The Brief

When it was built in 1925, the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Downtown Los Angeles was a cutting-edge sports venue and quickly became known as the Madison Square Garden of the West.

Now, a brand new exhibit at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes titled "18th and Grand: The Olympic Auditorium," recounts the 80-year history of the Grand Olympic Auditorium. The historic venue, once the epicenter of L.A. fight nights, was designed to attract and host some of the biggest matches in boxing, wresting, roller derby and music.

The boxing card for a match between World Welterweight Champion Carlos Palomino and challenger Mando Muniz at the Olympic Auditorium on Jan. 22, 1977.

(

Courtesy of Gene Aguilera

)

"The Olympic was like a rite of passage for a boxer," said Latino boxing historian Gene Aguilera, who co-curated the exhibit. Cigarette smoke, cigar smoke, gamblers, beer drinkers — Aguilera emphasizes just how memorable an event at the Olympic could be.

Popcorn, cigar smoke, and a night out at The Olympic

At the center of the exhibit is the documentary 18th & Grand: The Olympic Auditorium Story from writer and director Steve DeBro, who co-curated the exhibit with Aguilera. DeBro, along with LA Plaza senior curator Karen Crews Hendon and Aguilera joined Larry Mantle on LAist's daily news program AirTalk to discuss the documentary, the new exhibit and the indelible impact of the Olympic.

Ruben Navarro (left) and Ray Adigun (right) trade punches during a boxing match at the Olympic Auditorium on July 25, 1968

(

Courtesy of Theo Ehret Estate

)

Allan Armstrong, Honey Sanchez and the T-Birds in a roller derby event at the Olympic in 1971.

(

Courtesy Kevin Haupt

)

Mil Máscaras and Ernie Ladd wrestle at the Olympic Auditorium in 1970.

(

Courtesy Theo Ehret Estate

)

Big Jay McNeely and his band perform on stage at the Olympic Auditorium in 1951.

(

Courtesy of Bob Willoughby Estate

)

Patrons gather outside the Olympic Auditorium in 1974.

(

Courtesy Theo Ehret Estate

)

"The Olympic was pretty unavoidable back in the day," DeBro says. With only a handful of TV channels to choose from, the nationally televised weekly match at the Olympic helped cement the venue as a cultural juggernaut. It was also a training ground and coming-out venue for many Mexican and Mexican American fighters to make their name and be featured in headline events. "Whether it was wrestling, roller derby or boxing, it was part of daily life in Southern California," DeBro said.

It wasn't all bright lights and sold out events for the venue. Within a year of opening, the venue had essentially gone bust, and aside from a stint in the spotlight as a venue in the 1932 Olympics, it had not lived up to its grandiose expectations. That changed in the early 1940s when the L.A. Athletic Club, which owned the Olympic, sent Aileen Eaton to find out why it was failing. Eaton not only turned the venue into one of the most iconic boxing venues in the country, but also made herself the most powerful boxing promoter in the country in the process.

The exhibit

Boxing robes on display at the “18th and Grand: The Olympic Auditorium,” exhibit installed on the first floor of LA Plaza in July 2023, including boxing shorts and a robe worn by Alberto Dávila.

(

Courtesy LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

)

Hendon remembers the Olympic Auditorium story as one we all share. "It's our cultural history. We're telling cross border stories where people of color were made into local and cultural heroes in and out of the ring, which really created a legacy of hope, identity [and] representation that really has forever remained in our memories," she said.

Photography, hand-stitched robes, punk rock fliers, roller derby ephemera — Hendon describes the experience of the exhibit as being "thrown into the environment" that captivated so many hearts and minds. "It's a slow look of the fast visual details one can see in the documentary," she said.

Roller skates on display at the “18th and Grand: The Olympic Auditorium,” exhibition installed on the first floor of LA Plaza in July 2023.

(

Courtesy LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

)

The exhibit is equipped with a boxing ring that is aimed at creating an immersive experience for patrons. A timeline of photos introduces you to local wrestlers and the famed luchadores of Mexico. For those who never made it to the Olympic for a live event, there is a living room set up with a TV to honor those who were captivated from home.

Photos and roller derby jerseys on display at the “18th and Grand: The Olympic Auditorium” exhibit installed on the first floor of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in July 2023.

(

Courtesy LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes

)

The exhibit will also open a recording studio where people can record Olympic members in a way that DeBro said "has never been done before."

The exhibit is open now at LA Plaza, and runs through May 2024.

Listen to the conversation

With President Donald Trump dragging them down in the polls, California Republicans are repackaging one of his core crusades into an idea they hope will be more palatable to voters.

They are framing their successful push to get a voter ID law on the November ballot as a “common sense” measure.

