Does anyone have any interesting stories about attending events like Red Wing hockey games, Piston basketball games, boxing, concerts, etc. at Olympia?
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Does anyone have any interesting stories about attending events like Red Wing hockey games, Piston basketball games, boxing, concerts, etc. at Olympia?
According to jjaba's sources, Elvis is still in the building.
jjaba, on the Westside on the Grand River bus heading to Oakman Blvd.
Not that this is all that interesting, but just to get something out here, I saw Led Zeppelin there. I think it was in December of 75, on the tour after they had released Physical Graffiti. Can't remember all that much, other than Jimmy Page running around in his moons-and-stars outfit, oocasionally chugging on a bottle of whiskey. We were doing a lot of what folks did at concerts back then - the stadium was a bit smokey. After the concert there were small gangs outside causing problems, stealing purses, etc. I remember being very relieved when we finally got back to our car. Also saw the Who at the Silverdome right around that time, it was the very first concert there. Spent the night before partying in a parking lot, slept in the car, froze to death the day of the concert standing in line all day so that we could get good seats, almost got trampled when everyone started rushing towards the doors late in the afternoon. Me and a buddy of mine got interviewed by a news reporter and were quoted in the Free Press - still have the article. My friend's quote said that we 'stayed up all night drinking in the rain'. My parents really loved that quote - I was 15 at the time. Sorry to stray off the Olympia theme! I did go to a couple of Wings games at Olympia, but I was very young and memories are very vague. Gordie Howe was still playing then, I know that much.
I went to many Red Wings games, including the last one played in there. Was an oldtimers game, and I knew more of them than the young dudes. I just found the stub. Thurs. Feb 21, 1980 7:00pm "Olympia's Last Hurrah The Old Timers vs The Detroit Red Wings. Ticket was for Mezz row H seat 10 and cost $3.00. Fifty cents of that was the city surcharge. I don't remember the score. I think most of the Production Line was there and that Sonny Elliot played goalie for a moment or two between periods. I had no idea that the building was done for until I read the ticket [[from Convenient Ticket Company) .
I saw Chicago there, was an awful place for a concert. We were behind the stage and couldn't even recognize most tunes as the sound was bouncing around so much. I turned down a chance to see the Beatles there. My logic was good, [[they played very short shows, you couldn't hear for the screaming) but still ... .
I don't remember the first Ice Capades and Ice Follies we went to but I don't think the family missed a year from early fifties through mid seventies. Many hockey games as well, mostly cheering for Gadsby and Lindsay [[mom's crush) and Sawchuk, who was considered a wimp for his face mask. Oh yeah, some Howe guy.
I'll try to get dad to tell some stories of working as the house electrician when Roy Rogers put on a show there. He also spent some time on the catwalks rigging the lighting for Scotty Kilpatrick to get amazing photos for the News.
I grew up in that building, attended many Wings games in my youth and played hockey there numerous times as well. I'll always remember the strange feeling I had walking down the steps in the balcony. It seemed if you stumbled you would fall right onto the ice. Those were some steep steps, but what a great view of the game, right on top of the action. Joe Louis pales in comparison.
Saw the Beatles there twice. The key word is "saw". Couldn't hear a thing for all the screaming [[including my own). Occasional bit of bass or drums would come through. Quite an experience any way.
Me and a friend of mine went there a lot in the early 60s. Saw the ice capades and loved the wrestling shows, remember Dick the briuser? The upper balcony seats were great.
Here is what dad [[age 87) remembers, so far: Saw Joe Louis in an exhibition with a fighter named Mitchell. Saw Vaughn Monroe and his Moonmaids, saw Aquapades, not sure which famous swimmers. His friend remembered seeing Sonia Henie and a circus, possibly Coles, certainly not Ringling Bros.
Dad is an electrician and the union hall sent him to setup for a rodeo featuring Roy Rogers in '48 or '49. They kept him on for the rodeo, his job there was to watch the show and be available for emergencies. He said they brought in six inches of clay over the whole floor to give the horses traction. He also said that Roy wasn't all that good a shot. His pistols used peppershot and he still had to practice before performances. He said Roy was a good guy, made a big deal about a little girl, even knowing her name and stopping to say hi as he rode around on Trigger.
He also said that the Lions used the locker room there when they practiced at Robinson Field. Dad doesn't remember going to Olympia before WWII, that may help with dating events.
