Lost venues in California
40 former venues documented so far, across 26 cities. Mostly motorsports, football, baseball.
40 venues
View on map →Altamont Raceway Park
Altamont Raceway Park was a half-mile oval near Tracy, California, that ran NASCAR regional and weekly racing from 1966 to 2008. It is best known as the site of the 1969 Altamont Free Concert.
ARCO Arena
ARCO Arena, later Sleep Train Arena, was the Sacramento Kings' home from 1988 to 2016. It was demolished in 2022 for a planned medical campus.
Ascot Park
A Gardena-area dirt track that from 1957 to 1990 was Southern California's home of sprint car, midget and motorcycle racing, ending with the 1990 Turkey Night Grand Prix.
Auto Club Speedway
Auto Club Speedway was a two-mile superspeedway in Fontana, California, that hosted NASCAR and Indy car racing from 1997 to 2023. Most of its land has since been sold for warehouse development.
Balboa Stadium
Balboa Stadium, built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, was the San Diego Chargers' home from 1961 to 1966. The original stadium was demolished in the 1970s and replaced by a small 3,000-seat field in 1978.
Bay Meadows Racetrack
San Mateo's Thoroughbred track from 1934 to 2008, long California's oldest continuously operating racetrack, now replaced by the mixed-use Bay Meadows neighborhood.
Beverly Hills Speedway
Beverly Hills Speedway was a 1.25-mile wooden board track that ran AAA championship races from 1920 to 1924. Rising land values led to its removal, and the site became part of the Wilshire Boulevard commercial district.
Blyth Arena
Blyth Arena was the open-sided ice arena built for the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Olympics, site of the opening ceremony and the United States' first Olympic hockey gold.
Candlestick Park
The windswept Candlestick Point stadium was the Giants' home from 1960 to 1999 and the 49ers' from 1971 to 2013, and was demolished in 2015 after a farewell concert by Paul McCartney.
Cotati Speedway
Cotati Speedway was a 1.25-mile board track in Sonoma County that held AAA championship races in 1921 and 1922. Its lumber was salvaged for local buildings after it closed.
Frank Youell Field
Frank Youell Field was a temporary stadium near downtown Oakland where the AFL Raiders played from 1962 to 1965. It was demolished in 1969 for Laney College parking.
Gilmore Field
Gilmore Field was the Fairfax District home of the Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars from 1939 to 1957, a small ballpark beside the Farmers Market that drew a celebrity crowd.
Gilmore Stadium
Gilmore Stadium was an 18,000-seat Fairfax District stadium built by oilman Earl Gilmore in 1934, best known for midget auto racing and professional football before CBS Television City replaced it.
Golden Gate Fields
Golden Gate Fields was a Thoroughbred track on the San Francisco Bay shoreline in Albany and Berkeley, California, from 1941 to 2024. It was the last major Thoroughbred track in Northern California.
Grand Olympic Auditorium
The Grand Olympic Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles was the city's principal boxing and wrestling hall from 1925 and hosted Olympic events in 1932. Sold in 2005, it still stands as a Korean-American church.
Hollywood Legion Stadium
Hollywood Legion Stadium, run by American Legion Post 43, was Hollywood's boxing and wrestling arena from the early 1920s until 1959. The 1938 building survives as a gym.
Hollywood Park Racetrack
A Thoroughbred track founded by Hollywood studio figures that raced in Inglewood from 1938 to 2013, hosted the first Breeders' Cup, and was razed for the district containing SoFi Stadium.
Ingleside Racetrack
Ingleside Racetrack was a San Francisco Thoroughbred track from 1895 to 1906. Its oval survives as Urbano Drive in the Ingleside Terraces neighborhood.
Lane Field
Lane Field was a wooden WPA-built ballpark at the foot of Broadway on San Diego Bay, home of the Pacific Coast League Padres from 1936 through 1957.
Legion Ascot Speedway
Legion Ascot Speedway was a 5/8-mile oval in El Sereno, Los Angeles, that ran from 1924 to 1936 and earned a reputation as a killer track. A school and housing now cover the site.
Lions Drag Strip
Lions Drag Strip was a quarter-mile drag strip in Wilmington, beside Long Beach, that ran from 1955 to 1972. The Harbor Department reclaimed the land, which later became a container terminal.
Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena opened in Exposition Park in 1959 and housed the Lakers, Clippers, early Kings and USC basketball. It closed in 2016 and was razed for LAFC's soccer stadium.
Los Angeles Motordrome
The Los Angeles Motordrome in Playa del Rey was a one-mile board track that opened in April 1910 and was abandoned after a 1913 fire. Automobile and motorcycle speed records were set there.
Marchbanks Speedway
Marchbanks Speedway, later Hanford Motor Speedway, was a dirt and then paved 1.4-mile tri-oval near Hanford, California, that hosted NASCAR and USAC Indy car races. It closed around 1970 and was torn down in 1984.