The Fabulous Forum at Night Postcard

The House that Jack Built.

I grew up attending Kings and Laker games at the Forum, or as Jack Kent Cooke called it “The Fabulous Forum”

The Los Angeles Lakers were the Forum’s feature tenant. They overcame their bridesmaid status—finally—at the Forum. In their first 11 seasons in Los Angeles, the Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals seven times, only to lose every time. The Boston Celtics beat them six times, the New York Knicks once. Three times the Lakers lost in the seventh game. The biggest gut-wrench was when Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke had ordered thousands of balloons with “World Champion Lakers” printed on them suspended from the rafters of the Forum. Flyers were placed in every seat stating, “When, not if, the Lakers win the title, balloons will be released from the raftors, the USC marching band will play “Happy Days Are Here Again” They lost that game 7 in 1969, largely in part to the Celtics being motivated by this bulletin-board fodder.

Of course, my best memories were the Los Angeles Kings. In the early 70’s hockey fans were (and still are thankfully) a cult. The atmosphere at games was like nothing else I’d ever seen. Rogie Vachon, Butch Goring, Marcel Dionne, these were my idols long before Gretzky came to town. See my favorite Kings moments in the video links below.

Tenants included: The Los Angeles Lakers NBA, Los Angeles Kings NHL, Los Angeles Strings WTT, Los Angeles Aztecs NASL, Los Angeles Lazers MISL, Los Angeles United CISL, Los Angeles Blades RHI and the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA

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Related Links

– Butch Goring scores in overtime to beat the Bruins in the playoffs.
– Miracle on Manchester with Bob Millers insight.
– 1971-72 Lakers win first title in L.A.