Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is the huge open bowl in Exposition Park, at 3911 S. Figueroa St., one block south of USC. You'll know it by the peristyle, the row of arches under the Coliseum torch, and it hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984. USC football fills it in the fall. The rest of the year the Coliseum takes stadium concerts, and a full bowl on a summer night is loud in a way few LA rooms can match.

The Torch is the Coliseum's newer outdoor venue, set beneath those peristyle arches. It opened in 2023 and holds 3,500 to 10,000 people general admission, so it's the more common stop for electronic and hip-hop shows. Deorro sold it out in September 2023. Read your ticket closely, since the listing may say The Torch rather than the Coliseum.

The house rules are standard for a stadium. You can bring a clear bag up to 12 x 6 x 12 inches or a one-gallon clear storage bag, and a small clutch about the size of your hand on top of that. There's no re-entry at any event, the venue is cashless, and kids two and under get in free if they sit on a lap. Leave the stroller and the umbrella at home.

Take the train if you can. The Metro E Line stops at Expo Park/USC and Expo/Vermont, both under five minutes from the gates. Parking in Exposition Park is limited and sells out fast, and USC's campus garages are about a ten-minute walk. After a big show, rideshare cars can't enter the park for 45 to 60 minutes, so larger events move pickup to Vermont Ave. between Exposition Blvd. and Downey Way.