Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center


The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California. Built on the former site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium; the venue is composed of the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Arena and the Long Beach Performing Arts Center.

Venues

Long Beach Convention Center
Long Beach Arena
Long Beach Performing Arts Center
Long Beach Arena was the first building to be completed in the complex. Capacities are as follows: 12,500 for hockey, 14,000 for basketball and 10,500 - 14,500 for concerts, depending on the seating arrangement.
The arena has hosted various entertainment and professional and college sporting events, most notably the volleyball events of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
For trade shows, the arena features 46,000 square feet of space, with an additional 19,000 square feet of space in the lobby and 29,000 square feet in the concourse. Hanging from the arena's 77 foot high ceiling is a center-hung scoreboard with four White Way "Mega Color" Animation Screens. There is an 11 by 15 foot SACO Smartvision LED Wall located on the south end of the arena.
The arena was the site of the first NHL game involving a 1967 expansion team, as the Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers, both expansion teams, played on October 14, 1967, the Kings won 4–2. The Kings played in Long Beach for the first half of their expansion season while The Forum was being completed.
In the 1970s, the arena hosted several games of the Los Angeles Sharks, of the WHA and regular appearances of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds roller derby team. The Grateful Dead played the arena on December 15, 1972; the first of 13 concerts there through 1988.
Elvis Presley performed two shows here on November 14 and 15, 1972. He returned for two more shows on April 25, 1976.
In 1980–81, the arena was also home to the California Surf of the North American Soccer League for one season of indoor soccer.
The arena was home to the former Long Beach Ice Dogs team, which played professional ice hockey in the IHL, WCHL and ECHL. The Ice Dogs ceased operations of the team in 2007.
The Eagles performed during a benefit concert for California Senator Alan Cranston on July 31, 1980, on what has been described as "Long Night at Wrong Beach". Tempers boiled over as Glenn Frey and Don Felder spent the entire show telling each other about the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey recalls Felder telling him near the end of the band's set. Felder recalls Frey making a similar threat to him during "Best of My Love". "We're out there singing ‘Best of My Love', but inside both of us are thinking, 'As soon as this is over, I'm gonna kill him,' " recalled Frey. The animosity purportedly developed as a result of Felder's response of "You're welcome – I guess" to Senator Cranston as he was thanking the band for doing the benefit for his reelection. A live recording of their song "Life in the Fast Lane" from this show was included on their live album, entitled Eagles Live. This marked their final live performance, as The Eagles, for 14 years, until April 25, 1994.
Iron Maiden performed four consecutive shows during their World Slavery Tour on March 14–17, 1985. The show on the 15th was recorded and released as a double live-album, entitled Live After Death.
The arena was also one of the sites of the 1986 and 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Rounds of 64 and 32. The teams that played at the arena in 1986 included Maryland, Pepperdine & UNLV. Maryland's Len Bias played his final collegiate game at the arena on March 14, 1986, in a loss to UNLV in the Round of 32. In 1990, the Loyola Marymount Lions, an 11 seed, defeated New Mexico State and then trounced the 3 seed and defending champion Michigan Wolverines by 34 points on their way to an Elite 8 appearance, just days after the on-court death of their star player Hank Gathers in the West Coast Conference Tournament. Teammate Bo Kimble famously shot his first free throw in each game left-handed as a tribute to Gathers. The arena was also the site of the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament from 1989 to 1993. It was the home court for Long Beach State's men's basketball team for several seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.
Run–D.M.C. performed during their Raising Hell Tour on August 17, 1986, with Whodini, LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys and The Timex Social Club as their opening acts. The show made news worldwide when gang fights broke out between the Long Beach-based Insane Crips and the Los Angeles-based Rollin 60's Crips within the audience, with 42 reported injuries during the incident.
From 2009 to 2016, the FIRST Robotics Competition Los Angeles Regional was held at the Long Beach Arena.
On July 1 and 2, 2017, the arena hosted New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Special in USA shows, which marked the company's first independently promoted shows in the United States.
In October 2018, PFL 9, a mixed martial arts event was held at the arena.
The arena will also host handball during the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Wyland murals

Along the exterior wall of the drum-shaped Arena is "Planet Ocean", one of environmental artist Wyland's Whaling Walls, which was dedicated on July 9, 1992, and covers 116,000 square feet. The mural depicts migratory gray whales and other aquatic life that can be found in the waters off Long Beach.
In celebration of Earth Day in 2009, Wyland touched up the existing Whaling Wall and added a large mural of the earth on the roof of the arena.

Meeting rooms

There are two ballrooms: the 20,456 square foot Grand Ballroom and the 13,200 square foot Promenade Ballroom plus 34 meeting rooms totaling 82,823 square feet.
The convention center and theatre part served as host of the fencing competitions during the 1984 Summer Olympics.
The convention center will again serve as an Olympic venue if sports climbing is an Olympic event at the 2028 Summer Olympics.

Recordings

The Long Beach Arena has been used to record part or all of several live concert albums and videos, including: