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L.A.’s Olympic Aspirations

Since its inception, the Olympics has come to mean more than just a worldwide show of physical excellence and sportsmanship. See how the world is responding to the Olympic Games in the time of a pandemic and how Los Angeles navigated its many Olympic turns over the last century.

Entry way for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Deborah Sussman designed the 1984 Olympic logo, drawing inspiration from her travels around the world and highlighting a bright color palette.
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a group of activists on the sidewalk holding a banner that says NOlympics Anywhere
The Tokyo Olympics May Be Over, But for NOlympics LA the Fight has Just Begun
Under the banner of NOlympics LA, a coalition of housing and racial justice groups is fighting stop the 2028 Olympics from coming to Los Angeles. Their resistance draws from legacies of community building and organizing, both locally and internationally.
A young woman paints a a mural that says "LA28" with a sunset and palm tree silhouettes
A Look Into the Future: The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028
The legacies of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles still resonate. Once again, the Olympics are coming at a great juncture in Los Angeles history. How will this iteration shape the future of Los Angeles?
A light structure similar to scaffolds were used in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
How the Gleeful Aesthetic of L.A.’s 1984 Olympics Unified a Sprawling City
In 1984, Los Angeles exuded Olympic psychedelia, a gleeful '80s aesthetic which underlined the complementary power of sport, culture and art. It would also revitalize a bedraggled Olympic movement.
A bed cushion is carried by a man walking into one of the homes in the Olympic village during the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
The Olympic Village: A Los Angeles Innovation
The Olympic Village is now an accepted part of the Olympic tradition, but it wasn't always that way. It was an innovation born in Los Angeles.
The Coliseum during the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles shows the words "Olympic Stadium" on the foreground.
L.A.'s 1932 Olympics Put the City on a World Stage
In 1932, the Games in Los Angeles demonstrated how effective the Olympics could be in raising a city's profile on a global stage.
Woman walking underneath sign reading L.A. 2028 in front of the L.A. Memorial Colloseum
L.A. City Council Committee Examines Higher Estimated 2028 Olympics Budget
A Los Angeles City Council committee examined a new report today showing the estimated cost of staging the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics has risen to $6.9 billion.
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IOC Confirms L.A. Host for 2028 Olympics
Los Angeles is expected to be officially named today host of the 2028 Summer Olympics today following a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Lima, Peru. The successful bid will be announced an unprecedented 11 years before the actual Olympics
1932 Olympics
How Public Transit Helped the 1932 Olympics Move Around Los Angeles
Streetcars, interurban trolleys, and a fleet of buses transported athletes and spectators around Los Angeles during the 1932 Summer Olympics.
Bright entrances decorated the swimming venue for the 1984 Olympics.
July 1984 - Los Angeles Hosts the 1984 Summer Olympics
From July 28 to August 12, 1984, Los Angeles hosted the games of the 23rd Olympiad.
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Memories from the 1984 Olympics
This week L.A. Letters connects the dots between the World Cup in Brazil, celebration capitalism, and the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Olympics.
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L.A.'s 1984 Olympic Mural Team Reunited
The muralists who painted the walls for the 1984 Games exchanged hugs and stories last weekend like victorious Olympians.
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Leimert Park and the 1932 Olympics
Located in Baldwin Village, only a mile away from the nascent Leimert Park development, this was the very first Olympic Village since the ancient Greeks pitched their tents on the plain of Elis.
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