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Rating: 
Summary: The Arena - The Memories Live On!
Review: In the 1940s I can recall walking from our house on Cates, down DeBaliviere, through Forest Park and seeing that magnificant structure, The Arena. It featured a sign, "The Arena - Where the Big Events are held" along with the BAA Basketball sign for the Bombers and the AHL sign for the Flyers. Patti Smith Jackson's book, resplendith with photographs, allows those affectionados of this marvelous structure to keep memories such as this by putting her work in your hands whilst the building itself is now gone. Being over 65 I would have enjoyed more information about the earlier tennents of the building such as the Flyers of the American Hockey Association from 1928 to 1942 and then in the American Hockey League from 1944 to 1953. I can remember Neil Norman announcing the last period of the games starting at 9:45 PM on WIL in the 40s and Harry Caray doing same in the 50s. I would have liked more info on Tom Pack's wrestling matches at the Arena. I would have liked more information on the Bombers basketball team that started in the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and were one of the teams in the first season of the National Basketball Association in the 1949-50 season before folding. What I found missing in the Arena book was any mention of the Wirtz's moving some of the Chicago Blackhawks games to the Arena in 1953/54 to test the St. Louis market. It allowed a lot of us to see the greats, Gordie Howe, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, terrible Ted Lindsay. Also they had little coverage about the Bombers BAA/NBA team. Attendance was so bad that last season and I remember going to basketball doubleheaders with my Dad in the 49-50 season where he paid $1.25 for general admission and I got a ticket for a penny (on penny nights). Also after the Bombers folded after their first season, 49-50, the New York Knickerbockers wanted ex-St. Louis University star Easy Ed Macauley so badly that they offered to purchase the entire Bombers team but the NBA put the nix to that and Easy Ed went to the Boston Celtics instead. Harry broadcast the last half of the Bombers games on WIL also. But then it is really interesting how the folks responsible for the Big Events kept it all together with scotch tape and glue. This book is a MUST for anyone who loved the Arena and certainly will help the memories live on!
Rating:
Summary: The Arena - The Memories Live On!
Review: In the 1940s I can recall walking from our house on Cates, down DeBaliviere, through Forest Park and seeing that magnificant structure, The Arena. It featured a sign, "The Arena - Where the Big Events are held" along with the BAA Basketball sign for the Bombers and the AHL sign for the Flyers. Patti Smith Jackson's book, resplendith with photographs, allows those affectionados of this marvelous structure to keep memories such as this by putting her work in your hands whilst the building itself is now gone. Being over 65 I would have enjoyed more information about the earlier tennents of the building such as the Flyers of the American Hockey Association from 1928 to 1942 and then in the American Hockey League from 1944 to 1953. I can remember Neil Norman announcing the last period of the games starting at 9:45 PM on WIL in the 40s and Harry Caray doing same in the 50s. I would have liked more info on Tom Pack's wrestling matches at the Arena. I would have liked more information on the Bombers basketball team that started in the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and were one of the teams in the first season of the National Basketball Association in the 1949-50 season before folding. What I found missing in the Arena book was any mention of the Wirtz's moving some of the Chicago Blackhawks games to the Arena in 1953/54 to test the St. Louis market. It allowed a lot of us to see the greats, Gordie Howe, Maurice "Rocket" Richard, terrible Ted Lindsay. Also they had little coverage about the Bombers BAA/NBA team. Attendance was so bad that last season and I remember going to basketball doubleheaders with my Dad in the 49-50 season where he paid $1.25 for general admission and I got a ticket for a penny (on penny nights). Also after the Bombers folded after their first season, 49-50, the New York Knickerbockers wanted ex-St. Louis University star Easy Ed Macauley so badly that they offered to purchase the entire Bombers team but the NBA put the nix to that and Easy Ed went to the Boston Celtics instead. Harry broadcast the last half of the Bombers games on WIL also. But then it is really interesting how the folks responsible for the Big Events kept it all together with scotch tape and glue. This book is a MUST for anyone who loved the Arena and certainly will help the memories live on!
Rating: 
Summary: Oh , the memories
Review: The Arena was built in 1929 for dairy cows, and it was in that building that the first power play in the history of the NHL happened in 1934.My grandmother could tell you about my cousin,Larry Finch, who played against mighty UCLA in 1973,for Memphis State. It was also where Penny Hardaway hit one of the most dramatic shots in Memphis State history in 1992. I cried when the place was imploded, because my friend , Kevin Holowchik, is a Blues fan and he was born there in St.Louis. You can tear the building down,but you cannot tear down the memories.
