In a Quiet Spectrum in Philadelphia, Broad Street Still Echoes

[Evergrey]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/sp...tml?ref=hockey

April 27, 2010

The Spectrum Still Has a Hold

By DAVE CALDWELL


Rusty Kennedy/Associated Press

The Flyers, the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cup champions known as the Broad Street Bullies, fighting the Maple Leafs in 1976.


Spectrum Archives

The site of the Spectrum, home to the Flyers and the Sixers and host to various events, is set to be an entertainment complex.

PHILADELPHIA — Reverently bathed in spotlights, its concrete walkways and stair steps kept tidy, its prim interior virtually untouched, the Spectrum looks as if it could reopen tomorrow, even though it played host to its last event six months ago and its future is doomed.

Soon, the 43-year-old brick, concrete and glass arena near the corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue will be razed, joining Veterans Stadium, which stood across the street, and John F. Kennedy Stadium, once across the parking lot.

An entertainment complex will be built on the ground where the Spectrum hunches. Millions who went to “America’s Showplace” to watch hockey and basketball games, the Ice Capades, tennis matches, roller derby, rock concerts and the circus will have only memories.

But for now, quite oddly, the arena still stands, adorned by a giant banner for a series of Bruce Springsteen concerts last October. It is almost as if Philadelphia is not quite ready to part with the Spectrum, a building where a city rediscovered its self-esteem some 36 years ago.

“The spirits don’t have a place to go yet,” said Bill Clement, 59, a hockey commentator who was born in Quebec and now lives in Bucks County, Pa., northeast of Philadelphia.

In 1974, Clement was a fourth-line center for the Flyers, the infamous Broad Street Bullies, who punched their way — leaning heavily on a goaltender named Bernie Parent — to win the team’s first Stanley Cup title. They won another a year later.

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[Wheelingman04]

Im pissed because the Philly Phantoms of the AHL had to leave because of this. I saw them play in the Wachovia Center because that is where they played their playoff games. I saw the Spectrum though and it looked fine.