Hollywood Sportatorium
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The Hollywood Sportatorium was built in 1969 as a concert venue with 15,500 seats at 16661 W. Hollywood Blvd. (now Pines Boulevard) in western Pembroke Pines, Florida. In the past, travel was on a small two lane road that was Pines Boulevard in order to arrive there.
The Sportatorium was a shoddy arena made of cement and sheet metal. Even though Air Conditioning was installed in 1976, it did not seem like it. Even though it had cheap construction, it was the place to be. The Hollywood Sportatorium was the site of concerts for all the big names in the music industry. Elvis Presley, Elton John, Queen, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and every other famous rocker of the 70’s and 80’s played there. Despite all the famous artists playing, it was still notorious for poor acoustics. Billy Joel at one of his concerts, with echoing sound, yelled, “This place sucks!”. The Sportatorium was the place for South Florida good times, memories, and a setting for young ones to do pot in the gravel parking lot remotely located in the Everglades. Ironically, it also served as a place of worship for Jehovah's Witnesses assemblies. Plans to make it a hockey arena never went throught and it finally closed in 1988 due to the loss of business from nearby newly-built Miami Arena.
In 1993, due to lack of use and the new residential land being sold, the Hollywood Sportatorium was torn down. Now a Sedano’s supermarket along with the community Pembroke Isles at Pines Boulevard and 172 Avenue, occupies what used to be this South Florida famed place.
Sources
- [City of Pembroke Pines website]
- [Miami Herald "Lost Landmarks" and archives]
- http://www.Sunsentinel.com
Editing Note
The Hollywood Sportatorium was built in 1969. It wasn't 1975 like the Pembroke Pines website says as I have memoribila from the Sportatorium dating from the early 70's. The construction date was retrived from old newspaper archives from both Miami Herald and South Florida Sun Sentinel
The Hollywood Sportatorium was closed in 1988 as the Miami Arena took away its business. However, after 5 years working to preserve it as convention center and/or a hockey arena, nothing ever came to light and it was finally demolished in 1993.
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