Boston Garden

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Boston Garden
The Garden
The Boston Garden as seen from Causeway Street (1994)
The Boston Garden as seen from Causeway Street (1994)
Earlier names

Boston Madison Square Garden

Data
place 150 Causeway Street Boston , Massachusetts 02114
United StatesUnited States
Coordinates 42 ° 21 '56.5 "  N , 71 ° 3' 42.2"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 21 '56.5 "  N , 71 ° 3' 42.2"  W.
owner Boston and Maine Corporation (1928–1965)
Linnell & Cox (1965–1973)
Storer Broadcasting (1973–1975)
Delaware North Companies (1975–1997)
operator Madison Square Garden Corporation (1928–1934)
Boston Garden-Arena Corporation (1934–1973)
Storer Broadcasting (1973–1975)
Delaware North Companies (1975–1997)
start of building December 1927
opening November 17, 1928
demolition March 1998
surface Oak - parquet
ice surface
concrete
costs 4 million US dollars (1928)
architect Tex Rickard
capacity Basketball:
13,909 places (1928–1968)
14,933 places (1968–1969)
15,203 places (1970–1971)
15,315 places (1971–1972)
15,320 places (1972–1983)
14,890 places (1983–1995)
Ice hockey:
13,909 places (1928 –1968)
14,659 places (1968–1969)
14,835 places (1969–1970)
14,994 places (1970–1971)
14,995 places (1971–1972)
15,003 places (1972–1975)
14,567 places (1975–1976)
14,697 places (1976– 1977)
14,602 places (1977–1978)
14,654 places (1978–1979)
14,673 places (1979–1982)
14,685 places (1982–1983)
14,451 places (1983–1988)
14,448 places (1988–1995)
Societies)
Events

The Boston Garden was a multi-purpose hall in the US city ​​of Boston , Massachusetts . It was opened under the name Boston Madison Square Garden , from which the short form Boston Garden developed over time. The arena was nicknamed The Garden . The venue was owned by the Delaware North Companies catering and hospitality company , which also owns the new TD Garden . The Boston Garden was mainly used by the Boston Bruins ( NHL , 1928-1995) and the Boston Celtics ( NBA , 1946-1995). In addition, the event hall was the venue and a. for concerts, boxing and wrestling events , games by the Harlem Globetrotters basketball troupe , ice shows such as Disney on Ice , political events and performances by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus . The building was closed on September 29, 1995, and demolition work began in March 1998. A day later, on September 30, 1995, the successor to the TD Garden (then Shawmut Center), the was Garden opened right next to the old location.

history

Training of the New York Rangers in the Boston Garden 1995

The Boston Madison Square Garden was designed by the US boxing promoter George Lewis "Tex" Rickard . He was also responsible for the third Madison Square Garden in New York , which existed from 1925 to 1968. On November 14, 1928, then US President Calvin Coolidge switched on the light in the Boston Garden with a golden key over the telegraph line . Three days later the hall was opened to the public. The arena was designed primarily for boxing events, so the grandstands were placed very close to the interior.

The TD Garden is the new home of the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins

The Boston Garden has a legendary reputation. The NBA record champions Boston Celtics celebrated in hall 16 of their 17 NBA championships ( 1957 , 1959 , 1960 , 1961 , 1962 , 1963 , 1964 , 1965 , 1966 , 1968 , 1969 , 1974 , 1976 , 1981 , 1984 , 1986 ). In addition, the Celtics reached three other NBA finals series ( 1958 , 1985 , 1987 ). The Celtics distinguished a great home playing strength in the Boston Garden. In the 1985/86 season, only one of the 41 home games was lost, which meant an NBA record for home games in the regular season (excluding play-off games). The 1985/86 and 1986/87 seasons taken together showed the Celtics a home record in the regular season of 79: 3 wins.

