Veterans Memorial Coliseum (Portland, Oregon)
NASL) (1979–1982) Portland Pride (CISL) (1993–1997) Portland Power (ABL) (1996–1998) Portland Prowlers (IPFL) (2000) | |
Website | |
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www | |
Memorial Coliseum | |
Area | approx. 7.24 acres (2.93 ha) International style[5] |
NRHP reference No. | 09000707[4] |
Added to NRHP | September 10, 2009[4] |
The Veterans Memorial Coliseum (originally known as the Memorial Coliseum) is an
Tenants
From 1960 to 1974 the Memorial Coliseum was the home of the Portland Buckaroos of the Western Hockey League, and it was the venue for the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament in March 1965, where UCLA won its second of ten such championships in the 1960s and 1970s.
Portland Trail Blazers
When the
In 1974, Gerald Ford became the first president of the United States to attend an NBA game. On November 1 at Memorial Coliseum, he arrived in the third quarter and watched the Trail Blazers defeat the Buffalo Braves, 113–106.[8]
Construction began on the nearby Rose Garden Arena (now Moda Center) soon after the 1992 NBA Finals, and it became the team's home arena when it opened in 1995.
As part of the team's 40th anniversary celebration, the Blazers played a pre-season game at Memorial Coliseum on October 14, 2009, against the Phoenix Suns. Team founder Harry Glickman, former players Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter, and Bob Gross, as well as broadcaster Bill Schonely attended the game. The Suns defeated the Blazers, 110–104, with 11,740 tickets sold.[9]
In 2019, the Portland Trail Blazers celebrated their 50th season anniversary of becoming an NBA franchise. The organization played their first preseason game of the 2019–2020 season at the Memorial Coliseum on October 8, against the Denver Nuggets as a tribute to the stadium that the Trail Blazers called home for 25 years.
Portland Winterhawks
The building is currently the home arena of the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League, which used to split its schedule with the Moda Center prior to 2021. In August 2007, the City of Portland and the Portland Winterhawks reached an agreement to have replay screens installed in the main center ice scoreboard in time for the 2007–2008 hockey season. The city agreed to rent the screens, which are owned by the Winterhawks, for the first year, and then either buy them outright or replace them with different screens in 2008–09. Other improvements included adding a beer garden area, replacing graphic displays, and general painting and repairs.
Prior to the start of the 2021-22 WHL season, the Winterhawks announced they will be playing at Veterans Memorial Coliseum full-time.[10]
Other occupants
The original
Major events
The Memorial Coliseum was designed with large doors at both ends to accommodate the floats of the Portland Rose Festival's Grand Floral Parade.[13] The 4.2-mile-long (6.8 km) parade begins at the Memorial Coliseum, where paying guests watch the parade cross the Coliseum's floor from reserved seats inside and from bleachers outside. The Rose Festival Queen's coronation has also been held in the facility since 1961.
On August 22, 1965, The Beatles played two shows at Memorial Coliseum to 20,000 screaming fans as part of their 1965 American Tour. Allen Ginsberg, who was in the audience, wrote a poem about the event called "Portland Coliseum".[14] Led Zeppelin performed at the Coliseum on May 7, 1969, during their second North American concert tour and returned during their fifth and eighth tours in 1970 and 1972, respectively. The Monkees performed at the coliseum on August 26, 1967.
Elvis Presley performed at Memorial Coliseum on November 11, 1970, April 27, 1973, And Again on November 26, 1976, in front of 12,000 13,000 and 11,000 fans, respectively. The Bee Gees performed two sold-out concerts on July 17 and 18, 1979, as part of their successful Spirits Having Flown Tour.
