Weingart Stadium (formerly East Los Angeles College Stadium or ELAC Stadium) is a 22,355-capacity multi-purpose stadium located at

East Los Angeles College East Los Angeles College (ELAC) is a public community college in Monterey Park, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. It is part of the California Community Colleges System and the Los Angeles Community College District. With fourteen communiti ...

, in

Monterey Park, California Monterey Park is a city in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east of the Downtown Los Angeles civic center. It is bordered by Alhambra, California, Alhambra, East Los Angeles, ...

. It was built in 1951 at a cost of $3.1 million, and following renovations in 1984 it was renamed after philanthropist

Ben Weingart Ben Weingart (1888–1980) was an American real estate investor and developer, influential in the development of various areas of southern California, including Lakewood, California. A self-made man, Weingart became one of the richest men in Califo ...

Sports

Football

Weingart is the home of the

football team, but is probably best known as the site of the Garfield High School– Roosevelt High School football game. Also known as the East Los Angeles Classic, the annual clash has resulted in the stadium's largest crowds, numbering over 25,000.

Soccer

The ELAC men's and women's soccer teams have played here since the stadium was built in 1951. The

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs were an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 North American Soccer League season, 1974 ...

of the old

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

played its first season at Weingart in 1974. The Aztecs won the Western Division with the league's best record, defeated the

Boston Minutemen The Boston Minutemen were an American professional soccer team based in Boston, Massachusetts that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL). They played from 1974 to 1976. Their home fields included Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, ...

in the semifinals, 2-0, in front of 5,485 at ELAC, then won the NASL Final over the

Miami Toros The Miami Toros were a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League (1968–1984), North American Soccer League from 1972 to 1976. The club was founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts, and moved to Miami, where they played the ...

in Miami. The club would eventually move to larger stadia such as the

Rose Bowl Rose Bowl or Rosebowl may refer to: * Rose Bowl Game, an annual American college football game * Rose Bowl (stadium), Pasadena, California, site of the football game, and the home stadium of the UCLA Football team * Rose Bowl (cricket ground), West ...

and the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

, but never won another championship before folding after the 1981 season. The Los Angeles Salsa of the APSL called Weingart home for some of their games in 1993-94. (The Salsa hosted the 1993 APSL Championship Game, but at Titan Stadium in Fullerton.) It is one of the few mid-size stadiums in the western United States retrofitted with a turf playing surface certified by the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Field hockey

The stadium played host to all

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Olympic

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

matches; the US women's team took home the bronze medal. Also, US Field Hockey played a home game here in 1990.

Other uses

Commencement ceremonies for local high schools such as

Montebello High School Founded in 1909, Montebello High School is a public high school which is part of the Montebello Unified School District, and has an enrollment of approximately 2,600 students in grades 9-12. Its campus is located in Montebello, California, a sub ...

Schurr High School Schurr High School is a public high school in Montebello, California, United States, a suburb in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Part of the Montebello Unified School District, it has an enrollment of approximately 3,500 students in grades 9� ...

in Montebello, Garfield High School in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles (), or East L.A., is an unincorporated community and census designated place (CDP) situated within Los Angeles County, California, United States. According to the United States Census Bureau, East Los Angeles is designated as ...

, and

Bell Gardens High School Bell Gardens High School is a public high school in Bell Gardens, California, part of the Montebello Unified School District. History The campus was built in the 1930s and 1940s. After years of development and construction, BGHS's new three stor ...

Bell Gardens, California Bell Gardens is a city in the U.S. state of California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, the city's population was 39,501 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Bell Ga ...

are held at Weingart Stadium.

Films

In '' Viva Knievel!'' it was used to simulate a stadium in Mexico were

Evel Knievel Robert Craig Knievel (October 17, 1938November 30, 2007), known professionally as Evel Knievel (), was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Throughout his career, he attempted List of Evel Knievel career jumps, more than 75 ramp-to-ra ...

did a motorcycle jump. A concert featuring Mexican music was used to draw a crowd in to fill the stadium for the shoot. In ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis. An adaptation of the Forrest Gump (novel), 1986 novel by Winston Groom, the screenplay of the film is written by Eric Roth. It stars Tom Hanks in the title rol ...

'', special effects were used to turn the stadium into the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...

's football stadium; using movie trickery, a small crowd at ELAC appears to fill the entire stadium. A portion of the 2005 soccer movie '' Goal!'' was filmed at the stadium. On October 19, 2013, during halftime of a game between ELAC and

Victor Valley College Victor Valley College is a public community college in Victorville, California. It is part of the California Community College System. The Victor Valley Community College district includes Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Phelan and Adela ...

, the stadium was used as the home field of Gotham City University for the film '' Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice''. The scene involved a football game between Gotham City University and rival Metropolis State University. The stadium was used in the music video for the song "Wishes" by Baltimore dream pop band

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

Weingart Stadium at LA Sports Council

Weingart Stadium at Google Maps
{{Olympic venues field hockey Cal State Los Angeles Diablos football College track and field venues in the United States Defunct college football venues w Los Angeles Salsa Eastside Los Angeles Sports venues in Los Angeles County, California Sports in Monterey Park, California Soccer venues in California Venues of the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey venues North American Soccer League (1968–1984) stadiums Sports venues completed in 1951 1951 establishments in California Athletics (track and field) venues in California College football venues in California High school football venues in California