The Boston Bruins NHL team also celebrated five Stanley Cup victories over the years ( 1929 , 1939 , 1941 , 1970 , 1972 ) and achieved a further eleven times ( 1930 , 1943 , 1946 , 1953 , 1957 , 1958 , 1974 , 1977 , 1978 , 1988 , 1990 ) the final games for the Stanley Cup.

In 1951, 1952, 1957 and 1964 the NBA All-Star Game and in 1971 the NHL All-Star Game took place in Boston. For the first time in 1957, the NBA and NHL finals took place in an arena in one year. This happened again in the Boston Garden in 1958 and 1974. In November 1960, John F. Kennedy gave a presidential campaign speech at the Boston Garden. Other politicians such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were guests in the Boston Arena. The sports arena was once the venue for a large wrestling event. 1993 made the Survivor Series of the then World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the Garden Station. In addition to the Celtics and the Bruins , the Boston Braves ( AHL ) were based in the Boston Garden from 1971 to 1974. From 1972 to 1974 the New England Whalers of the WHA played in the Garden . The lacrosse team of the Boston Blazers from the NLL used the hall from 1992 to 1995. From 1972 to 1974 the US college ice hockey championship , known as the Frozen Four , was held.

Legendary was also the reputation of the basketball court from a oak - parquet floor . The playing surface was first relocated to what was then the Boston Arena (today: Matthews Arena of Northeastern University ) and moved to the Boston Garden in 1946. Compared to the away teams, the Celtics had the advantage of knowing how the ball bounced on the wooden floor. The soil is considered one of the reasons for the success of the Boston Celtics in the Garden . After discussions about the 50-year-old playing field, it was taken to the new hall; there it was used until the end of 1999 and replaced by a new floor. Some parts of the old parquet floor were integrated into the new floor. The remaining parts were sawn into small pieces and sold as souvenirs. Boston Garden seats and bricks were also sold as souvenirs. The old scoreboard now hangs in the mall Arsenal Mall in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Over time, the age of the Boston Garden became noticeable. The ice surface was about 2.74 meters (9 feet ) shorter and about 61 centimeters (2 feet) narrower than the NHL's 60.96 × 25.90 meters (200 feet × 85 feet), reflecting the narrow construction of the Arena was owed. The hall had no air conditioning . This sometimes caused fog to form over the ice. During the fifth game of the NBA Finals series on June 8, 1984 between the Celtics and the LA Lakers , the indoor temperature rose to over 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit ) and oxygen bottles were provided for the exhausted players. The game went down in history as the Heat Game . Boston won 121: 103 with 34 points from Larry Bird and took the lead with 3: 2 wins in the series.

The electrical system was prone to failure. On May 24, 1988, the fourth NHL final game of the Bruins against the Edmonton Oilers was interrupted by fog. The game was canceled due to an exploded transformer at the northern end of the hall and the resulting power outage. They lost the final series with 0: 4 wins against the Oilers . Two years later on May 15, 1990, in the middle of the first final game of the Stanley Cup , again between the Bruins and the Oilers , the light in the arena went out. The lighting system could be repaired. The game went into overtime three times and ended after a total of around 6 hours with a 3-2 victory for the Edmonton Oilers by Petr Klíma .

At the beginning of the 1990s, the end of the glorious sports facility was approaching. With an audience capacity of under 15,000, it was the smallest arena in the NBA and NHL; there was also the lack of air conditioning. The individual seats were close together, uncomfortable and outdated. In addition, pillars obstructed the view of the playing field. There was a lack of boxes and suites , which represent an important source of income for the teams. The first planning for a new arena began in 1991 and on April 29, 1993 construction began for the future multi-purpose arena with a maximum of 20,000 seats.

The last official game in the Boston Garden was on May 14, 1995, the fifth game in the Conference quarterfinals of the NHL play-offs 1994/95 . Boston lost the match 3-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers and was eliminated from the play-offs with a 1: 4. The last game was an NHL preparation game of the Bruins against the Montréal Canadiens on September 28, 1995. Former players of the Boston Bruins came to the game and before the game, the banners of the no longer assigned jersey numbers were removed under the ceiling. The garden stood empty for around two years before it was demolished . Today a parking lot has been created at the site.

