Trojans at Rose Bowl? Idea scores few points

USC and UCLA may have shared the Coliseum for decades, but the Bruins moved out 25 years ago, and the prospect that the teams might once again become roommates -- this time at the Rose Bowl -- worries fans on both sides.

“I heard about it and I almost fell off the chair,” retired USC professor and season ticket holder Peter Dyck of La Canada Flintridge said Wednesday as he walked around the Rose Bowl.

Nearby, UCLA fan Nancy Loder, dressed head to foot in blue and gold, also dismissed the idea.

“That’s why UCLA left,” said Loder, 50, of Tarzana. “We didn’t want to be near them.”

USC officials, frustrated by stalled negotiations to renovate the Coliseum, say they are considering relocating games to the Rose Bowl beginning next season.

Although such a move appears to be a long shot, football fans and alumni of the two universities were buzzing about the possibility, particularly in Pasadena, where UCLA plays but many still consider USC their home team.

Many fans said they could not stomach the thought of the two rivals sharing a home -- especially USC alumni worried about treasured Trojan traditions getting lost in the move.

Even in Los Angeles, land of reinvention, some things cannot be transplanted.

As he walked around the Rose Bowl, USC alumnus Kevin Williams, 52, of Altadena wondered what would happen to the tradition of USC students kicking the bases of the campus flagpoles before football games for good luck.

“It’s our history -- the Coliseum is our town, our place,” said Williams, a financial specialist.

Although it may work fine for the Lakers and Clippers to share Staples Center -- and USC shared the Coliseum with UCLA until 1982 -- Williams and other fans say the college teams and their traditions need their space.

With the Rose Bowl so far from campus, Williams wondered, will USC students still swarm into games en masse in their Trojan gear, “Like a sea of cardinal and gold?” At the Rose Bowl, will there be room for the blown-up replicas of USC’s seven Heisman trophy winners’ jerseys?

“What are they going to do,” Williams asked, “paint half of it cardinal and gold?”

Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard said he’d received negative feedback from fans on both sides Wednesday; but having taught at USC law school and studied meteorology at UCLA, he’s reserving judgment on the possible move.

The Rose Bowl needs money for an upcoming $250-million renovation, he said, but it also shouldn’t alienate UCLA fans who may not get along as well with USC fans once they’re forced to share.

“It’s one thing to say that they are respectful and affectionate of each other,” he said. “And it’s another thing to say that they can live together.”

At Berry & Sweeney Pharmacy in Pasadena, employees who attended USC and UCLA have worked out a tenuous compromise, with one side tuning the television to their game and the other turning the screen away.

The rivals united in opposition to the USC move.

Pharmacist Larry Jung, 54, a USC grad, said the move would hurt pre- and post-game celebrations.

“It’s much nicer to be on campus, versus when you’re at a UCLA game you’re just in the parking lot,” he said within earshot of co-worker and UCLA graduate Kelly Hayasashi, 23. Hayasashi just applied to USC’s pharmacy program, but she still doesn’t want to share the Rose Bowl.

They puzzled about who would have the home-field advantage at the Rose Bowl if the Trojans moved in.

“They don’t want us there, and we don’t want it either,” Jung concluded.

“Boo, USC!” Rebecca Gomez, 26, chanted as she jogged around the Rose Bowl in a UCLA sweatshirt.

The UCLA campus may be in Westwood, but the Rose Bowl is clearly Bruin territory, she said, pointing out that none of the USC graduates passing by were showing their colors.

Gomez, a substitute teacher, said outspoken USC fans would have a hard time feeling at home at the Rose Bowl.

“How would that work with the tailgating, the rivalries?” she said. “It would be awkward.”

Rose Bowl managers say they could make both teams feel at home, converting the stadium for USC games the same way Staples Center switches between Lakers and Clippers games.

“You can take the banners down and put different banners up,” General Manager Darryl Dunn said.

Dunn pointed out that the Rose Bowl’s seats are a neutral shade of pink, and the permanent signs show no allegiance. But his office is festooned with a UCLA football and other memorabilia, and the stadium flags outside are all blue and gold.

Some Rose Bowl neighbors say fans should put their differences aside to help rebuild the stadium.

Catenenia Walker, a retired Pacific Bell worker from Pasadena, saw her godson graduate from UCLA, her niece from USC. She roots for both teams and would love to see USC move to the neighborhood.

“I can see UCLA’s point -- ‘It’s our home, why should we share, too bad your house isn’t working out,’ ” said Walker, 59, but “it would be terrible to let this go.”

molly.hennessy-fiske@ latimes.com