On December 12, 1942, the football teams for Los Angeles’s two major colleges—USC and UCLA—faced off for a game at the Coliseum, south of downtown. Before the game, a captured Japanese midget submarine was paraded around the grounds to what looks like was a packed stadium. It was just after the 1st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, so I would imagine that emotions ran high in the crowds of Angelenos we can see here.
As noted on Twitter: “The submarine was captured intact at Pearl Harbor and used as a fundraising prop for war bond drives. In the 1960s the submarine was installed at the Key West Lighthouse for display. It was moved to a museum in Texas in the 1990s.“
Yes. It looks like the “turnstile end” seats–the least desirable ones–are nearly full, and the scoreboard says ticket sales are “still continuing,” so it must have been a packed house. It was also the first time UCLA ever defeated USC (although the Trojans would win 9 of the next 10).
The Philco won’t fit through the hatch…we’re gonna have to find a way to make these things smaller!