Before the Dome. Before SoFi. Before anybody needed to call Prairie Avenue an entertainment district, the Forum was already sitting on Manchester.
Its first event was held on December 30, 1967, when the Los Angeles Kings played hockey in the new arena. The building was designed by Charles Luckman and Associates in the New Formalist style.
The architecture was part of the point. City historic-resource documentation describes a symmetrical exterior, raised podium, sculptural column supports, concrete ramps and a suspended roof system, along with the distinctive elliptical seating bowl inside. Even people who know nothing about architecture know the visual result: that low circular profile and long ring of columns.
For generations, the Forum became inseparable from the sports and music history of Inglewood. Basketball made it globally recognizable, while concerts turned it into one of the region’s defining live-music rooms.
The building also survived an era when older arenas elsewhere were often abandoned or demolished. Following rehabilitation, the Forum reopened in 2014. City documentation states that it was listed on both the National Register and California Register and retained the defining features of its design.
That continuity matters even more now because the neighborhood around it has changed so dramatically. SoFi Stadium rose on the former Hollywood Park site. Intuit Dome opened nearby as the Clippers’ new home. Yet the Forum remains both physically visible and culturally distinct from the newer buildings.
Its current calendar proves that it is not merely a preserved monument. The 2026 schedule includes Robyn, Mumford & Sons, Charli XCX, Doja Cat, Gorillaz, Don Omar, Mon Laferte, Slayer, Teddy Swims, Gracie Abrams and many more, with shows already listed into 2027.
That creates one of Be Inglewood’s strongest internal-link opportunities. Every concert article can send readers here for context, then to where to eat near Kia Forum. In turn, this history page can funnel readers toward current shows.
It should also link backward to Inglewood Before SoFi and outward to the city visitor guide. The goal is to make the Forum part of a web of Inglewood stories rather than an isolated venue page.
For photography, shoot the columns, roofline, red exterior, ticket windows, ramps and the visual relationship between the Forum and newer buildings around it. Whenever possible, pair modern images with properly licensed archival photography.
The Forum’s great SEO advantage is the same thing that gives it cultural weight: it has decades of history and a live calendar at the same time.
It is not the old building next to the stadiums.
It is the building that was here first.
Sources: official venue calendars, the City of Inglewood, the Los Angeles Times and LA28 materials as of September 13, 2026. Dates change; confirm with the venue before you go.
