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29-605: The Stingrays played most of their home games at the Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University, Long Beach ; however, one home game was played at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim (now the Honda Center ). Their head coach was Maura McHugh . The Stingrays' biggest star player was their center , Yolanda Griffith . Other notable Stingrays included Beverly Williams, Michelle M. Marciniak , and

58-452: A double live-album, entitled Live After Death . The arena was also one of the sites of the 1986 and 1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Rounds of 64 and 32. The teams that played at the arena in 1986 included Maryland, Pepperdine & UNLV. Maryland's Len Bias played his final collegiate game at the arena on March 16, 1986, in a loss to UNLV in the Round of 32. In 1990,

87-595: A long career in the WNBA, most notably for the Sacramento Monarchs . As for McHugh, she has coached various professional and college teams. Yolanda Griffith Walter Pyramid The Walter Pyramid , formerly known as The Long Beach Pyramid , is a 4,000-seat, pyramid-shaped indoor multi-purpose arena on the campus of Long Beach State University in Long Beach, California . The Walter Pyramid

116-549: A tribute to Gathers. The arena was also the site of the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament from 1989 to 1993. It was the home court for Long Beach State 's men's basketball team for several seasons in the 1970s and 1980s. Run–D.M.C. performed during their Raising Hell Tour on August 17, 1986, with Whodini , LL Cool J , The Beastie Boys and The Timex Social Club as their opening acts. The show made news worldwide when gang fights broke out between

145-604: Is currently home to the Long Beach State Beach men's basketball and Long Beach State Beach women's basketball programs, as well as the Long Beach State Beach men's volleyball and Long Beach State Beach women's volleyball programs. All LBSU teams playing home games in the Walter Pyramid are nicknamed "the Beach". The teams were previously known as the 49ers but that nickname was recently dropped. Prior to

174-669: Is happening to their main arena . Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center The Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center is a convention center located in Long Beach, California . Built on the former site of the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue is composed of the Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach Arena, and the Long Beach Performing Arts Center. It is served by

203-475: Is uniformly clad in sheets of dark-blue corrugated aluminum . On March 5, 2005, Long Beach State officially renamed The Pyramid to Walter Pyramid in honor of Mike and Arline Walter. The Walters were given this recognition for a $ 2.1 million donation given to the university. In addition to being the vice-president of Levi Strauss & Co. , Mike Walter was also a dean for Long Beach State's College of Business Administration from 1993 to 2000. The Walter Pyramid

232-574: The 1st Street station of Los Angeles Metro Rail . The first Long Beach Municipal Auditorium was completed in 1905. The second Municipal Auditorium was completed in 1932. It extended 500 feet into the water at the center of the Rainbow Pier . It was demolished in 1975. Listed below are historic photos from the Municipal Auditorium. Long Beach Convention Center Long Beach Arena Long Beach Performing Arts Center During

261-639: The COVID-19 pandemic in California , the convention center was used as a mass vaccination site. Later in the pandemic, the convention center was used as an emergency shelter for migrant children. Long Beach Arena was the first building to be completed in the complex. Capacities are as follows: 12,500 for hockey , 14,000 for basketball and 10,500 - 14,500 for concerts , depending on the seating arrangement. The arena has hosted various entertainment and professional and college sporting events, most notably

290-535: The IHL , WCHL and ECHL . The Ice Dogs ceased operations of the team in 2007. The Eagles performed during a benefit concert for California Senator Alan Cranston on July 31, 1980, on what has been described as "Long Night at Wrong Beach". Tempers boiled over as Glenn Frey and Don Felder spent the entire show telling each other about the beating each planned to administer backstage. "Only three more songs until I kick your ass, pal," Frey recalls Felder telling him near

319-563: The Loyola Marymount Lions , an 11 seed, defeated New Mexico State and then trounced the 3 seed and defending champion Michigan Wolverines by 34 points on their way to an Elite 8 appearance, just days after the on-court death of their star player Hank Gathers in the West Coast Conference tournament . Teammate Bo Kimble (a right-handed player) famously shot his first free throw in each game left-handed as

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348-773: The Philadelphia Flyers , both expansion teams, played on October 14, 1967, the Kings won 4–2. The Kings played in Long Beach for the first half of their expansion season while The Forum was being completed. In the 1970s, the arena hosted several games of the Los Angeles Sharks , of the WHA and regular appearances of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds roller derby team. The Grateful Dead played

377-800: The perimeter of Walter Pyramid measures 345 feet (105 m), and it is 190 feet (58 m) tall. It is one of only four mathematically true pyramid-style buildings in the United States , the others being the Summum Pyramid in Salt Lake City , Utah , Luxor Las Vegas in Las Vegas , Nevada, and the Memphis Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee . The Walter Pyramid rises 18 stories above the Long Beach skyline and its exterior

406-454: The volleyball events of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games . For trade shows, the arena features 46,000 square feet (4300 m ) of space, with an additional 19,000 square feet (1800 m ) of space in the lobby and 29,000 square feet (2700 m ) in the concourse. Hanging from the arena's 77 foot (23 m) high ceiling is a center-hung scoreboard with four White Way "Mega Color" Animation Screens. There is an 11 by 15 foot SACO Smartvision LED Wall located on

435-470: The 2001 and 2003 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships and the 2003 NCAA Women's Volleyball Regionals. The Southern California Summer Pro League used the Walter Pyramid during the summer months from 1995 to 2007. The league showcased current and prospective NBA basketball players, including recent draft picks, current NBA players working on their skills and conditioning, and international professionals hoping to become NBA players. The league went on hiatus for

