RIP Sports Arena: Aerial Shots Capture Demolished Former Home Of Lakers, Clippers, DNC

EXPOSITION PARK (CBSLA.com) — A once-iconic venue for Los Angeles sports is now little more than a pile of rubble.

Crews have made progress in the demolition of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Exposition Park, which is being leveled in order to make room for a soccer stadium.

Aerial footage Wednesday showed what was once the site of an NBA title series, two NCAA Basketball championships, the 1963 NBA All-Star Game, and the 1960 Democratic Convention now with over half of its roof demolished and much of the site covered in debris.

While spending recent years largely in disrepair, the Sports Arena has a storied past: Vice President Richard M. Nixon delivered the dedication address for the Sports Arena on Memorial Day in 1958, and John F. Kennedy, then a 43-year-old senator from Massachusetts, was nominated for the Democratic presidential ticket in 1960.

In addition to its political heritage, the venue was also home to several L.A. sports franchises, including the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings, as well as both USC and UCLA basketball.

The Sports Arena held a one-day auction in July offering items including stadium seating, turnstiles, concession stands, chairs, scoreboards, speakers, restaurant equipment, hockey goals and lockers for sale.