Once upon a time, the Los Angeles Lakers played home games at the Sports Arena near the USC campus and later at the Forum in Inglewood. Other than a hot dog or hamburger at the game, there were few good options for grabbing a real meal in or around those venues.
Today, the Lakers call Staples Center their home, and adjacent to the arena is the L.A. Live center which is as glitzy and vibrant an area as Los Angeles has to offer. Located in downtown, it is an important part of the transformation of an entire urban location that not long ago no one wanted to visit.