The Eagles' Hotel California record atop The Forum presented by Chase in Inglewood, Calif. (Photo by Pop2Life)
The Forum presented by Chase in Inglewood, Calif., has built an enormous, spinning promotional piece to celebrate its grand reopening. The Eagles’ multiplatinum “Hotel California” record has been recreated with 250,000 sq. ft. of printed vinyl to spin atop the recently renovated facility.
The building will open with six concerts by the Eagles Jan. 15-25 after a $100-million renovation courtesy of new owners and operators Madison Square Garden Entertainment.
Unveiled Jan. 1, the world’s largest vinyl record was built in just 10 days, and will be removed in the beginning of February. MSGE approached marketing, promotion and public relations company Pop2Life in September about creating a stunt to promote The Forum’s reopening.
“We came up with the idea, pitched it, and then had about four weeks to figure out how to do it,” said Erik Murphy, president and CEO of Pop2Life.
He said the company came up with the idea from looking at photos of The Forum.
“We were actually looking at The Forum’s website and there’s a photo of the outside of the venue and you can see a plane flying right over it,” he added. He then went on a flight-tracking website to see just how many planes fly overhead and, after establishing that the building is directly in LAX’s flight path, created a mock-up of the design using a Google Earth aerial shot of the facility.
The fact that this record has an obvious music focus is also important. The Forum will be used exclusively for concerts and family shows, with no resident sports team.
“The Forum is a truly state-of-the-art music and entertainment venue,” said the building’s GM Nick Spampanato. “There are no scoreboards, no sky boxes — just terrific sightlines, unique features and creature comforts.”
The interior of the bowl now features flexible seating, ranging from 17,500-18,000 capacity. There are also 8,000 sq. ft. of new event-level hospitality offerings including food and beverage, merchandise, and restroom facilities.
Spampanato said that as the company’s first property west of the Mississippi River, MSGE “wanted to make a big statement that we are here, and at the same time draw a direct line to the history and future of this historic venue.”
The Eagles have a long-standing history with the venue. The band recorded three shows at the facility from the One of These Nights tour in 1976, later releasing it as the “Eagles Live” album.
Creating the 407-foot-diameter record — which actually spins at 17 MPH — took more than 50,000 pounds of materials. The structure is wind-resistant up to 80 MPH and is visible from more than one mile high. It took 200 continuous hours to print the vinyl, and more than 20,000 total man-hours to design and build.
The original design included a tone arm seen on record players but, from an engineering perspective, it wasn’t possible to include without potentially damaging the building. Creating the tone arm with an aluminum truss wouldn’t have provided enough wind resistance, while steel proved to be too heavy.
The stunt also includes concrete decal lettering in the parking lot that reads “The Forum presented by Chase is back!” The letters are as tall as those used in the Hollywood sign and are reflective.
Murphy said the installation was inspired by not only the fact that The Forum is now focusing on music, but also that vinyl records are experiencing a resurgence.
“It’s great to represent the fact that it’s a music-centric venue and will be a cool, great place to see a show,” he added.
Interviewed for this story: Erik Murphy, (866) 767-2533 x747; Nick Spampanato, (818) 761-4645