To many, still fabulous
There are a few remnants of the days when the Forum, frequently dubbed “The Garden of the West,” stood as L.A.’s most vaunted arena.
Hanging high against the back wall are the championship banners of the “Showtime”-era Lakers, when the elite of Hollywood packed the venue to watch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson lead the Lakers to five NBA championships in the ‘80s.
But more than banners or sundry photos that adorn the walls of the round building at Manchester and Prairie in Inglewood, there’s an aura that still permeates the Forum.
“You can’t put your finger on it, but it’s like, ‘Here we are. This place is really cool,’ ” says bass player Nikki Six, who played the venue, in his estimation, at least 10 times with rock band Motley Crue. “It’s like if you go to CBGB’s in New York. You think, ‘These walls are breathing with history.’ It’s the same thing with the Forum.”
It’s a history still being made -- the Forum, which many thought would recede into anonymity when Staples Center opened in 1999, continues to bustle with activity. Aerosmith, KISS and Stevie Wonder played there late last year. Metallica, Linkin Park and an old Forum staple -- boxing -- are on the bill next month.
And performing at the venue is still among the career goals of artists such as Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro. “We still have yet to do Jane’s Addiction at the Forum, which is something I’d really love to do someday,” he says. “I did Chili Peppers at the Forum, which was an amazing experience, because that’s where I’d seen KISS, Van Halen and just about everyone I’d ever seen when I was younger. That was the place where you saw AC/DC and all the big rock bands.”
Since opening its doors on Dec. 30, 1967, the Forum has played host to a who’s who of rock ‘n’ roll, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones in their ‘70s heyday, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, Van Halen (with and without David Lee Roth), Depeche Mode, Prince, Paul McCartney and Pearl Jam.
That rich legacy of music, the Lakers and NHL’s Kings, who’ve also moved to Staples Center, combined to make the Forum, in the eyes of Gary Bongiovanni, editor of concert trade magazine Pollstar, “The place to play in L.A.”
But as Bongiovanni also points out, “There’s always a glow on the new building.”
And after the $375 million Staples Center opened downtown in October 1999, the Forum was headed for demolition, according to Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer, head of Faithful Central Bible Church.
The bishop attempted to book the Forum for three services in 2000, including Easter and New Year’s Eve, only to be told that New Year’s Eve had to be tentative because the venue would likely be sold by then. “That’s how we found out the building was at least on the market,” Ulmer said. “We later found out that not only was it on the market, but they had a buyer with money. And the plan was to tear it down and build a housing complex.”
His church raised the necessary funds to purchase the building and moved in Easter 2001. For the last three years, the church has held regular Sunday services, as well as sporadic concerts, while, in Ulmer’s words, “learning the ropes: the touring industry, the concert industry, big stars, little stars, artists, performers.”
In July 2003, Faithful Central Bible Church brought in SMG, the nation’s largest arena management company, to take over the day-to-day management of the venue, leading to a resurgence of activity at the Forum.
In December, Aerosmith and KISS and Stevie Wonder, with his House Full of Toys benefit, brought some of the old magic back to the venue. Serving as one of the hosts at the Wonder show, Magic Johnson said, “It’s like the old days.”
And March looks to be another big month. Metallica’s shows are sold out, as is a show by Linkin Park rescheduled from this month.
Paul Tollett, president of Goldenvoice, which is co-promoting Metallica and Linkin Park at the Forum, says there’s no question the arrival of SMG has made a difference. “SMG is, for us, really easy to work with because we just work with them in so many other venues,” he says.
Vernon Giscombe, general manager of the Forum, is hopeful the recent surge in activity is just the beginning. “We’ll be doing some capital improvements down the pike, as well as the rebranding aspect. So basically a face-lift and doing a few things,” he says. “In turn, what we’d like to do is make sure that it’s a building promoters can use and realize that it’s a revenue-generating opportunity for themselves.”
It’s no secret that the older Forum is a cheaper alternative to its newer counterparts. In a 1999 press release about plans for the Forum in light of Staples’ opening, Staples Center executive Tim Leiweke pointed out, “The Great Western Forum will be an asset to promoters as both a scheduling and cost-effective alternative to other sites.”
But promoters aren’t the only ones realizing that.
Brad Delson, guitarist of Linkin Park, says, “I think a lot of the bands like the Forum because it doesn’t have necessarily all of the luxuries that the Staples Center has, but it also affords you the ability to not pay those premiums in rent and keep your ticket prices down.”
A look at comparative ticket prices between upcoming shows at the Forum and Staples finds Linkin Park’s $34.50 tickets to have the cheapest face value, but prices also seem to depend on artist and target demographic. While tickets for Bette Midler and Rod Stewart’s upcoming shows at Staples top more than $200, “American Idol” winners Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken’s Staples show ranges from $38.50 to $48.50, considerably less than the $55 to $75 range for Metallica at the Forum.
There’s also another factor, which is that at nearly one-third of the square footage of Staples, the Forum -- 330,000 compared to 950,000 for Staples -- offers relative intimacy by arena standards. “The building is more straightforward. And it’s really about the music, the band, and their audience,” Delson says. “It’s not about who’s got the best box seat.”
Tollett and Bongiovanni point out that part of the reason people play the Forum instead of Staples is because it’s sometimes hard get an open date at Staples. Among three professional sports teams, including the Clippers, and major events like the recent Grammys and NBA All-Star game, which require multiple set-up days, available nights to book Staples are sometimes at a premium.
But they concede there are some acts who just prefer the Forum. Bongiovanni cites Bruce Springsteen (who was unavailable to comment for this story) as one. After opening Staples, he chose to play the Forum on the “Rising” tour.
Bongiovanni says it’s unlikely with all the competition, including Anaheim’s Arrowhead Pond, that the Forum will ever get back to being the preeminent venue in town. But there are those qualities that can’t be measured in dollars, such as the many youngsters who grew up watching shows at the Forum.
One of those emerging artists, L.A.-based singer-songwriter John Gregory, releases his debut album, “Pictures From Home,” on Atlantic Records this month. It’s the culmination of a dream that began 25 years ago seeing KISS at the Forum.
“Being so young, I don’t think I’d ever been in a building that big. I remember being excited but sort of scared too,” Gregory says. “After seeing it, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.”
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Celeb cantina
Rocker Nikki Sixx
reminiscences
on the Forum Club:
“The Forum Club was like the scene in ‘Star Wars’ where they walk into this bar and there are all these different kinds of aliens from around the universe sitting around a bar. You walk up to the bar, there’s a porno star on your right, a politician on your left, and someone taps you on the back and it’s some huge actor.... It was outrageous, eclectic, very rock ‘n’ roll, and very fun. You’d walk over and say, ‘Hey, James Brown, what’s up?’ And he’d say, ‘Not much. Have you met my friend, David Lee Roth?’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, I know Dave.’ And Dave’s like, ‘Hey, do you know my friend Smokey Robinson?’ ”