Rating:
Summary: Oh , the memories
Review: The Arena was built in 1929 for dairy cows, and it was in that building that the first power play in the history of the NHL happened in 1934.My grandmother could tell you about my cousin,Larry Finch, who played against mighty UCLA in 1973,for Memphis State. It was also where Penny Hardaway hit one of the most dramatic shots in Memphis State history in 1992. I cried when the place was imploded, because my friend , Kevin Holowchik, is a Blues fan and he was born there in St.Louis. You can tear the building down,but you cannot tear down the memories.
Rating: 
Summary: Great memory book, but lacking on real information
Review: This book is a great coffee table item...I have been a Blues fan since 1986, that's right, the Monday Night Miracle. I loved the building. I played an inline hockey game with friends before a Vipers game as a promotion for the rink we played at locally. Just being behind the scenes in a "locker room" was amazing. I received this book for Christmas and read it before noon Christmas Day. I found the pictures and stories great, but it certainly lacked real information. I was very interested in the design of the building, the architechure, and stories about the tunnels and hidden walkways that this book hints at, but never dives into telling you. How about a volume two???
Rating:
Summary: Great memory book, but lacking on real information
Review: This book is a great coffee table item...I have been a Blues fan since 1986, that's right, the Monday Night Miracle. I loved the building. I played an inline hockey game with friends before a Vipers game as a promotion for the rink we played at locally. Just being behind the scenes in a "locker room" was amazing. I received this book for Christmas and read it before noon Christmas Day. I found the pictures and stories great, but it certainly lacked real information. I was very interested in the design of the building, the architechure, and stories about the tunnels and hidden walkways that this book hints at, but never dives into telling you. How about a volume two???
Rating:
Summary: Lots of pictures, short on info.
Review: To fully understand the grief many St. Louisans feel over losing The Arena, this book explains, in remarkable photos and firsthand accounts, why is was so hard to watch her go down in February 1999, after 5 vacant years of neglect.70 years of sports and entertainment history, dotted by challenges from nature (tornado, fire, earthquake) and man (the Def Leppard rock tour threatened to literally bring the house down) make this tome a must-read for anyone who fondly recalls the castle-like home of the St. Louis Blues; several pro indoor soccer teams; and many other sports events, not to mention the touring ice shows and concerts that brought new generations inside the deep blue painted walls and tan glazed-brick lobby, topped by the world's largest lamella (Douglas fir latticework) roof. Mind you, this edifice was built in 1929 for the sole purpose of hosting annual dairy shows...not hockey, soccer and ear-splitting music events with 20,000 rocking, stomping, screaming fans. Yet, in her transformation from dusty cow hall to gleaming hockey showplace, then back to aging, unkempt, old grande dame (when the city of St. Louis took it over), the Arena touched millions of fans who passed through her golden gates, sitting anywhere from the submarine-like parquet sections, from which you had to stand on a narrow curb and duck down for others to pass, to towering end balconies which rocked and swayed with the cacophony of the home crowd. Yet, for all of her limitations, she boasted the best sports sightlines of any such building in the country. Fans were right on top of the action, bringing out the best in athletes and entertainers every night. The secrets this stately old building took to its grave would entice any mystery writer: Its numerous hidden rooms, stairwells, and spooky catacombs were home to packages and crates forgotten for decades, and its age and antiquity of design made just getting through any event without catastrophic power failures a test for all concerned. The building's chief electrician for 25 years comes off in the book as a miracle worker, milking demanding, modern day results from archaic construction and materials. Yet, St. Louisans loved their Arena, which bordered land formerly hosting the famed Highlands amusement park, still dear in the memories of St. Louisans who grew up in, and before, the 50's. A day at the Highlands was often followed by a circus, rodeo, or ice show next door at the Arena, which shared its western land with a 72-lane bowling center. As you marvel at the historic photos and laugh (or cry) at the starkly personal reminisces of local fans from several generations of Arena-goers, think of how blank the St. Louis riverfront would look without its signature Arch or Old Courthouse. That, my friend, is how the Oakland Avenue area looks to many longtime south St. Louisans so accustomed to seeing their 13 white, entrance archways sided by twin white towers, topped by a red and gray dome, like a huge, humpbacked whale beckoning locals for a great time, can now only look at an 8-acre hole, surrounded by 30-foot piles of fill gravel. The hole left in our hearts and memories, brilliantly illustrated and described in this book, shall not be filled. But this wonderful book sure comes close.
Rating:
Summary: That building is beautiful -- LETS GO BLUES!
Review: Well, being a season ticket holder for 28 years for the Blues, all's I have to say is that is the most colorful, bold, outstanding, lifelike, most entertaining structure on the planet!
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