Latest news with #TheFist
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Charlotteans celebrate ‘a piece of Charlotte history' at reopening of Carolina Theatre
In 1989, Joy Sanderson wrote a guest column in The Charlotte Observer asking for someone to renovate and reopen the Carolina Theatre. At the time, Sanderson was a rising junior at Charlotte Christian School. The theatre closed in 1978, so she never experienced a show there, but looking at the vacant venue while eating dinner with her parents at The Dunhill Hotel sparked her curiosity. 'The more my parents told me about it, the more interested I became,' she wrote. 'By the end of the night, I was ready and willing to do anything to get in there.' So when Sanderson was finally allowed inside the treasured and fully restored Carolina Theatre, she let out a joyful 'Yes!' It was a sentiment shared with the more than 100 people who showed up for the historic venue's reopening and ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday. 'I've never been a real big history buff but this just drew my attention and tugged at my heart strings,' Sanderson said. 'It's a piece of Charlotte that's being re-recognized. A piece of Charlotte history. … Nobody wanted it to be torn down, so it's nice to see that we're actually keeping something and it's not being bulldozed.' When the Carolina Theatre opened in 1927 it was the premier venue for Broadway productions, movies and musical acts, including a 21-year-old Elvis Presley. But when people started venturing to the suburbs to watch movies, the theater closed on Nov. 27, 1978. The final film was Bruce Lee's 'The Fist.' From there, it sat empty and decrepit but never abandoned or unwanted. People like Sanderson, who needed the historic venue to be a future entity, joined others in the fight for preservation. That included Charlie Clayton, who started the Carolina Theatre Preservation Society. And reviving the venue was a fight, Clayton said. 'The city didn't want to keep it. They wanted to sell it,' Clayton said. 'But you have to fight and it's tough. Being tenacious actually worked and it doesn't work in some cases but it worked.' The city never demolished the building. In 2013, the city gifted the building to Foundation For The Carolinas, which began a $90 million renovation of the site in 2018. Looking around the airy entryway with its glass walls, a sparkling light fixture mimicking branches sprawled across the ceiling and a marquee awning lined with globe light bulbs beckoned viewers into the massive auditorium. No words can really decribe how it feels to see the fight pay off, Clayton said. 'There's so many stories here,' Clayton said. 'I don't think there was any other group in Charlotte that was as tenacious as we were.' Sandra Gray agreed saying, 'Charlie held on with all of his teeth. Nobody could shake him off.' The theater now boasts 905 seats, 10 laser projectors, including one for 4K movies, and a multimillion-dollar sound system. Monday's ribbon cutting was just the beginning of the celebrations the venue has planned. The theater's first event will be with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, an ode to their long history together. The orchestra held its inaugural performance there on March 20, 1932. Now, 93 years later, the orchestra will return to its birthplace, alongside famed soprano Renée Fleming, on March 28. The following day, Grammy Award-winning musicians Mark and Maggie O'Connor will take the stage in the theater's first ticketed event since it closed in 1978. Lorine Edwards said she's walked past the vacant theater for the past 19 years wondering if it'll ever reopen. Now that it has, Edwards said it's another place people in uptown can explore. 'When we first moved here, uptown had hardly anything. People came here to work and then they went home,' Edwards said. 'The city has been growing since, and I mean the liveliness of uptown on the weekends is amazing. We walk out and there's so much going on that wasn't here before. The theater just adds one more thing to do.' Jasminn McDonald agreed. She dressed up for the occasion, clad in a tiara, triple pearl choker, white elbow-length gloves and a red Regency-era gown. 'I've always dreamed of being up on the stage in front of a crowd of people but because I have autism, my fans are basically at home,' McDonald said. 'But I love the theater…I want to see all the shows.' Want to see more stories like this? Sign up here for our free, award-winning 'Inside Charlotte Arts' newsletter: And you can join our Facebook group, 'Inside Charlotte Arts,' by going here:
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Column: L.A. has every reason to give LeBron James a statue in Star Plaza
