Ballona Creek Regatta Center

It all started when…

The City of Los Angeles began to straighten portions of Ballona Creek in the 1920s. Following a subsequent flood in 1934, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in conjunction with the Los Angeles County Flood Control District (LACFCD), lined the lower portions of the creek channel with large rocks (quarried from Santa Catalina Island) and channelized the upper portions in concrete between 1935 and 1939. The new racecourse and boathouse were provided to UCLA by the Hughes Corporation and the County of Los Angeles, and it was built within the Ballona Creek flood control channel by the US Army Corps of Engineers to provide crew racing facilities for all Los Angeles Colleges. It was originally called the Ballona Creek Marine Course.

The original UCLA boathouse was on the southside of the racecourse near the Culver Blvd Bridge. In 1965 the team moved to its current boathouse so that it could access both Ballona Creek and the newly built marina.

Race history

The course is legally wide enough for 5 lanes, but usually only 2 to 3 of those lanes are used for regattas. The first publised race was against Oregon State University in 1940 - an upset win for the Bruins.

Many of the fastest collegiate teams in the country, and from around the world have come to Los Angeles to race on Ballona Creek. All the major West Coast teams have regularly raced at Ballona Creek, with alternating home and away dual meets against the following major rivals.

• Oregon State - since 1940

• Stanford - since 1941

• California - since 1948

• Washington - since 1948

• USC - since 1948

• Long Beach State - since 1961

• Loyola Marymount - since 1965