They done blowed up my building.........

We all have a place or places that were special to us as we were growing up. It may be a park or a beach or gram ma's house. One of mine was a big old ugly arena, The New Haven Veteran's Memorial Coliseum. Opened in 1972 it was home to concerts, and sporting events and being that it was at the crossroads of the two major interstates it was an easy drive from anywhere in Connecticut. Yes, I did say it was ugly. One man on the news described it as " the boiler room of the Titanic". I couldn't have said it any better. It was a big old ugly concrete barn and we loved the place. The parking was on the roof, reached by the spiral ramps on each corner of the building. Then to reach the lobby you had to take an outdoor escalator (I hate escalators!) that was just huge. Inside was some of the worst stadium food ever served to mankind. (but the beer was always good..LOL) BUT WE LOVED THE PLACE.

We saw Yes, the Marshall Tucker Band, The Charlie Daniels band (3 times I think), monster trucks, Ice Capades, and lotsa HOCKEY. The New Haven Nighthawks, were in the late 1970's and 1980's the living embodiment of the movie Slapshot. The Beast of New Haven in the 1990's was a team of young future NHL stars. For 12 dollars a game we used to sit behind the visitor's penalty box and woe be to any player on the opposition who took a penalty. Heh, Heh! Like I said WE LOVED THE PLACE.

Today, after being shut for almost 5 years the Coliseum was imploded. Newer concert venues and arenas spelled the end for the old barn. And down it came.........I shed a tear.......