LOUIS PAST!!!!!PART SIXKIEL AUDITORIUM
The photo is taken from Market street looking south. Allthought a very old photo the Kiel Opera House is still there.[A story for another day]
On the right side is the 16th street entrance to the auditotium located about half way down the block.
My memory tells me the main entrance to the auditorium was on the leftside of photo or 14th street Today the Savvis Center is located were the Kiel once stood.
The Kiel was the home basketball court of the St Louis Billikens and remember the St Louis Hawks our NBA team.{another story for the future]
One of my fondest memories of the Kiel was Friday night wrestling promoted by Sam Muchnick.{later in life I handled his banking needs] I can still remember wrestler like Gorgeous George, Lou Thesz, and a barefoot wrestler Argentina Rocha. In addition the Kiel hosted all types of indoor events except for hockey.[no ice making equipment]
Some big differences between Kiel and Savvis Center.
******* Kiel attendance 10,500 Savvis 19,000
******* Savvis can host hockey and other ice events
******* In the era of Kiel no private suites
The Kiel may have been old but the setting was more intimate than our current Savvis Center. To get to the auditorium you had to walk up long winding concrete walk ways no steps,escalator or elevators. The auditorium I am sure would not be up to the building codes of today.
3 comments:
Could I have gone to a basketball game there when I was in high school? I think I did - and I went to a James Brown concert - would it have been there maybe? Wasn't our high school graduation ceremonies at Kiel also? I can't remember all these details like you do - glad somebody can give us the facts.
Your so right. I did forget your high school graduation BUT I was there
I have fond memories of Dad taking us to watch the St. Louis Hawks play basketball there. As a little kid, those winding ramps seemed to take forever to walk up! It is funny how much larger it seemed back then?
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