Olympia Stadium - Grand River & McGraw

[kenp]

1975 led Zepplin ticket @ $7.50

[zitro]

1975 led Zepplin ticket @ $7.50

That would barely cover Ticketmaster's fees these days.

[SMRJim]

1975 led Zepplin ticket @ $7.50

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.

[Bong-Man]

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.

[Lorax]

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.

[Vic_doucette]

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.

[Hamtragedy]

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.

[softailrider]

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.

[ggores]

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.

[baskerville holmes]

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.

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!

[Downriviera]

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.

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.

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.

[Downriviera]

56packman,

If you could get your friend to play the Red Wings Polka, a lot of old time fans would be thrilled.

[MikeM]

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 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.

[luckycar]

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.

[56packman]

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.

[English]

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.

[56packman]

1986, iirc.

[English]

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.

[56packman]

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.

[MikeM]

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.

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.

[fratman]

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.

[Stosh]

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

[Whitehouse]

Maybe not the right explanation by I think it's maximizing floor area.

[Hamtragedy]

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.

[reddog289]

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.