LA Hacks

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LA Hacks

LA Hacks Logo

Genre Hackathon

Location(s) UCLA, Los Angeles, California, USA

Founded 2012

Website lahacks.com

LA Hacks is an annual student-led hackathon hosted at the University of California, Los

Angeles (UCLA)'s Pauley Pavilion. According to UCLA in 2020, it is Southern California's largest
annual hackathon.[1]

History[edit]
LA Hacks was co-founded by UCLA students Hadar Dor and Alvin Hsia. The inaugural event was
held on April 27–28, 2013 at CrossCampus in Santa Monica. There were about 250 people in
attendance and over 150 students from universities across Southern California competed in the 24
hours event.[2][3]
LA Hacks in Pauley Pavilion, 2014

In April 2014, 1,500 hackers came to participate, establishing LA Hacks as the largest hackathon in
history. This was held at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion for 36 hours. Special guests came to speak at LA
Hacks, including Evan Spiegel, founder and CEO of Snapchat, Alexis Ohanian, co-founder
of Reddit, Baiju Bhatt, co-founder of Robinhood, and Adam Singolda, CEO of Taboola. Their hacks
were judged by top tech industry professionals (i.e. Sam Altman – President of Y Combinator, Chris
De Wolfe – CEO of SGN and Founder of Myspace).[4][5][6][7]
In April 2016, the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics signed on as a sponsor. The
committee presented two challenges in which students were asked to create apps that would
promote fitness and enhance the fan experience at live sporting events. [8]
LA Hacks 2020 was hosted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1]

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:    UCLA Newsroom (March 31, 2020).  "UCLA's virtual hackathon draws more than
a b

1,000 students to develop tech for L.A." UCLA. Retrieved  April 1,  2020.
2. ^ Yury, Carrie (April 18, 2013). "Hackers Swarm Los Angeles for LA Hacks".  HuffPost.
3. ^ Yury, Cary (May 9, 2013).  "And the Winner Is... An Interview With Hadar Dor of LA
Hacks".  HuffPost.
4. ^ Chang, Andrea (April 13, 2014). "LA Hacks hackathon draws hordes of young developers to
UCLA [Updated]".  Los Angeles Times.
5. ^ Alagot, Calvin (April 13, 2014). "UCLA hosts "Biggest Hackathon in History"". LA Weekly.
6. ^ "TechZulu • LA Hacks: Making LA the Tech Hub of the World". TechZulu. April 21, 2014.
7. ^ Ki, So Jung (April 14, 2014). "LA Hacks gathers about 1,300 participants at UCLA for
hackathon". Daily Bruin. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
8. ^ Wharton, David (April 29, 2016).  "L.A. Olympic bid group seeks input from young computer
programmers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 29, 2016.