Another Thought: When Does Historic Become Useless?
There is a huge internal issue with renovating the Coliseum.
When does a place with so much history and tradition ... become just an old and uncomfortable dump?
Can the Coliseum be saved as a sports venue ... without destroying its value as a sports monument?
Can it be re-made into a place USC wants to play ... but not lose most of what makes the Coliseum the Coliseum?
I guess we will learn the answers to that in the coming months and years.
Does the Coliseum (and Sports Arena, for that matter) need to be razed? I mean, what grand old abandoned stadium still stands ... anywhere?
Tiger Stadium may still be standing, because Detroit hasn't gotten around to razing it. But I'm pretty sure all the other vacated venues from the 20th century have been torn down. A bunch of other old sites have been massively redone, from Soldier Field in Chicago to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. And isn't New York about to blow up Yankee Stadium?
We do know this: The Romans stopped actually putting on events at THEIR Colosseum (Roman spelling) ... and now it's just a place tourists go. They got more than 80-some years of entertainment out of their venue (parts of which are still standing, nearly 2,000 years after it was constructed). But it appears to have been better-built than L.A.'s structure, too. With marble, instead of cement.
Comments
If it is razed, maybe we should do something like Camden Yards or (gasp) the SF Giants home turf. Aside from costs, how about a stadium (with adequate parking!) designed retro style.
Posted by: Char Ham | November 29, 2007 8:21 PM