On the lighting -- He rigged strobe lights in the rafters that Kilpatrick could trigger for some breathtaking shots. This required him to stay for the games, on overtime. A tough job.
Went there to see wrestling and roller derby.
I rode the Grand River bus to Olympia in 1975 to audition for the Junior Red Wings to become the organist for the Jr. Wings games. I didn't have a driver's licence yet. I didn't get the gig [[which was a volunteer position) but a good friend [[who was better than me, and better suited to the job) got the gig and I went to several games with him, watching from the side of the press box, where the organ console was located. There was a white Rodgers [[electronic) theatre organ console on one side of the press box and a Hammond B-3 on the other side, both had deep cigarette burns to the consoles where Art Quatro would set his burning fags when he had to play suddenly. I met Lincon Cavalari and the head electrician of the building--his name escapes me now, but they were a fine, professional group of men that ran Olympia.
As a customer I saw Red Wing games there, it was superior to the Joke Lewis arena from a sightline perspective, and the cheapes seats in the top balcony were still close to the action. I also saw the Harlem Globetrotters there.
I saw a few Red Wings' games there, and recollect climbing the stairs like a ladder to get to get to the cheap seats [[and trying to avoid the standees who took up sitting in the aisle steps when the game started). My clearest memory, though, is of Dick the Bruiser beating the Shiek in a fenced in cage match circa 1967-68.
While I do not remember ever being in the Olympia, Many family members remind me that I was. I remember being at Farrels more the the Ice Capades? that I went to after, And my Mom says that I went to many wrestling matches there. Yet have no memory of it. Biggest memory of the Olympia. One July morning my Dad wakes me up says "Were going for a ride" . I hop in the Olds and we head to Grand River and McGraw. Well that was July 9th 1986, and you should know the story. My Dad kept saying ," We can fit one more brick in the trunk". Never seen that car so lowriding.
The brick barn as it was affectionatly called.
No one mentioned the addition to the balcony on the east end sometime in the 60's.
not sure how many seats it added but I think it was the world longest escalator.
Up for the start of the game, then they would reverse it for the end of the game.
Not sure when the switch would flip.
Saw many a hockey game and you could wait in the corridor afterward and the players would sign autographs.
Saw the Ice Capades, usually with family.
Roller Derby with the LA Thunderbirds? A group of us neighbor kids rode the bus down to the Olympia. We waited for them in a hallway to go to the locker rooms I believe and I was thrilled to watch them pass by. I don't recall how we made our way down to the hallway but no way you could do that now at any venue.
An aunt took me and some cousins to see the Jackson Five. We had decent seats and could see the whole show. I think tix were only about $6.50? Of couse the whole place was nothing but screaming girls. My aunt sat there with cotton in her ears.
Almost saw David Bowie there one year. He came out and started to do FAME, but someone threw something at him. He stopped the concert and said if you continue to throw things I will quit. He started again and someone threw a cup [[or beer can) and hit him. He gave the audience the finger and said Fuck you Detroit! I will never be back and he left the stage and didnt return. . Needless to say we were all pissed, but cant say I blame him. Anyone remember this?
I was at that Bowie concert too. What a mess! He did play Detroit again several times though, but I don't think he ever came back to Olympia.
Saw several concerts there, including Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Paul McCartney, and a memorably bad George Harrison concert that nearly turned into a riot before the star finally showed up quite stoned sometime around 1 AM.
Of course, I used to take the bus there as a teenager to go see the Red Wings with family and friends. This was mostly in the immediate post-Howe era when the team was terrible, so I don't have a lot of memorable home team moments from those games. Still, those standing room tickets at the back of the steep upper deck were an outstanding value to see the best hockey players in the NHL [[you could usually snag a seat once the game started). I saw a lot of greats in that era, Orr and Esposito on the Bruins, those brawling Philadelphia Flyers teams, LaFleur and Dryden on the Canadiens,
The 1927 opened Olympia Arena was designed by Detroit Architect C. Howard Crane... who was one of America's most prolific movie palace architects.
Crane designed about 50 theatres in the Detroit area, including the Fox, State [[Fillmore), Detroit Opera House [[Capitol), Orchestra Hall, United Artists, Majestic, DIA Theatre, and many others.
Crane also designed the currently being demolished Lafayette Building, and Columbus Ohio's 45 story Leveque-Lincoln Tower, his tallest commission, and considered one of America's finest Art Deco towers.