A political rally for
Dew Tour
In 2004, Portland was selected as one of five cities in the U.S. to host the Dew Tour, an extreme sports franchise started in 2005. Titled the Vans Invitational, the event was held at the Rose Quarter August 17–21, 2005. The Memorial Coliseum hosted BMX: Park, BMX: Vert, Skateboard: Park, and Skateboard: Vert. The Dew Tour returned to the Rose Quarter again with the Wendy's Invitational on August 12–15, 2010, marking the tour's sixth year in Portland, which is the only city that has qualified to host the tour in every year since its inception.[17]
Davis Cup Tennis final
From November 30 through December 2, 2007, the Memorial Coliseum hosted the 2007 Davis Cup Tennis final between the USA and Russia.
History
Financed by an $8 million bond approved by voters in 1954, construction was completed by Hoffman Construction in 1960 and dedicated on January 8, 1961, to the "advancement of cultural opportunities for the community and to the memory of our veterans of all wars who made the supreme sacrifice." The facility is 100-foot (30 m) tall and has a footprint of about 3.1 acres (1.3 ha). It is sometimes referred to as "The Glass Palace" in Portland.[18] The building was designed by architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.[19]
Original plans called for a building made of wood, which is plentiful in the region, but cost and safety factors precluded that. The structure instead consists of a modernistic gray glass and aluminum, non-load-bearing curtain-wall cube around a central ovular concrete seating bowl. Four 70-foot (21 m) concrete piers support the steel roof, with no interior columns required. The exterior appearance, with 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of glass, is of a skyscraper laid on its side. The curtain-wall windows inside offer views of the city in all directions. The 1,060-foot-long (320 m) black curtains can be closed to block sunlight in 90 seconds. Seating includes 9,000 permanent seats expandable to 14,000 with portable chairs and bleachers. At its opening, it was called the largest multipurpose facility of its kind in the Pacific Northwest.
The war memorial consists of two black granite walls below ground level and near the main gate. The names of the dead are inscribed in gold paint, now faded with age. There are no dates given, only the names and an inscription: "To the memory of a supreme sacrifice we honor those who gave their lives for God, principle and love of country".
The
In 2011, the Portland City Council voted to change the name of the arena from Memorial Coliseum to Veterans Memorial Coliseum, to better reflect its history as a memorial to war veterans, and as part of the larger Rose Quarter Development project.[20]
The seating capacity for basketball has been as follows:[21][22]
Years | Capacity |
---|---|
1960–1988 | 12,666
|
1988–1991 | 12,884
|
1991–present | 12,888
|
In 2018, Avantika Bawa had a solo exhibition of drawings and prints of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the Portland Art Museum, as part of the APEX series curated by Grace Kook-Anderson.[23]
Future
It was proposed that Memorial Coliseum be demolished to make room for a 9,000-seat
Other proposed uses of the grounds include turning the site into an entertainment district, a recreation center, a retail center, or a multilevel center for arts, athletics, and education. Another possibility is to update and repair the facility to improve its marketability. In December 2011, it was announced that the Coliseum will undergo a $30 million renovation, partially paid for by the city and partially by the Winterhawks. The renovations would be completed in the spring and summer of 2012.[needs update][25]
See also
- Delta Dome, a proposed stadium in 1964
- List of sports venues in Portland, Oregon
- List of tennis stadiums by capacity
- Memorial Fountain
- The Oregon Veterans of World War II Memorial at the Oregon Capitol grounds in Salem.
- Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs
References
- Specific
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ a b "PCAD - the Pacific Coast Architecture Database - Home".
- ^ "Ellensburg Daily Record - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ a b c "Oregon National Register List" (PDF). Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. June 6, 2011. p. 36. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 25, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ a b Minor, Kristen (July 2009), National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Memorial Coliseum (PDF)
- ^ "Veterans Memorial Coliseum". City of Portland, Oregon. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
- ^ Portland Tribune (August 9, 2016). "Screens play at Memorial Coliseum". portlandtribune.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
For basketball, the coliseum still seats 12,666 — a magic number from the years and years of Trail Blazers sellouts — and seating capacity for hockey is 10,400.
- ^ "Ford watches Blazers defeat Braves, 113-106". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. November 2, 1974. p. 1B.
