Exposition Park International Community Center

Exposition Park International Community Center. Olympic Swim Stadium. , Writing Sports History in Water and Gold , In California, the old saying goes, whisky is for drinking, and water is for fighting over. At the Los Angeles Swim Stadium, it's for competing in, too., The 1932 Games of the X Olympiad put Los Angeles on the world's sports map - and in the swimming events, a future movie star Clarence "Buster" Crabbe took home the gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle, and a teenager named Eleanor Holm won the 100-meter backstroke., Behind the historic 1932 facade, freshly polished and restored, is a $30 million complex, the Exposition Park Intergenerational Community Center (EPICC), a blend of 1930s style with 21st century state-of-the-art glass and steel architecture constructed within the shell of the original building., The 1932 Swim Stadium was built as the world tumbled deeper into the Depression, and into political tension. Before Los Angeles stepped in to host the games, the event itself was in jeopardy. The city turned a likely smallish gathering of athletes into a festive summer respite from the day's harsh headlines - and a reminder to the world why the games were important., The Olympics were still an amateurs-only event, and as the official book of that tenth Olympiad noted, athletes were giving every effort "without hope of reward, other than the honor which they may bring to their country, to their sport and to themselves". , Gold Medals and Silver-screen Stars , On opening day, a 300-peice band marched into the new Coliseum and struck up "The Stars and Stripes Forever." The nation's vice president, Charles Curtis, was delegated to open the games. A ten-shot cannon salute was followed by the bleat of a half dozen trumpets; let the games begin., At the Swim Stadium next door to the Coliseum, Japan won five of six men's swimming gold medals, one of its swimmers eclipsed the 100-meter freestyle record set in the 1928 Olympics by Johnny Weissmuller, who like Buster Crabbe, would go on to play Tarzan in films., The Olympics seemed to create Tarzan stars; Elanor Holm appeared as Jane in the 1938 film "Tarzan's Revenge," opposite 1936 decathlon gold medalist Glenn Morris. Neither went on to stardom. , Even though she bumped into a lane divider, American Helene Madison won the women's 100-meter freestyle, then, four days later, anchored her team to first place in the 100-meter freestyle relay, knocking 9.5 seconds off the world record. She got her third gold medal in the 400-meter event, and that night celebrated at the Ambassador Hotel's Coconut Grove nightclub, dancing with actor Clark Gable. , After the 1932 games ended, the Swim Stadium was opened to the public. In 1938, a teenager named Esther Williams , one of a synchronized swimming team known as the Mercury Mermaids , entertained fans at a National Aquatic show at the stadium. A year later, in the same pool, she broke the national record in the 100-yard breast-stroke. Williams later popularized water ballet in MGM films , none of them Tartan movies. , In A New Space , That year began Los Angeles-area swimmers' world dominance of the sport , and the Swim Stadium was home base for their achievements. In 1958, when Peter Daland became head swimming coach for the University of Southern California, the Swim Stadium became "home pool" for the Trojans and for international meets sponsored by the Southern California Swimming Association. , From the day it opened until 1970, the Stadium recorded 65 world records. No other pool in the world has come close to that tally. But by the 1970s, it was showing its age. , In 1984, the competition pool was renovated for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, serving as a training venue for water polo. After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the stadium was closed down completely. , It didn't take long for the neighborhood to recognize the need for recreational and community services. In 1998, EPICC, a non-profit corporation, was formed to make it happen with the help of the Weingart Foundation. , Managed by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, EPICC includes a Senior Center, Child-care Center and a three-story recreation center with two basketball courts, weight and fitness rooms, and a 50-meter competition pool where the lanes are paved, metaphorically, with gold.