Crane had spent a lot of time visiting the sights of Europe, and his vast repetroire of classic styles in his buildings shows it. Even Olympia's brick exterior had the characteristics of a Romanesque basilica.
By 1930 his commissions had dried up, and Crane moved to London England, where he designed cinema's throughout the UK, although in a much tamer style than his exotic late 1920's movie palaces in the USA. His greatest work in the UK was London's Earl's Court Convention Center [[1937-38), built over railroad track air space.
Crane died in London in 1952, and is buried there. His grandson C. Howard Crane III is currently living in metro Detroit.
Here are some Olympia bricks.
I saw David Bowie there around 1976 or 1977. It was the Thin White Duke tour. A group of us Kent State students drove up to Detroit together for the show. Bowie did a great show, it was an experimental show for him with no special effects.
I had the same reaction as a previous poster about the steep steps in the balcony. One wrong step and you got 2 minutes off for delay of game. I went to about a dozen Red Wing games over the years. The most memorable were the Stanley Cup playoff games against the Black Hawks with Bobby Hull being shadowed by Howie Young. I also saw the Ice Capades and roller derby games there too.
It was a lousy place for concerts. I can't believe they would sell seats behind the stage, but they did. I went to my first RnR concert there to see the Animals tho' Herman's Hermits were the headliners. There was still an element of yelling, screaming girls for the Hermits so I left after the second number. Also saw Frank Zappa and the Mothers when he had former Turtles, Flo & Eddie, in the band. Saw Cream's farewell concert tour there too.
On the entrance on the Hooker Street side of Olympia stood the police detail room just to the right of the lobby. Before the game, Olympia popped for two hot dogs and a coke for the assigned officers. Today, the DPD charges the full salaries for the detail.
I'd prefer the two dogs and a coke.
1975 led Zepplin ticket @ $7.50
That would barely cover Ticketmaster's fees these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by kenp
Just dug up my old stub [[no scanner handy). I was also mezzanine, section 26, row F, seat 14. I was thinking that concert was in December - well, had the year right anyway. $7.50 was a little bit on the expensive side back then. The good seats might have been $10! I remember concerts at Cobo were typically $6.50 for main floor, $5.50 for tier A, $4.50 for the others.Quote:
Originally Posted by kenp
Just missed that Zep show, as I was 15. Saw The Moody Blues, Yes, and ELP there before it closed. Olympia was an absolutely pathetic place to see a concert.
Saw Cathy Rigby in Peter Pan sometime in the mid-late 70's. Saw many Wings games also, including an "oldtimers" reunion including Mr. Howe, who was honored that particular night.
Cole Brothers Circus comes to mind, as well as a Neil Diamond concert.
Back in 1973-4 [[?), a girl I know from high school and who was interested in me invited me to Olympia to see the Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" tour's Detroit stop.
I wasn't really interested in the gal, and I didn't want to lead her on, so I declined.
In retrospect, I should have been a jerk.
56packman, you mentioned Art Quatro. I remember he played a melody after the Wings would score, everyone called it the Red Wings Polka. I always wondered if that was his original or if it was some other tune. I also heard there was a recording of the Red Wings Polka, I'd love to have a copy of that for sure. I'm really happy that they have brought back the organist for some of the games at the Joe. I hate the canned music.Quote:
Originally Posted by 56packman
That was actually Bryan Bugsy Watson who was assigned to shadow Bobby Hull in the playoffs. My fathers company had four seats in the front row behind the net. Dad and his coworkers were at the game where Hull finally had enough of Watson and popped him in the head with his stick, drawing some blood. All the fans became enraged at Hull for this. Back in those days the glass behind the net was much lower, so you could stand on your seat and pull yourself up on the glass to yell at the players. My dad and his friends jumped up on the glass and were really giving it to Hull verbally, when suddenly he swung his stick at them. No one got hit, they just jumped back somewhat startled at what had just happened. Also in those days, the visiting team walked through the lobby to get to the ice from their dressing room with only a wooden railing and a few ushers separating them from the fans. So after the intermission, my dad's group is standing next to the wooden rail as the Black Hawks were coming back out, and Hull starts to walk right towards them. They first thought he was going to swing his stick at them again. Instead he apologized for swinging his stick at them earlier. Hull was a class act.Quote:
Originally Posted by eno
I saw a lot of Red Wings games at Olympia Stadium during my high school years [['68-69 and '69-70 seasons). I would drive my younger brother down to the Olympia, park in the Northwestern field parking lot and purchase standing room tickets. As soon as they let the standees into the building, we would run for "the world's longest escalator" and try to claim our favorite spot in the balcony.
