Los Angeles 1932 Summer Olympics

[sopas ej]

Wow ethereal, cool image!

Thanks again for all the comments, everyone!

[metroXpress]

wow, such a wonderful collection of photos

[LosAngelesBeauty]

Makes me proud to be from LA! Thanks ej for posting these photos

[ethereal_reality]

Rare photos of the Olympic Village in Baldwin Hills.



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[ethereal_reality]

Every once in a while you can come across great things on ebay.




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[sopas ej]

Great finds, ethereal! And those parasols are really interesting.

[RuFFy]

Interstate "10" was named Olympic for a while too in honor of the Olympics

[sopas ej]

I found these images on akuse.com. Being that I love maps, illustrations, and all things about LA history (and the Olympics), my jaw dropped.

It even gives directions to the Olympic Village, which of course was torn down after the Games, with the site erased to the point that its exact location was forgotten over time. For a while now, I've been trying to see online if there was any info on where it was located, and now this map tells me approximately where on Baldwin Hills it was. I'm stoked!

[BrandonJXN]

Can you imagine if this were at the Antiques Roadshow how much this could be worth?

[ethereal_reality]

Amazing find sopas_ej!!

[sopas ej]

I thought so too, ethereal. And yeah ThreeHundred, I wonder how much a map like this would go for today.

[Yankee]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

Little did they know.

LOL. Great thread. Not to digress from topic, but here's a clip from the 1936 Olympics opening ceremony from an American point of view. It's pretty cool:

• Video Link

"Every nation dipped its flag to the Fuhrer as it passed the Chancellor's box. Every nation but one. The United States flag has never been dipped."

Fuck yeah!

[sopas ej]

Very cool clip!

The 1936 Berlin Olympics was the first to use the torch relay and a final runner to light the Olympic cauldron (as you can see from the LA '32 opening ceremonies clip, the Olympic cauldron was lit on cue from a switch during the opening ceremonies when the doves were released). The 1928 Amsterdam Games were the first ever to have an Olympic flame burning during the Games.

But what I find funny is that the original purpose of the torch run for the Berlin Games was to symbolically promote the supposed Master Race, that somehow there was a link between the culturally superior Ancient Greeks and the modern-day Germans; in other words, this was Nazi propaganda. And every modern Olympics since 1936 has had a torch relay; I doubt many people know the origin of the torch relay for the modern Olympics.

[sopas ej]

More 1932 summer Olympics pics.

Swiss delegation at the Parade of Nations during the Opening Ceremony.

olympic.org


Individual road cycling race; the finish line was located in Santa Monica. This is now Pacific Coast Highway, but according to a 1943 Los Angeles County atlas I have, the stretch of what is now PCH in Santa Monica was called Palisades Beach Road; north of Santa Monica, PCH was called Malibu Road. Of course today, PCH is California State Route 1, but back then, it was US-101 Alternate.

olympic.org


Some well-known people of the day at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.
Left to right: Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian swimmer, surfer and actor, who won a gold and a silver medal for swimming at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, 2 gold medals at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics and a silver medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics; Amelia Earhart, famous aviatrix; Paavo Nurmi, Finnish runner who won gold medals at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, 1924 Paris Olympics and 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, and also won silver medals at the 1920 Antwerp and 1928 Amsterdam Olympics; Douglas Fairbanks, actor; Arthur Jonath, German athlete who won silver and bronze medals at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics.

olympic.org


Medals ceremony for the women's 100-meter freestyle. Helene Madison of the USA in the middle won gold, flanked by the Netherlands' Willemijntje den Ouden (left) who won silver, and USA's Eleanor Garatti-Saville, who won bronze.

olympic.org

[sopas ej]

USA vs. Japan, Field Hockey at the LA Coliseum.

olympic.org


György Piller of Hungary and Giulio Gaudini of Italy, fencing at the California State Armory in Exposition Park.

olympic.org


Hungarian gymnast Stephen Pelle on the pommel horse, LA Coliseum.

olympic.org


Romeo Neri of Italy on the parallel bars, LA Coliseum.

olympic.org


Georges Miez of Switzerland doing floor exercises, LA Coliseum.

olympic.org


Thomas Hampson of Great Britain in the lead, LA Coliseum.

olympic.org


Water polo, Germany vs. USA, Olympic Swim Stadium.

olympic.org

[sopas ej]

Looking north over the Coliseum, February 12, 1932. The 1932 Summer Olympics would begin around five and a half months after this photo was taken. What I find interesting about this picture is that you see all of those apartments around the west and south perimeter of Exposition Park. Those are all surface parking lots now, and have been, I assume, for many decades now.


USC Archive

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

great picture! amazing to see LA without downtown. really weird

[SD_Phil]

Great thread, great photos, and great write ups. There are some really amazing things here!

[wulaishiwo]

haha! it's really interesting to look in retrospect and review the post with old photos, which either remind us of some beautiful memories, or give us valuable information about an event unknown to us before.

[jg6544]

Outdoor activities for two weeks in L. A. in August? Must have been a cool summer or that was before global warming began.