The Los Angeles Lakers have won 20 of 24 games and now, after an uneven start to the season, have NBA fans wondering whether the team is a legitimate championship contender. We're about to find out over their next four road games, starting Saturday when the team plays the franchise currently in possession of the trophy, the Boston Celtics. In 2020, LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Purple and Gold to championship No. 17, moving the franchise into a tie with Boston for most in league history. Last summer, Boston broke that tie. Now, behind the play of James and new running mate Luka Doncic, one can't help but get excited about the possibility of these two longtime rivals slugging it out once again come June. Maybe if James beats the hated Celtics in the NBA Finals, longtime Lakers fans will be OK with him having a statue at Star Plaza. Maybe. It's a touchy subject given that real estate is normally reserved for players who have put in more years with the franchise than James has. Although this is his 22nd season in the NBA, it's just his seventh with the Lakers. So while he has scored more points than Kobe Bryant, dished more assists than Magic Johnson and grabbed more rebounds than Elgin Baylor — he didn't do it all for the Lakers. The issue is that every other championship the franchise has won since moving from Minneapolis to L.A. in 1960 — starting with Jerry West and the 1972 team — is represented by a statue in that plaza outside Arena. It would be odd not to immortalize championship No. 17 in the same way. It takes a high level of cognitive dissonance to be both proud of an accomplishment and not want to acknowledge who accomplished it. Even if that were resolved in favor of honoring James, there remains the larger question: What are statues for? I was in middle school when the iconic Joe Louis monument 'The Fist' was dedicated in downtown Detroit. At the time I only saw the 24-foot bronze statue through the lens of boxing. In high school, I learned Louis wasn't born in the Motor City but in Lafayette, Ala., in 1914. His family relocated to Michigan in the 1920s, coinciding with the rise of the KKK. That was the first time I began to see the full scope of the Great Migration and understand why most families in my neighborhood had roots in the South. By the time I left for college, 'The Fist' reminded me of boxing less and the resiliency of Black people more. Just as I rarely think about football when I attend Arizona Cardinal games and walk past the statue of Pat Tillman, who left the NFL in May 2002 to enlist in the Army shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. He gave up millions to defend this country, and he made the ultimate sacrifice. That registers with me more than his playing career. I suspect I'm not alone. Whether it's 'The Fist,' Tillman's memorial or a sculpture of Oscar De La Hoya — the Mexican American kid out of East L.A. who went on to become an international superstar— the story of a statue is always more than the game. And yes, the precedent for a statue at Star Plaza is one that typically requires more years than perhaps James will ultimately spend in a Lakers uniform. Shaquille O'Neal was with the team for only eight seasons, but half of them ended in the NBA Finals. Half of James' time in L.A. has been him losing in the first round or worse. And there's plenty of reasons why the thought of a James statue next to the Showtime Lakers just feels wrong. Unless you think about the larger question: What are statues for. James' mother had him when she was 16. His father was not in the picture. Growing up in poverty, he experienced housing insecurity and moved as many as 10 times in one calendar year before he was 9. By his junior year in high school, Sports Illustrated named him 'The Chosen One.' Today he has stakes in Liverpool FC, the Boston Red Sox and Major League Pickleball. He is the first NBA player to become a billionaire while playing. And he is the first 40-year-old still expected to lead a team to a championship. We'll see how realistic those expectations are during this upcoming road trip. Three of the four teams they face — Milwaukee, Denver and Boston — have won the title since the Lakers did it in 2020 and combined have won 64% of their home games. At the end of this stretch, fans in L.A. will either be slightly deflated or thinking about parade routes. Paired with Doncic, who led Dallas to the Finals last year, James appears poised to add even more accolades to his basketball resume. If the year ends with No. 18, not only will L.A. be tied again with Boston for the most titles, but also James will become a greater part of Lakers folklore. Maybe then die-hard fans will overwhelmingly want to see the top scorer in NBA history depicted in the plaza. Though oddly the longer he plays, the less I think about him as just a great player. Now he represents one of the most inspiring stories about achieving the American Dream that America has ever seen. @LZGranderson If it's in the news right now, the L.A. Times' Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
07-03-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. has every reason to give LeBron James a statue in Star Plaza