We would go all the way down the far right balcony aisle [[along the wall) where it widened out slightly at the bottom to create a space big enough for two. We had an unobstructed view nearly straight down to the ice and we didn't interfere with anyone else's view.
Beginning in 1975, I worked in the same General Motors engineering department as Art Quatro. He was supposedly the only GM employee to ever purchase a Cadillac Limousine using the employee discount. His musician son Mike was branching out into concert promotion and buying made more sense than continually renting a limo.
Yeah Downriviera, I usually confuse Howie Young For Bryan Watson. What was Howie Young famous for?
I remember the Ice Capades and some sort of circus event at Olympia as well as the Harlem Globetrotters. I saw a lot of Red Wing games including Game 6 of the 1966 Stanley Cup Finals, in which the Canadians clinched the cup on a disputed goal in overtime. I was devastated because had the Wings won, my uncle's company would have engraved the cup and I would have gotten to see it. On that night after the game, I met my childhood football hero, the Lion's Terry Barr, crossing Grand River after the game.
And, on Sept 6, 1964 I saw my first concert there. It was this quartet.
From Liverpool.
Bob Jared
As a youngster I remember the escalator, and people would slide their beers down the middle part between the two escalotors Then they installed astroturf and the beer races stopped. I also remember the haze that hung in the rafters from all the smoke.
I also remember my dad taking me through the concourse between periods where the players had to cross the concourse to get from the ice to the locker rooms. The visitors had to do likewise, but I remember an accordian style wall would block the passageway until they were across.
My first trip to the Old Red Barn was for the Ice-Capades [[or something) featuring Herbie the Love-Bug. I was terrified of his blinking eye/headlights. Several Wings games later, I saw Eddie Giacamon shut-out the Atlanta Flames one night 8-0 amidst the "Ed-die Ed-die" chants coming from the Mezzanine. I too, attended the last game ever played there, and people were walking out with chairs. I still have my program.
I also remembering listening to Tommy Hearns fighting at Olympia on the radio.
I was working down the street @Gd. River & the Blvd when the old building finally came down. We drove by, walked around to the back, and looked into the half demolished building. The front of the building and roof were still intact, so was the lime green paint with the Winged Wheels on the facing of the upper deck behind where the nets once stood. We grabbed a couple bricks but left them at our house on Archdale when we moved.
Now for the exciting part.
Several years ago, at Hirt's in Eastern Market, there was a panoramic picture of the inside of Olympia Stadium. The picture had extensive damage, as it was probably left behind when the Wings moved out. It is 2' wide by 38" across, shows the flags hanging from the rafters, [[as well as that haze), bunting lining the entire facing of the upper deck, and shows the packed stadium from 'behind the net.' Every spectator is dressed in a suit and wearing a hat, except for the women, who are wearing dresses and hats. The loudspeakers and lights shine brightly directly above the ring. In goldleaf, at the bottom "First Boxing Show" "Johnny Risko of Cleveland vs. Tom Heeney of New Zealand" "Heeney took the decision in ten rounds." This picture hangs about 3 feet from my keyboard. I bought it for 25 bucks and alot of the picture is "stuck" to the glass frame, giving the picture an eerie 3-D effect. It's probably a week before the first hockey game, and maybe hung in Mr. Norris' or even Jack Adams office.
A similar picture, only enlarged, hangs to the right of the entrance on the river side of JLA, and shows the same panoramic view, only for a hockey game. Sadly, the picture is blocked by the Pro-shop so it's kinds hard to find.
Does anyone remember the Red Wings game where there was a disputed goal [[ aganist the Wings ) and the crowd beat up the goal judge who awarded it to the other team? This was around the mid-60's and the game was televised.
Saw Yes and Kiss [[78' & 79'). Also saw the Harlem Globetrotters there as a tyke which inspired me to stay off the streets and pursue a career shootin hoop. Dint pan out.
Roller Derby on Friday nights.This was late 60s-early 70s.It was lame,seemed as fixed as WWF?WWE?,whatever.But is was cheap and fun to watch the people in the stands yelling their hearts out for the Bombers or theT-Birds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by softailrider
Check post #32 above - I think that I remember hearing about it the next day. Also forgot to mention; interesting that the Cup was clinched during last week of April back in those days!