- ^ Anne M. Peterson (October 14, 2009). "Blazers go retro but lose 110-104 to Suns". Yahoo! Sports.
- ^ Winterhawks Share 2021-22 Regular Season Schedule
- ^ "Eugene Register-Guard - Google News Archive Search".
- ^ "Pacific Northwest FIRST District Championship FRC Event Web : Event Information". frc-events.firstinspires.org. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
- ^ "A Heritage of Roses: 100 Years of the Portland Rose Festival" (PDF). Portland Rose Festival. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2010. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
- ^ Miles, Barry. The Beatles: An Intimate Day-by-day History. Omnibus Press, 1998, page 189.
- ^ "Barack Obama visits Portland". OregonLive.com. March 22, 2008. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ Zeleny, Jeff (March 21, 2008). "Richardson endorses Obama". The New York Times. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
- ^ "Dew Tour Announces Schedule For 2010". ALLI: Alliance of Action Sports. Archived from the original on March 22, 2010. Retrieved March 28, 2010.
- Advance Internet. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
- ^ a b Larabee, Mark (September 15, 2009). "Memorial Coliseum Gets Historic Designation, New Lease on Life". The Oregonian. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ^ Weinstein, Nathalie (January 5, 2011). "Portland approves coliseum name change". Daily Journal of Commerce. Retrieved February 25, 2012.
- ^ 2011-2012 Portland Trail Blazers Media Guide
- ^ "History Main | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS". www.nba.com. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
Capacity was 12,666 through 1988, when it was expanded to 12,854 and then eventually 12,888.
- ^ "APEX: Avantika Bawa". Portland Art Museum. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
- ^ Foster, Margaret. "Portland Debates Fate of Modernist Memorial Coliseum". Preservation. National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved March 25, 2010.
- ^ "Winterhawks plan $10 million for Memorial Coliseum renovation". KATU. December 15, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2012.
- General
- Bosker, Gideon and Lena Lencek. Frozen Music: A History of Portland Architecture. Western Imprints, 1985.
- Griffin, Anna. "Memorial Coliseum 's champion" Oregonian, April 15, 2009.
- Jung, Helen. "Memorial Coliseum may be demolished for baseball park" Oregonian, April 7, 2009.
- Jung, Helen. "Save Portland's Memorial Coliseum, but for what?" Oregonian, May 10, 2009.
- King, Bart. An Architectural Guidebook to Portland. Oregon State University Press, 2007.
- Larabee, Mark "City urged to move slowly on stadium, save coliseum" Oregonian, April 16, 2009 page B1.
- Memorial Coliseum & Exhibit Hall, Portland, Oregon; Operated under Authority of the Exposition-Recreation Commission of the City of Portland. (Dedication program). 1960.
- "1,200,000 Throng to 'Glass Palace' In Banner First Year", Oregonian, September 3, 1961 page 12. (an early reference to "glass palace" nickname)
External links and sources
- Rose Quarter - Venues
- Memorial Coliseum Reuse Study, a City of Portland website
- Memorial Coliseum in a Fight for its Life, from the website of Historic Preservation Northwest (February 16, 2003)
- Portland's crown jewel or a clunker?, a March 2004 article from the Portland Tribune
- Alternatives abound for coliseum's future, a July 2003 article from the Portland Tribune
- Urban Home Center recommended for Memorial Coliseum redevelopment[permanent dead link], a May 2003 article from the Portland edition of the Daily Journal of Commerce
- Save Memorial Coliseum
- National Register of Historic Places nomination
- Photo Gallery of Blazers-Suns game at MC on October 14, 2009
Events and tenants | ||
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Preceded by None
|
Home of the Portland Trail Blazers 1970–1995 |
Succeeded by Rose Garden |
Preceded by Olympic Stadium Moscow |
Davis Cup Final Venue 2007 |
Succeeded by |
Preceded by Municipal Auditorium |
Basketball Tournament Finals Venue 1965 |
Succeeded by Cole Field House |