long beach arena

Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center
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Long Beach Convention Center showing a portion of the Wyland Whaling Wall.The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California. It was built on the site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium beginning in 1962. The primary venues of the complex include:

Contents
1 Long Beach Arena
2 Exhibition Halls
3 Theaters
4 Meeting Rooms
5 Live concert albums and videos
6 External links

[edit] Long Beach Arena
The Long Beach Arena was the first building to be completed in the complex. Capacities are as follows: 11,200 for hockey, 13,609 for basketball, and either 4,550, 9,200 or 13,500 for concerts depending on the setup.

It was home to the former Long Beach Ice Dogs team, which played professional ice hockey in the ECHL. The Ice Dogs ceased operations of the team in 2007.

The Arena has hosted various entertainment and professional and college sporting events, most notably the volleyball events of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games. It is also noted as a top venue for hip-hop music concerts, although entertainers such as Frank Sinatra, Slayer, Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin have also headlined here.

For trade shows, the arena features 46,000 square feet (4300 m2) of space, with an additional 19,000 square feet (1800 m2) of space in the lobby and 29,000 square feet (2700 m2) in the concourse. Hanging from the arena's 77 foot (23 m) 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.

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. At 116,000 square feet (11,000 m2), it is the world's largest mural (according to the Guinness Book of Records). The mural depicts migratory gray whales and other aquatic life that can be found in the waters off Long Beach.

Long Beach Arena was the site of the first National Hockey League game involving an 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.

The arena was also one of the sites of the 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Rounds of 64 and 32. The teams which played at Long Beach Arena included Maryland, Pepperdine & UNLV. Maryland's Len Bias played his final collegiate game at the Long Beach Arena on March 14, 1986 in a loss to UNLV in the Round of 32. The Arena was also the site of the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament from 1989 to 1993.

[edit] Exhibition Halls
Three exhibition halls feature a total 224,000 square feet (21,000 m2) of space. Separately or combined, the exhibition halls can seat up to 14,899 for events.

[edit] Theaters
There are two theaters: the 3,051 seat Terrace Theater and the adjoining 825 seat Center Theater

[edit] Meeting Rooms
There are two ballrooms: the 20,456 square foot (1900 m2) Grand Ballroom (seating up to 2,100) and the 13,200 square foot (1300 m2) Promenade Ballroom (seating up to 1,400) plus 34 meeting rooms totalling 82,823 square feet (7695 m2).

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

How the West Was Won album, Led Zeppelin, June 27, 1972
Crossroads 2: Live in the Seventies album, Eric Clapton, July 19, 1974 & July 20, 1974
King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents: Deep Purple in Concert album, Deep Purple, February 1976
Live After Death album & Live After Death (video), Iron Maiden, October 14, 1985
Singer Bruce Dickinson orders the crowd, "SCREAM FOR ME LONG BEACH"
Psychedelic Sexfunk Live from Heaven video, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1990
I Heard a Voice DVD by AFI (release date 2006-12-12)
Rock Steady Live DVD by No Doubt 2002
SEATTLE (AP) - The Washington Huskies got 22 points from Justin Dentmon and beat Long Beach State 84-69 tonight at their campus Bank of America Arena in Seattle.

Bouncing back from losses last week to ninth-ranked Texas A&M and Syracuse in the NIT Season Tipoff tournament in New York, the Huskies improved their record to 4-2.

Washington won easily despite made only 9 of 26 free throws and was outrebounded for only the second time this season.

Washington's Jon Brockman had 13 points and nine rebounds. Joel Smith scored 13 points, Matt Bryan-Amaning 11 and Quincy Pondexter 10 for the Huskies.

The Huskies led 41-33 at halftime.

Long Beach State's record went to 1-4. The 49ers are under the guidance of first-year coach Dan Monson, former coach at Gonzaga.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.