East Los Angeles College

This facing southwest. I have to consider this a success story. Two years ago, this was a mess. Now it is a great facility. I would guess this to have one of the largest Track and Field capacities in the State, though obviously the lousy benches used for the seating leave a lot to be desired and are probably the next step in this process.. The fake grass infield was first and frankly the vehicles on the track to put it in didn't help the already ragged track. Now a new Mondo track has been installed. There is an exceptionally long chute going into the tunnel on the east end of the stadium. It looks like they are prepared to put in barricades. The gray areas next to the field event runways on both ends of the stadium are also Mondo surface. You have to look carefully in the picture to see the Gray surface covers the pits (in planks) out of season. The new adjustable water jump pit is covered with similar planks. Soccer is still the name of the game here, so spare soccer nets are still stored on the track and infield surface.

I've never seen this anywhere else--they actually have marked 4x1500 relay passing zones with inverted end lines to compensate for the waterfall start of the beginning of the zone.

Previous to the construction, this was one of the worse cases of neglect I've seen. Its condition as of 2002 is documented below.

This photo is facing south. This is a classic, old stadium built in a bowl. Lots of seats, in lousy condition. Where to beging with the track? From this wide shot, you can see the discolorations. All are repairs. Why lane 5 is discolored more and is in significantly worse shape than the other lanes, I don't know and do not recall such an observation in previous visits. But all the lanes are damaged. In the center is the newly installed fake grass field, the second for this location. Around the time of the Olympics, this had a hard, old style astroturf surface that was removed in favor of natural grass in recent years. So they went ahead and spent huge money to change it again, adding to the track damage in the process. There is a little distortion in this image due to blending of multiple photographs (the lines really are straight). This is in a poorer economic area, but they started with a first class track in 1983 and of the other facilities with a similar start, this is in the worst condition. Excepting Cal State L.A., where public events are rare, this is the only all-weather facility in this area of town. Being in this condition makes it poor to use, though we did use it for All Comers meets in 2002.

It is hard to see the unevenness of this track in a flat photograph. This shows it the best with bubbles (where the old surface is coming up), surface differences (where the new repairs are higher and of a different texture than the original surface that still is the majority) and seams (where the cuts between various vintages are coming up).

In the first turn is this abomination. A large section is torn out to the sub-surface (asphalt) with a thin layer of similar matching colored paint stuck to the asphalt. Note this location with tire tracks melted into the surface (a repeating theme here).

Here are the backstretch and homestretch, pocked by the same kind of repairs. The tire tracks are also a factor on the home stretch.

Here are some more low angles to try to show the unevenness and inconsistency of the surface.

This is a good example of one of the repair seams not holding and causing an even more dangerous situation.

The problems and repairs continue all the way down the long chute.

Here are several of the tire tracks, melted particularly into lane 5. I have heard car shows being accused of causing this, but also the construction vehicles from the original replanting of a grass field caused this.

Here is the common finish, complete with holes and bubbles right at the finish.

They covered the Steeplechase pit, most likely to save on liability problems. The hole in the wood cover looks like a liability suit just waiting to happen.

Here are the seams between the original mondo carpets. Most of these seams are hidden in the lane lines but here this seam is the ONLY marker that defined the curve of the track--no painted line and no curb.

Near the start lines, lots of repairs. Also visible are grass residue (amazing considering there is so little grass inside the stadium now that the fake grass has been installed (and the grass that exists doesn't look maintained).

This damage to the runway is the result of the field construction. And you can see the quality of repair they performed after tearing the end off--none.

Here's another attempt to show more of the bubbles and cuts on the backstretch.

It is apparent there once was a curb, the drilled holes still exist. Also in this shot are tractor marks left from other construction machinery.

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