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A look back – and ahead – of the LA sports and entertainment venue.

Ten Years of the Staples Center
It's Become and Remains an LA Landmark

At the corner of 11th and Fig, Staples Center stands tall.

There is something about American buildings – sports venues in particular – that grow old beyond their time. It's as if they seem to age in dog years.

Not Staples Center.

For it is as beautiful today as the day it was born. Perhaps even more so.

It has kept up with the times – no easy task in image-conscious L.A. - not with face-lifts from a Hollywood surgeon but with continual attention to detail.

Staples Center turns 10 years old this year but looks as if it's still the new kid on the block. Its glass and metal facade lacks so much as a bird stain.

And to top it off, like a game-winning three-pointer, a $20 million renovation during the summer has improved everything from the luxurious corporate lounges – the Lexus Club looks like VIP room of a high-end Las Vegas nightclub –  to the three levels of luxury boxes to the team locker rooms.

This is not a VIP area, but the Budweiser Lounge open to all.

But fans don't have to be Jack Nicholson to enjoy the improvements. General concession and souvenir areas have been upgraded and there is now a Budweiser Lounge that is like a real lounge, couches and all. It's open to anyone with a ticket and is between M25 and M26.

Mention the mere fact that Staples Center has been around for 10 years to just about any Angeleno and their reaction will be something akin to "you're kidding. It's been 10 years already!?"

From the moment it opened, Staples Center became a part of the LA landscape, like palm trees on wide boulevards and sunsets at the beach. It's hardly as iconic or historical as the Hollywood sign or even the Santa Monica Pier, but it's given downtown an identity which was not there beforehand. And it's been a huge success.

AEG refers to Staples as a sports and entertainment complex.

Owned and operated by AEG, Staples is the No. 3 concert venue of its size in the world, grossing $43 million on 70 shows last year, according to Venues Today. It hosts approximately 250 events annually, including the Grammy Awards, Pac-10 basketball championship, was the scene of the Michael Jackson memorial and is home to four sports teams, the defending NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers, plus the Clippers the NHL's Kings and the WNBA's Sparks. More than 2,200 events have been held here in its 10-year history to more than 37 million people.

And now it's holding a contest for fans to determine the most memorable moment in the venue's history. For more informaion - and to read Laker guard Derek Fisher's best moment  – click here.

In perhaps its most impressive performance, Staples Center has not only retained its title sponsor from Day 1, but has just signed to keep it "in perpetuity," agreeing to a lifetime contract with the office supply chain Staples. It's unusual enough for a player to sign a lifetime contract, let alone the sponsor of an arena.

Nokia Plaza is a direct result of the success of Staples Center.

Staples Center has also spawned an entirely new attraction area called Nokia Plaza – something the long-standing Los Angeles Coliseum has failed to do all these years despite hosting the 1984 Olympics, being home to the Los Angeles Rams and Raiders when they were in town and the USC Trojans.

Nokia Plaza involves a more intimate music venue than Staples, Nokia Theater LA Live, the Grammy Museum, a new movie theater complex about a dozen retail outlets (including several restaurant/bars), hotels and a plaza that has live entertainment outdoor to bask in the California sunshine or under the star-lit nights.

Like Times Square in New York, it's the gathering place in LA for major local, national or international events – the start of the Lakers championship parade, the Michael Jackson memorial and the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as President. Prior to Staples, when did spread-out LA ever have a single gathering place for anything?

Officials like to use the term "sports and entertainment corridor" as often a Kobe Bryant sinks a three-pointer to describe the area.

PubClub.com will have much more on Nokia Plaza and Staples Center, including specific looks at individual bars, clubs and LA Live, in future articles.

Related Article: Pick The Best Staples Moment