PHILADELPHIA (AP) The Spectrum, the Philadelphia arena that hosted decades of professional sports and concerts, met its end Nov. 23, not with a bang but with the brute force of a wrecking ball.
Hundreds of fans and former players, including Hall of Famers Julius “Dr. J” Erving of the 76ers and Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent of the Flyers, watched the demise of the 43-year-old arena with its longtime owner, Ed Snider. Lauren Hart, daughter of famed Flyers’ announcer Gene Hart and currently the Flyers’ anthem singer, sang “God Bless America.”
“Thanks very much to Mr. Snider for this great old building that was home to so many of us,” Clarke said at a pre-demolition ceremony. “On behalf of the old Flyers teams and the old Flyers players ... we will always remember the Spectrum.”
“It’s a sad day,” said Erving.
Erving shared the story of a friend who once told him to worry about “the dash” — that chiseled line between years of birth and death on your tombstone.
“The stuff that occurred during ’the dash’ is too numerous to talk about,” he said. “We will hold the memories of the Spectrum in our minds and our hearts forever.”
“Memories are forever if they are done right,” Erving said. “I think a lot of the memories were done the right way inside the Spectrum.”
Next, Bernie Parent paid tribute to the man who began the Flyers and kept the building going after its roof blew off.
“In 1967 a man had a great vision, Ed Snider,” the hall of fame goalie said. “He didn’t let criticism or setbacks to stop him. If it wasn’t for this man’s vision and fortitude, there would have been no games, there would have been no shows.”
Unlike many other stadium demolition projects, the Spectrum wasn’t imploded. Officials cited the way the arena was constructed in their decision to use less spectacular methods.
This more deliberate destruction also would permit more of its bricks and iron to be salvaged, and in the case of the bricks, sold to fans.
The building didn’t go quickly: It took more than a half-dozen swings for the 4-ton (3.6 t) wrecking ball to make a noticeable dent in its brick facade. The first few whacks seemed only to send puffs of dust into the air. The giant ball was suspended from a 125-ton (113 t), 180-ft. (55 m) high Geppert Bros. crane, which was operated by Alan Davis of Sicklerville.
It’s expected to take four to five months to fully come down. Sometime after that, the first phase of Philly Live, a retail, entertainment and dining development aimed at capitalizing on its proximity to the busy sports complex, will get started.
Snider spoke of his enthusiasm for the new project but said he was unsure if he could watch the demolition. He later left as the orange wrecking ball began to swing.
“I’m really very sad to see the Spectrum go,” Snider told the crowd. “I don’t know that I want to see it, but you all can see it and let me know what happened.”
Snider admitted to “mixed emotions,” noting he was sad to see the building he’d help conceive get torn down but happy that Philly Live will give his hometown “something no other city in America has.”
“It’s not really the end of an era, it’s really the start of a new one for our great city,” Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said.” There will always be something going on at PhillyLive,” the entertainment complex that will rise at the Pattison Avenue site.
The event tried to strike a festive tone, with live music, activities and souvenirs. Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the arena, has been selling T-shirts and pieces of the building, from seats and bricks to freezable drink coasters made from Spectrum ice.
Located at the foot of Broad Street in South Philadelphia, The Spectrum opened on Sept. 30, 1967, with a jazz festival; concession stand prices were 35 cents for a hot dog and 25 cents for a 12-ounce soda.
Snider worked to get the arena built and was the founding owner of the Flyers. The club — lovingly dubbed the Broad Street Bullies — soon made the city proud, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974-75.
In 1976, the Flyers hosted the Soviet Central Red Army team. The Soviets left the Spectrum ice mid-game to protest the officiating, but returned after Snider threatened to withhold their pay. The Flyers won, 4-1.
The Spectrum also served as home court for Erving and the 76ers, which won an NBA title in 1983.
The Spectrum had been largely relegated to hosting entertainment events after the 76ers and Flyers moved in 1996 to the more modern Wells Fargo Center next door.
The last event was a Pearl Jam concert on Oct. 31, 2009, and it sat unused for the past year as developers planned Philly Live.
The building also hosted circuses, truck shows, lacrosse, college basketball and, like that debut Frazier-Tony Doyle bout on Oct. 17, 1967, several fights. There also were thousands of rock concerts over the years, most notably 50 by the Grateful Dead and 51 by Bruce Springsteen.
Other concerts included performances by Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Luciano Pavarotti and the Rolling Stones.
At his final show at the venue last year, Springsteen belted out to the audience: “The Spectrum will live forever!”
Philly Live
Construction is due to begin next April on the scaled back ’Philly Live’ project. Rather than the 350,000-sq.-ft., $100-million, sprawling entertainment district, phase one includes about 40,000 sq. ft. of construction.
Alan Greenberger, deputy mayor of economic development, said in a soft economy like this, it is very common for developers to build out projects slowly.
“To basically get their flag planted on the appropriate corner and to show some early success, which will hopefully lead to further success and build out the rest of the project,” Greenberger said.
The developer, Baltimore-based Cordish Company, said they are still working on the exact concept of the space. But they said it will include retail, dining, and entertainment venues, including a sports bar near 11th Street and Pattison Avenue.
A History of
the Spectrum
Opened as “The Spectrum” in fall 1967, Philadelphia’s first modern indoor sports arena was built to be the home of the expansion Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL, and also to accommodate the existing Philadelphia 76ers of the NBA. The building was the second major sports facility built at the south end of Broad Street in an area previously known as “East League Island Park” and now referred to simply as the “South Philadelphia Sports Complex.”
Ground was broken on the arena on June 1, 1966, by Jerry Wolman and then-Philadelphia Mayor James Tate. Construction was finished in 16 months at a cost of $7 million. The first event at the arena was the Quaker City Jazz Festival on Sept. 30, 1967.
Lou Scheinfeld, former President of the Spectrum, explained that the name “Spectrum” was selected to evoke the broad range of events to be held there. “The ’SP” for “sports” and “South Philadelphia,” “E” for “entertainment,” “C” for “circuses,” “T” for “theatricals,” “R” for “recreation,” and “UM” as “um, what a nice building.”
On March 1, 1968, wind blew part of the covering off the Spectrum’s roof during a performance of the Ice Capades, forcing the building to close for a month while Mayor Tate fought with Philadelphia DA Arlen Specter over responsibility for the construction of the roof, and the damage was repaired. The roof was repaired in time to permit the Flyers to return to the Spectrum to open their first Stanley Cup playoffs against the St. Louis Blues on April 4, 1968. Similarly in 1993, the Flyers played a day game against the Los Angeles Kings during a blizzard. A piece of flying debris smashed out one of the concourse windows, canceling the game just after the first period.
The Spectrum, along with the Met Center and The Forum, was one of the first sports arenas to have a scoreboard with a message board. Furthermore, the message boards on the Spectrum scoreboard were the first dot matrix screens in pro hockey or basketball, capable of photos, animation, and replays as well as messages.
The Associated Press contributed to portions of this article (Writer Kathy Matheson). Historical information is courtesy of Wikipedia.com.
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