“We’ve structured this initiative based on what voters across the political spectrum would want,” Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego said in a March interview, adding that showing an ID at the polls shouldn’t be any different than using one to buy alcohol or pass airport security.

DeMaio and other backers point to polling that shows 56% of California voters support requiring ID at the ballot box and that most states require or recommend an ID to vote.

But even in their pursuit to appeal to moderates, GOP lawmakers haven’t given up pushing Trump’s debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.

Last month, GOP legislators held a “stop the fraud” press conference, where they alleged without proof rampant corruption across state government, from elections to homelessness programs, and urged Newsom to call a special election to “audit” the alleged fraud.

The polling they point to also shows, however, that support for requiring identification at the polls drops to 39% when voters are told it is backed by DeMaio and could suppress turnout.

Voting rights groups say the measure would create needless barriers and would stifle turnout among low-income and disabled voters.

Current law already requires counties to routinely review voter registration databases to remove anyone who is ineligible to vote in case of a move, incarceration or death.

“Those checks and that maintenance of that list is already happening,” League of Women Voters executive director Jenny Farrell said. “We don’t need to erect new barriers.”

Voter suppression concerns tank voter ID support

If passed, as many as 1 million eligible voters could be kept from voting. Another 500,000 aren’t registered and don’t have the necessary documents it would require, according to UCLA Voting Rights Project director Matt Barreto.

“There’s been a very consistent finding in almost any state, in any environment, that lower-income and working-class voters are less likely to have an updated, valid ID,” he said.

Labor groups who bankrolled Democrats’ campaign for last year’s redistricting proposal, Proposition 50, are funding a similar opposition campaign focused on Trump’s push for a proof-of-citizenship bill in Congress.

Meanwhile, Democrats want to increase penalties for violating election laws after Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a candidate for governor, seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year over baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2025 election.

Bianco, who seized the ballots in response to unproven claims from a right-wing activist group, supports voter ID.

Critics say he’s stoking fear among voters and that there are already adequate safeguards.

“We have a two-person rule where no ballots are ever in an area that’s not with at least two people observing what’s happening,” said Gail Pellerin, Democratic chair of the Assembly elections committee, at a UCLA elections panel last month.

Ramping up the base?

Experts agree voter fraud is rare.

However, fears about election integrity have risen among Republicans since Trump falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen, spurring GOP lawmakers across the country to introduce bills seeking to tighten voter restrictions.

This is DeMaio’s third attempt at a voter ID ballot initiative. It qualified for the ballot last month.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio announces that supporters of the CA Voter ID Initiative will submit more than 1.3 million signatures to qualify the measure for the November 2026 ballot during a press conference at the west steps of the state Capitol in Sacramento on March 3, 2026.

(

Fred Greaves

/

CalMatters

)

Strategists say there’s little evidence that ballot initiatives actually turn out voters, but this measure is something intended to activate voters in what will likely be a difficult election year for Republicans.

“Issues like this, that are kind of red meat issues for Republicans when the governor’s race is fairly lackluster, it helps,” Stutzman said. “It’s all upside. It’s not going to hurt Republicans to have this on the ballot.”

Following bruising losses after Prop. 50 and in other states, GOP leaders are hoping to hold onto three statehouse seats they flipped in 2024 and gain others. But Trump — and his push for national voter restrictions — threatens Republicans’ success at the ballot box.

“It’s a loop that Republicans keep hammering on, either fraud or ineptitude, or waste in dollars,” Stutzman said. “It’s kind of traditional Republican messaging.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

The Pasadena City Council voted this week to clear the way for new apartments for low-income fire survivors. But some council members noted their hesitancy to approve the project, saying their hands were tied by state law.

The council denied an appeal from a homeowners group who opposed the project, which plans to bring 133 units of low-income housing to East Pasadena. The nearby residents said it was too tall, too dense and had too little parking.

Mayor Victor Gordo expressed reluctance about denying the appeal. He blamed state lawmakers for pitting local elected leaders against the interests of existing residents.

“We're going to see more and more of these frustrating hearings, where the local elected body essentially has little to no discretion, little to no say, and that's wrong,” Gordo said during the Monday night meeting.

The developer’s plans for the project include adapting a former office building into 50 units of permanent supportive housing for tenants, including formerly unhoused people. A new five-story building will include another 81 units of income-restricted housing. Two units will be for property managers.

Neighbors fought to block the project

Members of the Lower Hastings Ranch Association appealed an approval of the project by the city’s Design Commission. They argued the development wasn’t suitable for the neighborhood.

Ronnie Po, the association’s president, said nearby homeowners felt “blindsided” by the plans. Their appeal wasn’t really about the project’s aesthetics, he said. They were mainly opposed to the development’s height, density and reduced parking.