Concerts

In addition to sports, the Boston Garden was also the venue for numerous concerts.

On September 12, 1964, the Beatles made a stop in the Boston Arena. On April 5, 1968, James Brown gave a concert in the Garden . That was one day after the fatal assassination attempt on Martin Luther King . The concert was broadcast on the television station WGBH-TV . Brown called on people to calm down and prevented unrest in the city, unlike other cities in the United States. Elvis Presley only gave one concert in the Boston Garden on November 10, 1971 in front of around 16,500 spectators.

A Rolling Stones concert was scheduled for 1972 . Two band members were arrested by the Rhode Island police. For fear of rioting by fans waiting in Boston Garden, then Mayor Kevin H. White agreed with the Rhode Island authorities to release the musicians. The Stones performed at four other concerts in the arena (1965, 1969, 1972, 1975).

The group The Who were provided in 1973 for a concert. But this did not happen nearly as they previously a hotel room in a day Canadian Montreal devastated and were arrested by the police. But they were released in time for the concert. Three years later, Who drummer Keith Moon collapsed during a concert; after taking muscle-relaxing medication and brandy before the performance . The Who last appeared in the hall in December 1979. It was the first tour after Keith Moon's death in September 1978.

In 1975 a concert by the British rock band Led Zeppelin was canceled. After waiting fans were let into the entrance hall due to freezing temperatures; some of them rioted and destroyed rows of seats, kiosks and other furnishings. As a result, Mayor Kevin H. White banned the concert and banned Led Zeppelin from appearing in the city for five years. Most of the concerts in the Boston Garden headlined by the progressive rock band Jethro Tull . Between 1971 and 1980 they performed 15 times in the hall. The rock group Grateful Dead came to 24 concerts between 1970 and 1994. The rock band Aerosmith performed ten times between 1975 and 1995 and played a concert in the Garden on New Years in 1990 and 1994 .

Several artists and groups recorded live albums at the Boston Garden. The J. Geils Band used a concert from 1975 for the 1976 double album Blow Your Face Out . Five years later, Bob Seger recorded most of his 1981 double LP Nine Tonight at a concert in October 1980 . In 1982 the J. Geils Band returned to the Boston Garden, and for the first time in the history of the Garden, three consecutive concerts by a band were sold out.

With the opening of the Worcester Center in 1982 and the Great Woods Amphitheater in 1986, the days of the Boston Garden as a concert hall were numbered. Most of the artists and groups played in Worcester Center in winter and in Great Woods Amphitheater in summer. Bad acoustics, a busy schedule with sports and high hall rent contributed to the relocation of the events outside of Boston. In the early 1990s, some groups like Pearl Jam returned to the arena. The last New Year's Eve concert was played by the American rock band Phish on December 31, 1994. During this show, the band hovered over the fans in a huge hot dog . Today the giant hot dog hangs in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland , Ohio .

Web links

Commons : Boston Garden  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ delawarenorth.com: Homepage of the Delaware North Companies (English)
  2. ↑ flickr.com: image of the Boston Garden during the demolition work (English)
  3. ↑ tdbanknorthgarden.com: History of the Boston Garden ( Memento of November 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ↑ fannation.com: Celtics winning record in the 1985/86 season (English)
  5. ↑ articles.orlandosentinel.com: Parquet floors removed from the Fleet Center (English) Article dated November 10, 1999
  6. ↑ flickr.com: image of the display panel in the Arsenal Mall (English)
  7. ↑ beatlesbible.com: The Beatles 1964 in the Boston Garden (English)
  8. ↑ boston.com: James Brown prevents riots in Boston (English) Article from December 26, 2006
  9. ↑ youtube.com: Video of the performance of the group Phish with the hot dog (English)
  10. ↑ flickr.com: Picture of the Hot Dog in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (English)