Downrivera--the Organ you are hearing now at Joe Louis arena is the same Art Quatro braned [[cigarette burned) Hammond B-3 that was in Olympia. It was moved from Olympia to Joe lewis when the team moved. .My friend Dave is playing for the Red Wing games now and it is definately a blast from the past. We went through this whole thing is sport events where the baby boomers became the majority, and cried if you took the rock and roll pacifier out of their mouth, so baseball and hocky got DJs, spinning the same crap you couldn't escape on commercial radio, and had heard thousands of times in your life already. The great thing about a good live musician instead of a DJ is that when something happens on the ice [[or field) and there is an opportunity to make a joke out of it by choosing a particular song. The live musician can see the opportunity and within a couple seconds be playing the song. The DJs can't react that fast because they have to search and call up the tune they are thinking about, and in comedy--timing is everything. 11 seconds later and it's just not as funny.
I have vague memories of the Olympia being torn down [[I was born in '77) -- when did that happen? I gather it was sometime during the 1980s.
1986, iirc.
Yes, that seems about right. When I was going to Bates, our bus route took us by the demolition. I remember the old folks feeling sad, but us kids didn't have any lived memories of going there.
Very sad! I'm sorry it was allowed to happen -- would have loved to see it for myself.
In 1977 I went to Chicago Stadium, a larger, much nicer version of Olympia, situated away from downtown, as Olympia was. It was very deluxe--when you walked into Olympia the lobby off of Grand River or the west entrance was very plain, utilitarian, just bumpy plaster walls painted with a wainscot. Chicago stadium had an alabaster stone walled lobby with a huge ticket booth made from the same stone, with Deco-ish reliefs of athletes. But the siren song of "more money" was heard in Chicago and the stadium came down, to be replaced by the United Center, which lacks the soul and rabble-rousing acoustics the stadium had. To see a Blackhawks game there was an otherworldly experience--the din of an excited crowd built into something fierce.
Like a lot of you my Olympia memories include the Bruiser. I did go to the Bruiser-Karras match. I have a distinct memory of both guys going into 3-point stances at opposite corners. Also the Bruiser&Shiek &they starting fighting outside the ring before the match got started & both were disqualified. Talk about an angry crowd. Also remember when Bruiser was supposed to fight Red Bastien & was a no show because his flight from Chicago was canceled due to snow. I have a framed black&white photo of the arena circa 1963 that I bought at an art festival in Birmingham a few years ago. The marquee advertises Wings-Maple Leafs playoff tkts.
I don't know if the link will work, but the term Olympia returned 75 photos at the Reuther's Virtual Motor City Collection. Lots of interior shots.
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...05;viewid=6705
The game you are referring to was in New York against the Rangers. The Rangers new GM, Emile 'The Cat" Francis was seated in the crowd and got into it with the goal judge over a disputed goal. The crowd was actually going after Francis and did not know who he was. The Ranger players saw this and jumped over the glass to help Francis.Quote:
Originally Posted by softailrider
The other disputed goal mentioned was at the Olympia in 1966. I was just a kid and was there with my dad. I still have nightmares about that goal. In overtime, the Canadians Henri Richard fell as he was breaking to the net. He clearly knocked the puck in with his gloved hand. Instantly I was up out of my seat giving the washout sign for no goal and was expecting to see referee Frank Udvari do the same. The Montreal players all jumped off the bench and the next thing you know they had the Cup in their grimey hands. I was in tears while the rest of the fans seated by us were in disbelief. No replay back then. As we were walking to our car in the parking lot I saw a guy with a ladder leaned up against the outside wall of the Olympia. He was looking into the Canadians locker room through the vent. He motioned for me to come up, and I could see the players laughing and spraying champaign. I've hated the Montreal Canadians ever since, and enjoyed it throughly when years later we humiliated the Canadians on their home ice with a shellacking that caused goalie Patrick Roy to quit the team. I hadn't felt that upset about a loss again until last spring when the Penguins beat us in game 7 for the Cup.
56packman,
If you could get your friend to play the Red Wings Polka, a lot of old time fans would be thrilled.