“I wouldn't call this a design issue,” Po said. “This project will literally rise up to the backyards of some of our neighbors up there. So this is literally in someone's backyard.”

The development team countered those complaints in a presentation to the City Council, saying the project complied with all relevant laws and did not impinge on single-family homes.

“The building is no closer than 25 feet to the nearest property line, and no closer than 110 feet away to the nearest home,” said Dana Sayles, who is with the land use firm three6ixty.

Who is the project designed to house?

The project at 600 N. Rosemead Blvd. will be reserved for renters who earn no more than 80% of the area’s median income. By current standards, that would include individuals earning up to $84,850 per year and families of four earning up to $121,150.

Many units will be set aside for renters with even lower incomes. And under state funding agreements, preference will be given to tenants displaced by the Eaton Fire.

“More than half of the units are two and three bedrooms, so this project is very much focused on families,” said Stephanie DeWolfe, a consultant on the project. “Getting family-sized units has been a challenge for the city in the past, and especially now with all the people displaced from the fires."

State law overrides local limits

Because of the state’s density bonus law — which allows larger projects when units are kept affordable — the developer is allowed to build taller than would normally be allowed under Pasadena codes. The project is within a half-mile of the Sierra Madre Villa stop on Metro’s A Line, qualifying it as near a “major transit stop” under California law.

Because it’s near a transit line, the project also qualifies for a state law that removes parking mandates. The developer is voluntarily planning to build 55 parking spaces. Many public commenters — and some council members — said more parking was needed.

“What's the assumption of where people will park their cars?” asked Councilmember Tyron Hampton.

“We live in California, by the way,” he said, drawing applause from audience members opposed to the project.

People at the meeting who expressed support for the project said many tenants, including those exiting homelessness, likely would not be in a financial position to own cars.

“I support this building since it would be perfect for people like me, who would qualify based on income limits and do not need to have parking,” said Koji Sakano. “Those who apply, like me, would tend to be those that do not wish for car parking in the first place.”

Local housing vs. new state laws

Jesse Zwick, the Southern California director of the Housing Action Coalition, said the Pasadena project’s path to approval shows city officials and residents slowly catching up to changes in state law, which in many cases override local opposition.

“The state has awarded priority to building affordable housing in places like this — that typically have resisted it,” Zwick said. “What you're seeing now is some of that resistance being up against where state law has evolved on this issue.”

Cities that have resisted state housing laws aimed at increasing development have found themselves in California’s legal crosshairs. Beverly Hills had to approve massive “builder’s remedy” projects after it failed to comply with a state requirement for cities to plan for more housing. Huntington Beach recently faced a court order to pay $50,000 for every month it continues to flout state housing laws.

Despite those risks, some Pasadena residents urged city leaders to fight back on the state’s efforts to encourage taller, denser affordable housing projects.

“The state of California has come up with these crazy laws,” said Scott Shimamoto. “We would love for the City Council and mayor to tell the state of California: Pause this.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Pasadena Tuesday over whether the federal government has the right to access sensitive data about California’s 23 million voters. The court also heard a nearly identical case involving Oregon.

California is among 30 states and the District of Columbia sued by the Trump administration in an effort to get access to unredacted state voter registration rolls. The administration says it wants to make sure only citizens are voting and that states are otherwise properly maintaining their rolls, for example, by removing people who have died.

Why won’t California hand over the data?

California has offered access to its publicly available voter file, which does not include information like driver’s license and social security numbers. State election and privacy laws prohibit state officials from sharing that more sensitive data, and lawyers for California argue that federal laws do not allow the U.S. Department of Justice unfettered access to the state’s voter files.

Why does the federal government want voter rolls?

Trump administration officials have given different reasons for requesting the data over the past year. But earlier this month, a memo from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel wants to run voter rolls through the federal government’s SAVE system to check the immigration status of voters. NPR and other news outlets have reported on major flaws in the system, including improperly flagging eligible voters as non-citizens.

What happens to flagged names?

It differs in each state. Some states give flagged voters time to prove their eligibility; others suspend or cancel registration immediately. Voting rights groups worry that a large number of voters may be disenfranchised right before the midterm election.

The political backdrop

The debate has largely split along party lines, although not entirely — some Republican-led states are resisting the federal government’s demands for sensitive voter data. At least 15 states have agreed to provide their full registration lists, most of them Republican-led, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, which is tracking the issue.

What’s next

There's no specific timeline for a ruling from the Ninth Circuit. A separate appeals court is considering the Trump administration’s demand for Michigan voter data. Depending on the outcome of that and the California and Oregon cases, observers say the issue could be headed to the Supreme Court.