464-637: The 2008 season and announced its intention to move to Los Angeles for 2009. The Walter Pyramid was home to the Long Beach Stingrays , a women's professional basketball team of the now-defunct American Basketball League for a time in 1997 and 1998. The Walter Pyramid hosts the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships or, in Portuguese language , Mundials . New Japan Pro-Wrestling presented

493-840: The Long Beach-based Insane Crips and the Los Angeles-based Rollin 60's Crips within the audience, with 42 reported injuries during the incident. Iron Maiden , Motörhead , Dio performed at Long Beach Arena on August 25, 2003. From 2009 to 2016, the FIRST Robotics Competition Los Angeles Regional was held at the Long Beach Arena. On July 1 and 2, 2017, the arena hosted New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's G1 Special in USA shows, which marked

522-612: The arena on December 15, 1972; the first of 13 concerts there through 1988. Elvis Presley performed two shows here on November 14 and 15, 1972. He returned for two more shows on April 25, 1976 (afternoon and evening). In 1980–81 , the arena was also home to the California Surf of the North American Soccer League for one season of indoor soccer . The arena was home to the former Long Beach Ice Dogs team, which played professional ice hockey in

551-474: The benefit for his reelection. A live recording of the Joe Walsh song "All Night Long" from this show was included on their live album, entitled Eagles Live . This marked their final live performance as The Eagles for nearly 14 years, until April 25, 1994. Iron Maiden performed four consecutive shows during their World Slavery Tour on March 14–17, 1985. The show on the 15th was recorded and released as

580-733: The company's first independently promoted shows in the United States. In October 2018, PFL 9 , a mixed martial arts event was held at the arena. During the COVID-19 pandemic in California , the Arena was converted into a medical facility but was never utilized. The arena hosted the General Conference of the United Pentecostal Church International from October 1 to October 4, 2024. By September 23, over 13,000 people had registered for

609-494: The construction of the Walter Pyramid on campus, the men's basketball team played some of their games in the Long Beach Arena in downtown Long Beach , and at the on-campus University Gymnasium later renamed Gold Mine , which has just 1,900 seats. In addition to being the home for Long Beach State athletics, the Walter Pyramid as hosted several NCAA -sponsored events including numerous women's volleyball NCAA matches,

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638-410: The end of the band's set. Felder recalls Frey making a similar threat to him during " Best of My Love ". "We're out there singing ‘Best of My Love', but inside both of us are thinking, 'As soon as this is over, I'm gonna kill him, ' " recalled Frey. The animosity purportedly developed as a result of Felder's response of "You're welcome – I guess" to Senator Cranston as he was thanking the band for doing

667-586: The event. The Fox game show Game of Talents is filmed at the arena. The arena will also host handball during the 2028 Summer Olympics . Projects totaling $ 50 million are planned for the Convention Center. Along the exterior wall of the drum-shaped Arena is "Planet Ocean", one of environmental artist Wyland's Whaling Walls , which was dedicated on July 9, 1992, and covers 116,000 square feet (11,000 m ). The mural depicts migratory gray whales and other aquatic life that can be found in

696-658: The former Olympic athlete Venus Lacy . In what turned out to be the team's only season, the Stingrays made it all the way to the ABL's championship round. They beat the defending champion Columbus Quest in the first two games (both in Long Beach) but lost the final three games in Columbus, and with that, the series. Despite their strong first season, the Stingrays were viewed largely with indifference by area fans. They had

725-520: The league's worst attendance; for most of the season, they attracted crowds in the hundreds. Citing anemic season ticket sales and weak corporate sponsorship, league officials shuttered the Stingrays in August 1998. The rest of the league followed in December. Griffith, like most of the ABL's star players, eventually joined the competing Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) Griffith went on to

754-596: The show Strong Style Evolved on March 25, 2018, which sold out within minutes. In 2019, they held the finals of the Super J-Cup . The company returned to the venue on May 21 2023, presenting Resurgence . The Los Angeles Sparks played a 2019 WNBA Playoffs semifinals game at the Walter Pyramid. For the first 5 games of the 2024 season, the Sparks will play their first 5 games at the Pyramid while Stage 3 of upgrades

783-670: The south end of the arena. Shortly after its opening in 1962, in October, the arena became the home court for the Long Beach Chiefs (who had moved from Honolulu, where known as the Hawaii Chiefs) of the short-lived American Basketball League, though the ABL would fold on December 31 of that year. The arena was also the site of the first NHL game involving a 1967 expansion team, as the Los Angeles Kings and

812-470: The waters off Long Beach. In celebration of Earth Day in 2009, Wyland touched up the existing Whaling Wall and added a large mural of the earth on the roof of the arena. There are two ballrooms: the 20,456 square foot (1900 m ) Grand Ballroom (seating up to 2,100) and the 13,200 square foot (1300 m ) Promenade Ballroom (seating up to 1,400) plus 34 meeting rooms totaling 82,823 square feet (7695 m ). The convention center and theatre part served as host of

841-593: Was officially opened on November 30, 1994, when it hosted a Long Beach State men's basketball game against the Detroit Titans , which aired live on ESPN . A standing-room only crowd of 5,021 saw Long Beach come away victorious with a final score of 71-64. The Walter Pyramid was designed by Don Gibbs and built by the Nielson Construction Company of San Diego . The building of Walter Pyramid cost approximately $ 22 million. Each side of

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