It has been awhile since I brought you the first LA Rams Stadium update and I figured it was about time we head on back to Inglewood to see how the development was going. So I took it upon myself as both your intrepid reporter as well as the DFO crew member who lives nearest to the construction, to bring you an update on how the LA Rams Stadium construction was proceeding.
In short: there ain’t a whole fucking lot to see here. See that banner image? I selected that because it is precisely what the stadium construction site currently looks like. Here’s another look.
Dude! You can see cranes in the background! Hot Sexy construction action!
One of the reasons I hadn’t posted an update before is because there basically isn’t much to see right now. After the construction was hilariously delayed most of the construction involved removing water from what I will refer to as “Lake Greed”, digging out a bigass hole and basically praying that it didn’t start raining prior to getting at least the footings for the stadium in place.
When you’re removing dirt from what will be a hole big enough to house Jerry Jones’ ego you end up with this.
Enough dirt to basically block any view of the construction from curious passersby.
The concept for the new stadium is unique in that visitors will walk to the stadium entrance at ground level and upon stadium entry will walk DOWN to the field/their seats. This is for several reasons. The primary reason being they wanted to build this massive fucking edifice directly in the landing path for LAX!
Blow that photo up and you will see an inbound plane approaching the airport. This photo was taken along the Southern border of this enormous construction site along Century Blvd near Prairie Blvd so that plane would be directly over where the stadium is being built.
Another fun thing not taken into consideration was the slightly reflective coating of the roof that will be covering the stadium. As planes coming in from the East who would be approaching the stadium near sunset they would be greeted with a view approximating this…
Not optimal.
Also very fucking stupid.
After a little back and forth and give and take and more than likely the greasing of the proper palms, the concept of digging the hole and having the stadium bowl be below ground level to mitigate disaster was born.
None of the geniuses who came up with this idea of digging the worlds largest CEE-MENT POND anticipated a drought ending Winter that saw some of the highest rain totals LA has ever seen dampening the proceedings.
Us locals loved the rain and the fact that it brought an end to the drought – temporarily of course – and never even considered what would happen when Mother Nature decided to fill up that hole (we can also call this Kroenke’s Folly if you prefer) costing LA the 2020 Superb Owl and delaying stadium construction for at LEAST a year.
Well then.
I asked a few of my employees who live a little closer to the stadium site what was going on with the construction prior to heading over to Inglewood and they all said “They’re digging a big fucking hole.” One of my employees has a brother-in-law who works on the construction crew and he reiterated the whole “Big fucking hole” thing but I was not to be deterred! You the dear DFO reader needed an update and it is my job, nay my patriotic duty to get you one!
Here you go.
Looking North from Century Blvd again you will see the ubiquitous palm trees and more cranes in the distance. One thing I noticed from this view, was the rest of Century blvd had been gentrified like a motherfucker. What used to be vacant lots and rent-by-the-hour motels had been removed and the area now resembled any other white suburban strip mall infested area which Inglewood has most definitely never been accused of before. Every form of fast food you can imagine along with a Costco, a Home Depot, new chain grocery stores which (my fellow Angelinos will confirm) had NEVER been brought into Inglewood before. The white-washing has begun.
Don’t get me wrong, parts of the city still maintain their “Inglewood-iness”
but I can promise you by the time the new stadium opens, these areas too will have been swept aside only to be replaced by bland, nondescript Americana like any “renewed” urban area.
What will become of the hookers?!? Has no one considered them?!?
If you’ve read the first stadium update piece you will remember that I pointed out the NFL’s hypocrisy regarding their stance on gambling. So what was the very first thing built and opened on the construction site?
The goddamn Hollywood Park casino!
That big structure on the right of the photo is the brand spanking new parking garage for the casino which was the first new construction completed on the site. The casino looks a whole HELL of a lot nicer and substantially more sparkly than the old one.
Here it is with the construction fencing surrounding it.
I basically followed the same route around the South and Eastern perimeters of the construction site that I followed for the first update. Whereas during that time, about 20 or so months ago, I was afforded nice clear expansive views of the construction, now I was continually met with this.
Or this.
When heading to the site where I had the clearest shots of the stadium construction the first time, just a little West of Crenshaw BLVD, this time I got this view.
You still get a pretty good sense of overall size and scope of the project but Jesus Christ man! Do you have to block ALL of the viewing sites?
Fucking savages.
As I headed back to my humble town of Mayberry – AKA El Segundo – I took one last fleeting glance on the off-chance that I might be able to see just a little something.
Oh goddammit!
Guess I should have listened to the locals a little more.
After doing a little bit of research I found a youtube video where somebody took some drone footage of the site. This is from June 2017.
Look Ma! Dirt!
There we have it!
I promised to keep you good folks updated on the stadium development as it progressed but I did not anticipate the Olympian levels of cock-blockage that I would encounter.
We see your little fuck up, Enos! You hear me?!? We can see it!
I did get some chicken out of the trip so it wasn’t a total waste of time.
This has been your intrepid reporter and fearless travel guide yeah right signing off from Inglewood California. Also known as the newest town in California to house a Chili’s and a Del Taco!
You bastards ain’t got shit on Inglewood any more!
[…] Here’s part 2. […]
[…] how are things looking in Inglewood? Yeah Right gave you a good update on that earlier this season, but I wanted more details, so I dug into the project’s […]
As my company has zero vested interest in this construction project, I hope it stalls out until I get my cut!
#StansFolley
I’ve eaten at that Chili’s!
Btw, that revitalization happened because of the riots, not because of Kroenke. That Chili’s was there 10 years ago.
Yeah but the Del Taco is new!
I was led to believe that part of LA is, how you say, darker
Oh it was/Is. Historically Inglewood was known for its black history and culture but in the early 90’s it became a destination for Latinos due to lower rents. This led to some upheaval and gang activity that still goes on today.
HOWEVER! Now that new money/ jobs/ development is in town whitey gonna steal that city back with a quickness.
Rents are already spiking and the people who founded the culture and identity are already being priced out.
Is that progress?
Those people that founded the culture and identity of Inglewood are living in the desert fringes. Slowly but surely all the poor black folks are being moved out to the far suburbs closest to the northern and eastern deserts. That does not mean South LA will turn white. It will speak Spanish.
That’s really true. Have you been to Palmdale or Lancaster recently? When I was a kid they were outskirt desert communities supported by Lockheed and Northrup, now they are a lot like Inglewood used to be.
And Moreno Valley. You’re right.
I don’t know if you did that intentionally, but that’s a really funny double entendre in Spanish.
The housing problem is also the leading cause of the homeless problem:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-homeless-rise-explainer-20170531-htmlstory.html
That’s raycess! It’s more athletic.
Will Kroenke’s Folly be history’s largest mass grave if a huge quake hits the area?
Oh, nevermind, that would require people to attend a game there…
I can’t wait until the victory fireworks after a Rams win & some landing pilot has a flashback to Kabul.
So, they are putting the stadium in a big hole, based on the forethought and intelligence used in the planning of the stadium, I wonder if for the next flood you will have seats that look out over one of the largest indoor lakes in the world. Maybe people can dive from the luxury boxes. If the septic lines back up into the lake you can still sell tickets for the price of a Chargers game as the “product” on the field will be exactly the same.
Hey, they can make it like the Roman Colosseum, and have Naval battles.
And just like that we figured out where the rowing events will be taking place at the 2028 Summer Games.
Fun fact: Navel Battles are what Andy and his brother call it when they have belly bump fights in the pool trying to knock each other down.