Repaired Coliseum Passes Test With Ease : Quake: Some fans say they can’t see any difference. But that’s just the point, say proud participants in the historic stadium’s rebuilding project.

More than 54,000 fans showed up Saturday for the first game at quake-repaired Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and for the builders it was a day of faint praise from those who did not notice much difference.

“I can’t believe they spent $60 million,” said Tommy Nunn, a fan attending the USC-Washington game reopening the stadium. “Except for a new paint job, it looks like nothing has changed.”

Such remarks did not bother Frank Kishton, regional director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which provided most of the funding to restore the Coliseum. That fans thought nothing had changed “means the job was done well,” because a major effort was required to preserve the historic features of the stadium, he said.

Coliseum project director Don C. Webb said: “That’s the PR challenge--to prove we did need the $60 million.”

If the evidence of the reconstruction work was not obvious to all, it was probably fine with most USC fans anyway. Their team beat Washington, 24-17.

Cherie Raidy of Glendale, standing in the upper concourse at halftime, said: “It’s the $60 million you can’t see, but it’s here.”

A former Coliseum commissioner, Dominick Rubalcava, paused to recall what the concourse looked like after the Jan. 17 earthquake.

“Right where we’re standing,” he said, “a gigantic crack had opened up between the concourse and the rest of the Coliseum, and that crack ran all around the stadium. The whole concourse had to be excavated 18 feet to get the equipment in. Then they had to drill, sinking 120 pilings into the ground 90 feet, and seismically reinforce the upper levels with 56 huge concrete and steel beams.

“That took months, and when it was done, they had to pour cement to re-create this concourse. So today, where all these people are buying beer and hot dogs, it looks as if nothing much has been done. But we are on the site of a classic rebuilding project, and it was all done in just a few months.”

But Mike Hill, accompanying Rubalcava, quipped: “For this kind of money, they should have gotten air conditioning.”

Pride dominated the day among the people who had worked on the project, and it was especially evident at Webb’s office, another pregame party in the Coliseum Commission’s office, and a pregame brunch hosted by USC President Steven B. Sample across the street on the university’s campus.

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Webb and prime Coliseum contractor Ron Tutor, a USC alumnus, were showered with congratulations at the USC affair.

“I never shared in a project that so galvanized the city,” Tutor said. “Instead of the usual obstructionism, everyone got behind it and pulled.”

Webb said he would always remember the dedicated workers, as many as 1,200 at a time and 2,000 in all, who toiled at the Coliseum.

“All work should show a special purpose,” the project director said. “That’s the reason I believe we’re on the planet. Work should be dignified, but too often it’s not. We saw that dignity here in recent months, the workers feeling this was not just a job, but had a purpose to it, rebuilding a grand old stadium and serving a great city.”

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Before the game, USC had a short ceremony on the field honoring Webb, Tutor, architect Terry Miller and others who were instrumental in the Coliseum repair. The Olympic torch burned atop the peristyle end of the stadium throughout the game, as it had since the rededication Thursday.

One Coliseum commissioner said that despite all the work done, he remains dissatisfied with the Coliseum.

“It’s still not the stadium we promised the Raiders it would be,” said Sheldon Sloan, referring to plans to eventually put luxury boxes on the Coliseum rim.

The only major item that was not working at the start of the game Saturday was the new scoreboard, installed in the last week by Display Solutions. A new video board performed excellently.

Among the things at the Coliseum that had not changed were concession prices, including $4.75 for not too large a beer and $3 for an iced tea that sells in most markets for $1 or less.

“The only way I can justify it is that that’s what beers are sold for at Yankee Stadium and the Meadowlands,” Lynch said. “Hell, you’ve got to get it (concessions income) when you can get it. That’s not a philosophy. It’s just the way it is.”