The city’s rich hoops history includes the Lakers’ 11 NBA World Championship titles, UCLA’s 11 NCAA basketball titles, a high school system that’s developed dozens of basketball greats, and a wide-ranging pick-up basketball culture featured in such films as “White Men Can’t Jump.” Heck, even the term “slam dunk” was coined here, by the late, great Lakers announcer Chick Hearn. All of which makes LA, which hosted the 60th NBA All-Star Game at STAPLES Center on Feb. 20, 2011, a veritable hoops heaven for roundball junkies looking to explore the area.
UCLAA pilgrimage to UCLA’s Westwood campus is a must for all looking to soak up a little local basketball history. While the UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team will be making their Bay Area swing that week, the women’s team’s home games are in Pauley Pavilion, which was home court to nine of UCLA’s 11 men’s championship rings. College basketball aficionados can also check out the Men’s Gym, one of the eight original Italian Romanesque buildings on campus and home court to Coach John Wooden’s first two championship runs – the Men’s Gym is open all week, and often houses pickup basketball games, though their times are subject to change depending on intramural sports and other activities held there. And most recently, the school’s J.D. Morgan Intercollegiate Athletics Center added the exhibit, “John Wooden – The Den,” as a tribute to Coach, who passed away in 2010 six months short of his 100th birthday. The 419-acre campus is open to the public, and the Athletics Center is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Finally, a sub sandwich at Sepi’s – with its walls lined with photographs of Bruin hoops legends – and a peanut butter pocket at Stan’s Donut’s in Westwood Village will quell any appetite you worked up walking on campus and help complete the tour of classic UCLA.
UCLA, Westwood Blvd. and Le Conte Ave. (southern entrance), Los Angeles, 310.825.4321
Venice BeachLA’s got no shortage of indoor and outdoor courts where you can see and join in on some hardcore hoops. UCLA’s John Wooden Center and Men’s Gym, West LA’s Sports Club/LA (if you can get someone to sponsor your way in), Silver Lake’s Bellevue Recreation Center, Westwood Recreation Center, Brentwood’s Barrington Park and Pan Pacific Park near Hollywood all offer competitive games on the hardwood and blacktop. For hoops junkies in LA, though, the real treat is being able to play or watch some ball with an ocean view, and out of the dozens of the region’s beachside courts, none have more of an “only-in-LA” vibe then the courts at Venice Beach, which was featured prominently in 1992’s Wesley Snipes-Woody Harrelson film “White Men Can’t Jump.” Games go on all week, weather permitting, and are most active on weekends.
Venice Beach Recreation Center, 1800 Ocean Front Walk (two blocks west of the intersection of 18th Ave. and Pacific Ave.), Los Angeles, 310.399.2775
High School Basketball
Marques Johnson, Trevor Ariza, Paul Westphal, Jordan Farmar, Gail Goodrich, Sidney Wicks and Kiki Vandeweghe are among the dozens of NCAA and NBA basketball stars who played for LA high schools, and late February is the perfect time to catch schools like Crenshaw, Fairfax, Westchester, Taft and Loyola gearing up for City and CIF Southern Section playoffs. Games will be going on all over the city that week – just check the Los Angeles Times for updated schedules.
USC
While the USC Trojans men’s basketball team has a storied basketball history in its own right, with an alumni list that includes NBA Hall of Famer Bill Sharman, NBA standout Gus Williams and legendary coach Tex Winter, it’s that women’s team that’s made more of a national mark in recent decades. Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper-Dyke and Cheryl Miller are among former stars of Trojan teams, which have taken home two NCAA Championship crowns. Even better, the Trojans play in the $147 million Galen Center, which opened in 2006. If you're exploring the campus and the adjacent Exposition Park, check out the spaceship-like Sports Arena and the LA Memorial Coliseum next door. The Sports Arena was the Lakers home for the seven seasons after the team moved from Minneapolis in 1960. The Coliseum hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics, and the stadium’s iconic peristyle and Olympic cauldron can easily be viewed from the building’s eastern end.
The LA Forum
Though it may have started out its LA life in the Sports Arena and may currently call STAPLES Center home, the Lakers became The Lakers during its 23-year residency at Inglewood’s Forum. Originally known as The Fabulous Forum, the building was home to the team’s first title run in 1972 as well as the five rings won by the “Showtime”-era Lakers led by Magic Johnson during the 1980s. The Forum also hosted the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, best known for Marvin Gaye’s legendary pregame rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Today, the building hosts Faith Central Bible Church, as well as other events, so you may get a chance to pray at the altar of a one-time basketball temple – literally. Check the Faith Central Bible Church’s website for updated schedules.
Loyola Marymount University’s Gersten PavilionIf you’re looking for Division I basketball in a raucous, high school gym-like atmosphere, Loyola Marymount University’s Gersten Pavilion will fit the bill. Situated in the middle of the university’s Westchester campus just southeast of Marina del Rey, Gersten seats less than 4,200 people but has broken the 4,500 mark with standing-room-only crowds. The Loyola Lions gained national notoriety in 1990 when it made it to the NCAA’s Elite Eight after the tragic death of NCAA scoring and rebounding leader Hank Gathers. For 2011-12, the Lions are expected to compete with nationally ranked Gonzaga for the West Coast Conference leadership, and host league rival Pepperdine University, as well.
Pepperdine University’s Firestone Fieldhouse
Not many places allow you to combine the serenity of a sun-kissed coastline drive with the raucousness of a crowded college basketball arena, but Pepperdine University’s Firestone Fieldhouse lets you do just that. Situated on Pepperdine’s idyllic oceanside campus in Malibu, the Fieldhouse seats about 3,100 people but has housed as many as 4,500 for the Waves’ West Coast Conference games.
STAPLES CenterDon’t let LA fans’ notorious reputation for being fashionably late sway you – it’s well worth it for a basketball junkie to make an early visit to STAPLES Center a few hours prior to game time. In addition to the Lakers and the Blake Griffin-led Los Angeles Clippers, STAPLES is home court to the Los Angeles Sparks, which are led by Candace Parker and Tina Thompson, and whose regular season runs from June to September. Casual fans can go across the street and soak up the $2.5 billion L.A. LIVE complex, which includes Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Katsuya and ION Rooftop Pool Bar among its 16 restaurants and bars as well as the 7,100-seat NOKIA Theatre, the 2,300-seat Club NOKIA, the 14-screen Regal Cinemas and the super-posh Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott Hotels. And for those looking to mix in a few songs with their sports, the GRAMMY Museum features permanent exhibits such as the museum’s Songwriters Hall of Fame gallery and an in-depth exploration of the GRAMMY telecast. Finally, hardcore fans can pose with bronze statues of Magic Johnson and Chick Hearn in front of the STAPLES Center. Yes, it’s a slam dunk.