I was there for that game; it was the last Red Wings game in the old Forum. After I left the stadium and was walking back to my hotel, I saw Roy come from behind the stadium and head down a side street. I tailed him for a short while and he went to a phone booth, made a brief phone call, then went back up to the main street and hopped in a cab. He had been traded by the time I got back to Detroit.Quote:
Originally Posted by Downriviera
I can't remember that much of a difference between the stadiums but you're probably right. I went to the last hockey game in Chicago stadium in 1994 or '95. It was a playoff game and Chicago lost to the Maple Leafs. I sat in the mezzanine, and the steep stairs did remind me of Olympia's - if you fell forward it looked like you would land on the ice. Since it was the last hockey game there, the team had an offer going where you could send in your ticket stub and a check, and they sent back your stub, a framed photo of the interior, taken during the national anthem from your section of the stadium, and a piece of the goal net, all mounted under glass and framed . I still have it, but the ink on the ticket has since faded to the point of being unreadable.Quote:
Originally Posted by 56packman
According to the wikiQuote:
Originally Posted by Gistok
even this building is in danger of being demolished!
Found this site with some excellent pictures.
http://i46.tinypic.com/aucsat.gifhttp://i45.tinypic.com/24yah5k.gifhttp://i46.tinypic.com/313hch1.gif
growing up 65 miles from detroit, not having much of a hockey influence around me [[i played in the street with a tennis ball and the weekend pick up game at the local arena) i didnt really follow any hockey team. i played more baseball than anything. i didnt watch the lions either...
i never saw olympia when it was standing and ive only ever been in "the Joe" 3 times. once for Bruce Springsteen [[1984 Born in the USA tour), Bryan Adams [[1987) and one Red Wings game [[19960...
why was it built with the kink in the one wall? kind of a drunken carpenter day it looks like...
Maybe not the right explanation by I think it's maximizing floor area.
Thanks for the info Whitehouse!Quote:
Originally Posted by Whitehouse
London's historic Earls Court [[seating for 19,000) has been home to many many rock bands and entertainers, as well as being a convention center. I did some more investigations on that demo threat, and any demo would have to wait until after the London 2012 Olympics, since Earls Court will hold the Olympic volleyball tournaments. Large scale projects are usually planned to death in London... so I wouldn't say it's a goner just yet! ;)
56packman... you are right that Olympia was simply a utilitarian building with little in the way of any ornamentation [[save for the exterior). Ironically C. Howard Crane designed Olympia around the same time he designed his exotic movie palaces for the United Artists and Fox studios in 1926-27. He had just gotten out of his earlier classic phase of movie palace design. So I imagine that Crane would have loved to add some inside character to the "Barn", but was likely told to keep it simple.
I had only ever been to Olympia once when the Red Wings were playing. The upper level seats were certainly dizzyingly steep to ascend to. And I remember the roar of the crowd.
Olympia was not built for modern rock band sound systems in mind, which likely made for bad acoustics... which is uncharacteristic for a Crane venue. His 19,000 seat Earls Court is well liked by rock bands... but of course that could have been also attributable to the large seating count [[$$$).
Packman, I was listening to the Wings vs. Dallas game the other night and I heard the organ. I didn't think anything of it until Dallas scored late in the first, and the crowd noise was that of disappointment. That's when I realized the game was being played at JLA, and I heard the organ several more times that night. I haven't heard that organ in years. Maybe the Wings are finally catching on that the same old crowd formula they've repeated over and over with the for fifteen years is finally growing stale.
Ltdave, few streets that cross Grand River Ave. are perpendicular to it. So the arena was aligned to the right side street, and the facade/lobby was aligned with Grand River. The difference is only seen on the left side wall.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ltdave
C. Howard Crane was already adept at building on difficult sites. Many of his theatre designs have the entrance and lobby out of plumb with the auditorium. The Capitol and United Artists Theatres were among them.
The lobby of Olympia was therefore out of alignment to the arena itself. But Crane's mastery of design made most patrons unaware of this feature. Only the bend in that left wall of the outside gave away his trickery! :D
You know after reading through this tread I am surprised that My Dad didn,t pick up any of the $5.00 seats too. My folks are Wings fans, Many of the stories told here my folks can relate to. My Mom has never been to a Wings game at the Joe. Maybe I should get her a Christmas gift of Hockey.
Aside from Tiger Stadium, The Olympia is my favorite relic from Detroits past.As A kid growing up during the 70's and 80's I would still hear about the Great Wings teams of the past. The Production Line, Gadsby, Redmond, Delveccio, and my favorite Goalie growing up Terry Sawchuck who died when I was a year old.
I consider myself lucky to have grown up when I did even though I never saw the Wings play at the Barn. To me the only home of the Wings that I have known is the Joe, So I myself can't rate the two. But for a place that I have No memories of ever watching anything, I find it amazing that I love that Red Barn at Grand River and McGraw as much as I do.
