OLYMPIC TORCH TO LIGHT UP L.A.Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer For the first time since the heady days of the 1984 Olympics, the Olympic torch will be carried through the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday as it begins its cross-country trek to Atlanta. The centennial Summer Games are still more than two months off, but throughout Saturday, a relay involving 225 Southland residents will snake across the city with the torch carried one kilometer at a time by medal-winning athletes and regular folks alike. Rafer Johnson, a 1960 gold medal-winning decathlete de·cath·lete n. An athlete who participates in a decathlon. , will start the American journey after a music-filled celebration - free and open to the public - beginning 8:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum For board track racing circuit, see . Present use The Coliseum is now primarily the home of the USC Trojan football team. During the recent stretch of its success in football, most of USC's regular home games, especially the alternating games with rivals UCLA and Notre . For the next 84 days, the torch will wend its way across the country on a 15,280-mile odyssey through 42 states. Johnson and Gina Hemphill Tillman - granddaughter of Olympic legend Jesse Owens - were the torch relay runners to light the flame at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Los Angeles Olympics may refer to:
Olympic Games • • in the Coliseum. The two will reunite Saturday as Johnson completes his kilometer and passes the torch to Tillman for her leg. She in turn will hand off to Olympic swimmer Janet Evans, said Susan Whyte Simon, an organizer of the torch relay. The flame will arrive Saturday morning at Los Angeles International Airport “LAX” redirects here. For other uses, see LAX (disambiguation). “KLAX” redirects here. For other uses, see KLAX (disambiguation). Los Angeles International Airport (IATA: LAX, ICAO: KLAX, FAA LID: LAX after a 14-hour flight from Athens, Greece, during which it will be encased in a specially designed lantern. It will be shuttled by helicopter to the Coliseum ceremony, where Mayor Richard Riordan will welcome former Olympians, the governor of Georgia, the mayor of Athens, and even a Greek high priestess. At 10:30 a.m., the flame will begin its jagged journey across the country with torch-bearers carrying the Olympic flame a combined 93 miles on first-day trips past Chinatown, Little Tokyo, Dodger Stadium, Griffith Park, the Hollywood Bowl, the House of Blues House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically , Koreatown, the Santa Monica Pier The Santa Monica Pier is located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, California and is a prominent landmark. Attractions The pier contains Pacific Park, a family amusement park with a large ferris wheel. , Third Street Promenade The Third Street Promenade is a pedestrian street in Santa Monica, California, United States. It is considered one of the premier shopping destinations in West Los Angeles and frequently draws crowds from all over Los Angeles County. , NBC Studios, Warner Bros. Studios and the Queen Mary. The relay will stop in Huntington Beach for the night and will resume Sunday. CAPTION(S): MAP MAP: OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY |
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