The Los Angeles Lakers have won 20 of 24 games and now, after an uneven start to the season, have NBA fans wondering whether the team is a legitimate championship contender. We're about to find out over their next four road games, starting Saturday when the team plays the franchise currently in possession of the trophy, the Boston Celtics. In 2020, LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Purple and Gold to championship No. 17, moving the franchise into a tie with Boston for most in league history. Last summer, Boston broke that tie. Now, behind the play of James and new running mate Luka Doncic, one can't help but get excited about the possibility of these two longtime rivals slugging it out once again come June. Maybe if James beats the hated Celtics in the NBA Finals, longtime Lakers fans will be OK with him having a statue at Star Plaza. Maybe. It's a touchy subject given that real estate is normally reserved for players who have put in more years with the franchise than James has. Although this is his 22nd season in the NBA, it's just his seventh with the Lakers. So while he has scored more points than Kobe Bryant, dished more assists than Magic Johnson and grabbed more rebounds than Elgin Baylor — he didn't do it all for the Lakers. The issue is that every other championship the franchise has won since moving from Minneapolis to L.A. in 1960 — starting with Jerry West and the 1972 team — is represented by a statue in that plaza outside Arena. It would be odd not to immortalize championship No. 17 in the same way. It takes a high level of cognitive dissonance to be both proud of an accomplishment and not want to acknowledge who accomplished it. Even if that were resolved in favor of honoring James, there remains the larger question: What are statues for? I was in middle school when the iconic Joe Louis monument 'The Fist' was dedicated in downtown Detroit. At the time I only saw the 24-foot bronze statue through the lens of boxing. In high school, I learned Louis wasn't born in the Motor City but in Lafayette, Ala., in 1914. His family relocated to Michigan in the 1920s, coinciding with the rise of the KKK. That was the first time I began to see the full scope of the Great Migration and understand why most families in my neighborhood had roots in the South. By the time I left for college, 'The Fist' reminded me of boxing less and the resiliency of Black people more. Just as I rarely think about football when I attend Arizona Cardinal games and walk past the statue of Pat Tillman, who left the NFL in May 2002 to enlist in the Army shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. He gave up millions to defend this country, and he made the ultimate sacrifice. That registers with me more than his playing career. I suspect I'm not alone. Whether it's 'The Fist,' Tillman's memorial or a sculpture of Oscar De La Hoya — the Mexican American kid out of East L.A. who went on to become an international superstar— the story of a statue is always more than the game. And yes, the precedent for a statue at Star Plaza is one that typically requires more years than perhaps James will ultimately spend in a Lakers uniform. Shaquille O'Neal was with the team for only eight seasons, but half of them ended in the NBA Finals. Half of James' time in L.A. has been him losing in the first round or worse. And there's plenty of reasons why the thought of a James statue next to the Showtime Lakers just feels wrong. Unless you think about the larger question: What are statues for. James' mother had him when she was 16. His father was not in the picture. Growing up in poverty, he experienced housing insecurity and moved as many as 10 times in one calendar year before he was 9. By his junior year in high school, Sports Illustrated named him 'The Chosen One.' Today he has stakes in Liverpool FC, the Boston Red Sox and Major League Pickleball. He is the first NBA player to become a billionaire while playing. And he is the first 40-year-old still expected to lead a team to a championship. We'll see how realistic those expectations are during this upcoming road trip. Three of the four teams they face — Milwaukee, Denver and Boston — have won the title since the Lakers did it in 2020 and combined have won 64% of their home games. At the end of this stretch, fans in L.A. will either be slightly deflated or thinking about parade routes. Paired with Doncic, who led Dallas to the Finals last year, James appears poised to add even more accolades to his basketball resume. If the year ends with No. 18, not only will L.A. be tied again with Boston for the most titles, but also James will become a greater part of Lakers folklore. Maybe then die-hard fans will overwhelmingly want to see the top scorer in NBA history depicted in the plaza. Though oddly the longer he plays, the less I think about him as just a great player. Now he represents one of the most inspiring stories about achieving the American Dream that America has ever seen. @LZGranderson
