tate793 wrote:Do you remember the Cow Palace?
Tate, I went to the Purple Rain concert at the Cow palace in 1985. I haven't been to anything there in eons, but:
The idea for the arena was originally conceived as the result of the popularity of the livestock pavilion at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Newspaper records show that the name "Cow Palace" was used as early as May 1935.
The arena opened in April 1941. During World War II, though, the arena was used for processing soldiers bound for the Pacific Theater. In the following years, it hosted countless hockey and basketball games, wrestling and boxing matches, concerts, roller derby and political events.
The arena seats 11,089 for ice hockey and 12,953 for basketball. When the Warriors played there its basketball capacity was just over 15,000. It has also been the home of the annual Grand National Rodeo, Horse & Stock Show since 1941 (except for a break from 1942 to 1945 due to World War II). The venue hosted the 1960 men's NCAA basketball Final Four and the 1967 NBA All-Star Game. Sesame Street Live has been held at the Cow Palace since the early 1980s, as has Champions on Ice. In recent years the Cow Palace has been the Bay Area stop for the Cirque du Soleil.
The San Francisco Warriors called the Cow Palace home from 1962 to 1964 and from 1966 to 1971. The franchise then moved across the bay to the new Oakland Coliseum Arena (now Oracle Arena) and changed their name to the Golden State Warriors.
The 1967 NBA Finals between" THE CITY" Warriors and the Philadelphia 76ers saw three games held at the Cow Palace. The two NBA Finals games hosted by the Warriors in their 1974-75 championship season were also held at the Cow Palace because of other events at the Oakland Coliseum - which means last year's title was Oakland's first.
On August 19, 1964, The Beatles opened their first North American concert tour playing at the Cow Palace. They also played two shows at the arena on August 31, 1965, their 10th and final stop on their 1965 North American tour.
The Jackson 5 played their second concert at the Cow Palace, June 19, 1970.
During a November 20, 1973 concert by The Who, their drummer Keith Moon passed out from an overdose of horse tranquilizers. A fan of the band, Scot Halpin, completed the group's set that evening.
The Rolling Stones played the Cow Palace July 15–16, 1975
Kiss and Cheap Trick played the Cow Palace on August 16, 1977. Kiss dedicated "Rock and Roll All Nite" to Elvis Presley who had died that day. Elvis himself had performed here over two consecutive nights during the previous November, towards the end of his fall tour of 1976.
In February 1979, Neil Diamond fell onstage and couldn't get up. Less than two days later, he underwent 14 hours of delicate surgery, to remove a nonmalignant tumor, located dangerously close to his spine.
The Jacksons performed at the Cow Palace on September 17, 1981 during their Triumph Tour.
It was the site of both the 1956 Republican National Convention and the 1964 Republican National Convention. During the 1960s and 1970s, the SF Examiner Games, a world-class indoor track and field meet, was held annually at the Cow Palace. Additionally it hosted the Bay Bombers of the Roller Derby; the Derby's world championship playoffs were held at the Cow Palace every fall beginning from 1959 through 1973, when the organization was disbanded. From 1966 until 1999, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus visited the Cow Palace, joined in later years by what is now Disney on Ice; both events are now held at Oracle Arena.
Aaaaaand . . . .
The Cow Palace has a Daly City address, and except for the very northwest corner of the parking lot which is across the San Francisco border, it lies entirely within Daly City.
Isn't the internet great? I feel like I watched a 10-minute documentary on the Cow Palace.
Of course, I didn't become a Bay Area resident until the early 1980s, when the Lakers were already the hottest shit on the streets, and Nike hadn't quite wanted everyone to "Be Like Mike" yet, and the Warriors weren't exactly the hot ticket in town . . matter of fact behind the always-entertaining Raiders (who would soon move to L.A.), the powerhouse 49ers and the talented and dangerous Athletics of that era, Golden State was mostly a Globetrotter-like sideshow that never seemed to find the right combination of players and staff to get out of the cellar of the pacific. Even during the late-80's/early 90's short run of winning records and playoff appearances (in which they never stuck around too long, usually getting rudely eliminated by us, ha ha), they always finished at or near the bottom of the Division standings. These so-called old school die-hard Warrior fans in the Bay who recall these years as "the special ones" don't have too much really to speak of. But you know how pride works.