Coliseum hosted John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, as well as artists like Prince, Frank Sinatra and the Rolling Stones. When the Olympics are held in Los Angeles in 2028, the stadium will become the first venue in the world to have hosted three Summer Games. |
You can send me your own story about the Coliseum or any of the other Los Angeles landmarks that are turning 100 this year, including the Hollywood sign and the Biltmore Hotel downtown. Email a few sentences to CAtoday@nytimes.com, and please include your name and the city where you live. |
Here are some stories that readers have shared, lightly edited: |
"I was an undergraduate student at U.C.L.A. in the 1970s. Our home football games were played at the Coliseum in those days, instead of the Rose Bowl. I have great memories of jumping in a car with several friends and driving to the Coliseum decked out in our U.C.L.A. shirts and hats. We always sat in the student section, right on the 50-yard line, and would cheer our hearts out for our beloved Bruins." — Wendy Sussman, Middletown, N.J. |
"My father took me to my first baseball game in 1959 at the Coliseum. I was 6. Wally Moon was my favorite Dodger, and I wanted to see him hit one of his home runs, known as Moonshots, over the left field fence. (He did!) We sat up high, yet at 70 I can still remember my view of the field that glorious day." — Debbie Duncan, Stanford |
"My mother died in early 1984, after entering the ticket lottery for the opening ceremony of the Olympics that year. After she died, two tickets arrived in the mail. She had planned for us to go together. Instead, I took my teenage daughter. As the torch arrived, I felt my mother standing with us, glad for this priceless moment she had passed on." — Elizabeth Maury, Takoma Park, Md. |
"As a budding music critic for The (San Diego) Tribune in 1985, I drove to the Coliseum to cover Bruce Springsteen's triumphant concert. The press box was filled with record execs and V.I.P.s, not my people, so I quickly made for the buffet table — with a white-coated chef and steamship round roast beef — and then seated myself next to Jose Eber. We talked about hairdressing and Farrah Fawcett until the concert started. |
"Elizabeth Taylor took the seat to my left, and Michael Jackson, who had previously filled the same venue, sat on her other side. I thought to myself, whatever happens onstage, the lead to my story is locked and loaded." — Robert J. Hawkins, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico |
"The U.S. Olympic track and field trials on the evening of June 29, 1956, were the most memorable of many events I've enjoyed at the Coliseum. As competitions gradually concluded, the crowd thinned out, but the high jump competition continued. It seemed that the Coliseum was nearly empty except for the tense, excited crowd at the high jump. When Charlie Dumas cleared the bar at 7 feet one-half inch, there was a momentary silence, as if the crowd were expecting the bar to fall. But it didn't. Then came a long, loud eruption of rapturous shouts and cheers as the magnitude of Dumas's feat sank in. He had set a new world record at a height that was thought impossible to achieve. It was a moment I will never forget." — Karl Hittelman, Corte Madera |
"I remember vividly when John Kennedy accepted his party's nomination for president in the Coliseum, in the summer of 1960. I was a teenager, and my boyfriend's father worked for CBS News, so we somehow had tickets right in front of Teddy and his young family, and next to the walkway where the candidates came out toward the podium. We reached over and shook hands with Hubert Humphrey, Stuart Symington and, finally, Kennedy himself, just before he gave his speech. Magical." — Susanne Woods, Key West, Fla. |
"In 1959 the Dodgers played in their first World Series since moving to the West Coast. The games in Los Angeles were played at the Coliseum. My parents took my sister and me out of school to attend. The Dodgers won two of the three games we saw, and eventually the World Series — their first in Los Angeles." — Laura Stone, Washington, D.C. |
 | | Wildfire monitors at the University of California, San Diego, show a fire in July in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles.Ariana Drehsler for The New York Times |
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 | | The ride-hailing company Uber announced on Thursday that it would raise the minimum age for drivers who transport others to 25.Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press |
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- The bankrupt Madera Community Hospital has received a $2 million lifeline from the California Department of Health Care Access and Information as it works out a reopening plan with Adventist Health, The Fresno Bee reports.
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- Lawyers for the city of San Francisco fought a federal ban on clearing homeless encampments, arguing in appellate court that the city could no longer maintain safe, clean streets while trying to get homeless people indoors, The Associated Press reports.
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 | | Border Field State Park near San Diego.Brian Baer/California State Parks |
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Today's tip comes from Fergal O'Doherty, who lives in San Diego. Fergal recommends Border Field State Park, which sits on the border with Mexico: |
"I am an avid bird-watcher, a lover of most ocean creatures and an enthusiastic lover of empty beaches. Whenever I need a long walk on an empty beach, I drive from San Diego (I'm very lucky to live in hipster North Park, even though I'm a borderline boomer) to Imperial Beach, about 10 miles south. I exit Interstate 5 at Dairy Mart Road, which leads to Border Field State Park. The trail to the beach is bordered by living wetlands on both sides. Depending on the time of year, you might be surrounded by a cloud of nesting terns. The wetlands are alive with stilts, waders of all kinds, egrets, blue herons, various migrating gulls, which seem scarce in most other San Diego coastal locations. The upshot is that here you are surrounded by the sights and sounds of thrumming nature, with few people around." |
Tell us about your favorite places to visit in California. Email your suggestions to CAtoday@nytimes.com. We'll be sharing more in upcoming editions of the newsletter. |
And before you go, some good news |
Jayme Linker of Colorado this summer became the first U.S. woman to row across half of the Pacific Ocean, journeying to Hawaii from California in an ocean rowboat, KDVR-TV in Denver reports. |
Linker, who rowed in 2021 from Spain to the Caribbean in an endurance competition, started her journey to Hawaii from Monterey. In just over 45 days and with the help of a teammate, she reached the island of Kauai. |
The trek was intended to raise awareness of eating disorders, with which she has struggled, she said. |
"Every time I'm on the oars, I'm putting every single ounce of effort I've got into it," Linker said of the record-breaking trip. "So it is like a two-hour sprint, every single time." |
Thanks for reading. I'll be back on Monday. Enjoy your weekend. — Soumya |
Briana Scalia and Maia Coleman contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at CAtoday@nytimes.com. |
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