Walter Pyramid

Walter Pyramid
Full name	Walter Pyramid
Former names	Long Beach Pyramid
Location	1250 Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90840
Coordinates	33°47′14″N 118°6′51″W
Opened	30 November 1994
Owner	California State University, Long Beach
Surface	Beechwood
Scoreboard	Yes
Construction cost	~$22 million
Architect	Don Gibbs
Main contractors	Nielson Construction Company
Capacity	5,000
Tenants
Long Beach State 49ers men's basketball Long Beach State 49ers women's basketball Long Beach State 49ers men's volleyball Long Beach State 49ers women's volleyball

Walter Pyramid, formerly known as Long Beach Pyramid, is a 5,000-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium on the campus of California State University, Long Beach in Long Beach, California.

History

Long Beach Pyramid was officially opened on 30 November 1994, when it hosted a Long Beach State 49ers men's basketball game against University of Detroit Mercy, which aired live on ESPN. A standing-room only crowd of 5,021 saw Long Beach come away victorious with a final score of 71-64.

External view of Walter Pyramid

The Long Beach Pyramid was designed by Don Gibbs and built by the Nielson Construction Company of San Diego. The building of Long Beach Pyramid cost approximately $22 million dollars. Each side of the perimeter of Walter Pyramid measures 345 feet (105 m), making it a mathematically true pyramid. It is one of only three true pyramid-style buildings in the United States, the others being Luxor Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada and Pyramid Arena in Memphis, Tennessee.

Walter Pyramid rises 18 stories above the Long Beach skyline and its external is uniformly clad in sheets of dark-blue corrugated aluminum.

Name change

On 05 March 2005, Long Beach State officially renamed Long Beach Pyramid to Walter Pyramid in honor of Dr. Mike and Arline Walter. The Walters were given this recognition for a $2.1 million dollar donation given to the university. In addition to being the vice-president of Levi Strauss & Co., Dr. Mike Walter was also a dean for Long Beach State's College of Business Administration from 1993 to 2000.

Tenants

University athletics

Walter Pyramid is currently home to the Long Beach State 49ers men's basketball and Long Beach State 49ers women's basketball programs, as well as the Long Beach State 49ers men's volleyball and Long Beach State 49ers women's volleyball programs. Prior to the construction of Long Beach Pyramid on campus, the men's basketball team played some of their games in the Long Beach Arena in downtown Long Beach, and some on-campus at the Gold Mine, which has just 1,900 seats.

In addition to being the home for Long Beach State 49ers athletics, Walter Pyramid as hosted several NCAA-sponsored events including numerous women’s volleyball NCAA matches, the 2001 and 2003 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships and the 2003 NCAA Women’s Volleyball Regionals.

Non-university athletics

The Southern California Summer Pro League used the Pyramid during the summer months from 1995 to 2007. The league showcased current and prospective NBA basketball players, including recent draft picks, current NBA players working on their skills and conditioning, and international professionals hoping to become NBA players. The league went on hiatus for the 2008 season and announced its intention to move to Los Angeles for 2009.

The Pyramid was also home to the Long Beach Stingrays, a women's professional basketball team of the now-defunct American Basketball League for a time in 1997 to 1998.

The Pyramid also hosts the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships or Mundials.

A panoramic view of Walter Pyramid on the campus of California State University, Long Beach

External links

• Walter Pyramid