The Grand Olympic Auditorium is a former sports venue in southern Downtown Los Angeles, California. The venue was built in 1924 at 1801 South Grand Avenue, now just south of the Santa Monica Freeway. 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. One of the last major boxing and wrestling arenas still in existence, the venue now serves as a worship space for the Korean-American evangelical church, "Glory Church of Jesus Christ".
Exterior view of the Grand Olympic Auditorium (ca. 1930).
Jules Strongbow is knocked out of the ring during a wrestling match at the Grand Olympic Auditorium on May 16, 1937.
The 1932 Summer Olympics were an international multi-sport event held from July 30 to August 14, 1932, in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Games were held during the worldwide Great Depression, with some nations not traveling to Los Angeles; 37 nations competed, compared to the 46 in the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and even then-U.S. President Herbert Hoover did not attend the Games. The organizing committee did not report the financial details of the Games, although contemporary newspapers claimed that the Games had made a profit of US$1,000,000.
The Australian Olympic Team at the Olympic Stadium, Los Angeles, 1932
Lauri Lehtinen (left) and Ralph Hill finishing the 5000 m race at the 1932 Olympics
Takeichi Nishi with Olympic steed, Uranus
The Rose Bowl hosted the track cycling events for the 1932 Summer Olympics