By Jason Henry | Daily Breeze
In 2011, the City of Champions teetered on insolvency and its school district was in such disarray that the state would take it over a year later. Homicide rates and unemployment climbed into the double digits and most of its anchors, including the Lakers and the Kings, had long since abandoned the city. The Hollywood Park Racetrack, its last major attraction, put itself out to pasture in 2013, a final bookend to Inglewood’s string of hard knocks.
Today, the $2 billion, 18,000-seat Intuit Dome, where the Los Angeles Clippers will play beginning in October, is now just one of the city’s multibillion-dollar sports venues. Across the street is the $5 billion SoFi Stadium, home of the L.A. Rams and Chargers, the flourishing YouTube Theater, a 12-screen cinema, restaurants, retailers and hundreds of luxury apartments.
The city hosted the Super Bowl in 2022, Wrestlemania in 2023 and will be home to the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympics in 2028.
“There’s opportunities that have never been dreamed of,” Mayor James T. Butts Jr. said.
But beyond the glitz and glamour, other parts of Inglewood are still waiting for their renaissance. While Inglewood has experienced tremendous and unprecedented growth, the transition has been far from seamless.
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