18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story

The Olympic Auditorium opened in 1925 as Los Angeles was exploding, a state-of-the art fight palace to entertain the masses. But the arena, built to rival Madison Square Garden, was a money pit from the start. Shady promoters came and went until the building owner took a chance on a single mother who had never seen a pro fight. Taking over in the midst of World War II, Aileen Eaton built a sports empire that lasted nearly four decades, launching stars and becoming the most powerful boxing promoter in America. As the years passed, Eaton's Olympic promotion mirrored the changing tastes and demographics of the city, thriving in large part due to the loyalty of Mexican-American fans. When the building sold and Aileen was pushed out in 1980, the Olympic struggled again, briefly becoming the concrete cathedral of hardcore punk until it sputtered to an inglorious death. In 2005 the building was sold again, becoming the Glory Church of Jesus Christ, a Korean megachurch.