Gistok--I went to the Earl's Court arena in 1997 to see the royal Tournement--a show by the branches of the British military, the Scottish guard band [[the most impressive marching band I have ever seen, so absolutely precise in their movements, and wonderfully in tune), drills where teams would dissassemble a cannon, carry the parts to the other end of the field and reassemble the cannon, the first team to fire the cannon wins. At the beginning of the event the band came out, played a number, then the announcer intoned "all rise for her majesty the queen". This tall-boxy Rolls Royce carrying the royal warrent [[seal) came out, the color of a Brown Oxford shoe. A woman in K-Mart blue came out and waved, and it was the queen, by golly.
the event was half military tattoo and half WWE kind of wrestling, there was a contest where two women fought each other on top of what looked like big foam=padded Martini glasses holding huge Q-tips. I doubt her majesty stayed for that part, we left when that began.
The building exterior reminded me of Olympia in some regards, the playing field area inside was the size of one of our football fields.
He also designed the main club house for Oakland Hills Country Club, The Lawrence Fisher Mansion 383 Lenox, 450 Keelson for the Dossin Family [[the home is for sale if you want to see pics they are available on most of the internet web sites), on the eastside, the Thomas Currie home 1709 Burns, the Ralph Phelps home 1731 Seminole [[Jack White owned the home when he was with Renee Zellweger) and 3001 Seminole in Indian Village. Plus the John Kunsky home at 1630 Wellesley in Palmer Woods. A few of Cranes commissions were for Kunsky's Chain.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gistok
Wife and I got free tickets from one of her co-workers to attend a wrestling match featuring Dick the Bruiser. We were about 7 rows back on the aisle when the little old lady clocked the Bruiser with her purse. We also saw the Globetrotters there. As a kid my sister and I saw the Ice Capades. Still remember losing the top part of my fudge bar over the railing. Sorry about that.
Thanks p69rrh51! I was aware that he designed the Lawrence Fisher [[Hari Krishna) Mansion on Lenox [[one of the 4 auto baron homes in metro Detroit promoted by the Detroit Convention & Visitors Guide). And I knew that he designed some of the houses in Indian Village and the Kunsky residence in Palmer Woods, but I was unaware of the Oakland Hills Clubhouse... wow!! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by p69rrh51
If you haven't yet had a chance p69rrh51, take a look at the United Artists Theatre thread farther down the Discuss Detroit thread list. Lots of pics and info on his movie palace designs as well as the John Kunsky connection.
I think that it's rather a pity that Crane is no where near as famous as Albert Kahn. He he was clearly as gifted as Kahn in many ways. It's just that Kahn's main claim to fame was industrial commissions, and Crane's was entertainment commissions. IMHO they were equally gifted architects on residential and commercial commissions. It's just that once their Deco and Moderne commissions were conceived, Cranes commissions were mostly in the UK, while Kahn's were mostly in metro Detroit [[and elsewhere).
this site was posted here in the past, its where i got it from but its kind of interesting...
http://www.newolympia.blogspot.com/
its a great idea that i would support...
would be such a waste of history. Look at that front!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Gistok
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/211/4...a9b3358c61.jpg
How I wish, how I wish I was here....
http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/884...0A760B0D811297
Google maps streetview.
This is slightly embarrassing [[because my friends and I were so naive), but we had tickets to see the Beatles at the Olympia, and we were so in love with them that a few days before their performance, we put together a huge box full of presents and notes and collages and sculptures and other [[what we thought were) very clever items. We drove down to the Olympia to see whether we could find someone who would give it to them, thinking that once the Beatles received our gift, they would realize how special we were and invite us backstage [[we thought they might even announce this invitation from the stage). I don't think we really believed any of this, but you know . . . and as someone said earlier, we wouldn't even have been able to hear them if they had extended the invite.
Anyway, unbelievably enough, some kind gentleman who was working at the Olympia opened the door to us and led us into a room where we could leave our box. When we walked into that room, it was just a little bit devastating because it was jammed with so many other similar offerings. We did go to the concert, and as reported, they were like little specks on the stage and impossible to hear over the screaming. Sobering. I can't imagine what it was like for them.
What's really sad is that the family members here in town either do not care orQuote:
Originally Posted by Gistok
have no clue to how much he helped to shape the architecture here in the Detroit area.