Hollywood Sportatorium
The Hollywood Sportatorium was a major events facility for Southeastern Florida in the 1970's and 1980's, and at the time was the only venue of its kind in Broward County. Built in 1969 and opened in September of 1970, it had a concert capacity of 15,500 seats. It was located at 16661 W. Hollywood Blvd. (later renamed Pines Boulevard) in what was then Unincorporated Broward County. It was built adjacent to the Miami-Hollywood Motorsports Park, built just four years earlier. At the time, Pines Blvd was a small two lane road.
The Sportatorium was a shoddy arena made of cement and sheet metal. Air Conditioning was installed in 1976, but it was ineffective. The land was eventually annexed to Pembroke Pines in 1980. Even though it had cheap construction, many people regarded it as "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 many other famous rock musicians of the 70’s and 80’s played there. Numerous conventions took place at the facility, including a Star Trek convention featuring Gene Roddenberry. Despite the fact that it hosted many famous artists, the Sportatorium notorious for poor acoustics. Billy Joel at one of his concerts, dealt with echoing sounds by yelled, “This place sucks!”.
The Sportatorium remains remembered by long-time residents of South Florida as a place of good times, memories, and a setting for young ones to do used drugs in the gravel parking. Ironically, it also served as a place of worship for Jehovah's Witnesses assemblies.
Plans to make it a hockey arena never went through and it finally closed in 1988 due to the loss of business from newly-built Miami Arena in neighboring Miami-Dade County. Its final show on October 21, 1988 featured country music groups, Highway 101, Desert Rose, and Larry Boone.
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.
Editing Note
The Hollywood Sportatorium was built in 1969. The City of Pembroke Pines website contains an error, indiciate it was built in 1975. The construction date was retrieved 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 after Hurricane Andrew and the land was sold to developers. Most of the Sportatorium's business would return to Broward County in 1998 with the completion of BankAtlantic Center in nearby Sunrise, Florida.
Please make sure to visit the "discussion" page to read and post your experiences at the Hollywood Sportatorium.
See also
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