Posted Jun 25, 2013, 5:16 PM
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New Yorker for life
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Borough of Jersey
Posts: 51,821
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/ny...back.html?_r=0
At 90, a Queens Stadium Is Poised for a Comeback
By COREY KILGANNON
June 23, 2013
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After decades of languishing in obscurity and disrepair, one of the most famous sports and concert sites in New York will again reverberate with the sound of live music.
The Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in Queens, which opened in 1923 and has played host to Jimmy Connors and John Lennon, sits next to an expanse of grass and clay tennis courts at the West Side Tennis Club, the stadium’s owner. Club officials and a promoter have an agreement to hold 19 concerts over the next three years.
The stadium is still in shoddy condition, and after an accelerated renovation to make it ready, one concert is planned there this summer — an Aug. 28 show by Mumford & Sons — followed by six in each of the next three summers.
This summer’s concert will serve as something of a pilot, to convince residents of Forest Hills Gardens, the exclusive neighborhood of elegant Tudor homes around the stadium, that the concerts will not be a nuisance, said the club’s president, Roland Meier. Concerts have not been welcomed in the neighborhood in the past.
Mr. Meier said he hoped the concerts — which will begin as the club celebrates its 100th anniversary in Queens, and the stadium turns 90 — would finance the refurbishing of the stadium and lead to the return of tennis and other top events.
In the 1960s, the stadium also hosted the likes of Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Who. In 1967, Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees and was booed off the stage by young fans impatient to see Davy Jones.
But in 1978 the United States Open tournament moved to a much larger space in nearby Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and by the late 1980s the club stopped allowing most concerts, because of fierce opposition from residents who complained of raucous crowds, litter and parking problems.
Since then, the stadium has seldom been used and has deteriorated. On a recent weekday, Mr. Meier pointed to tall weeds that have engulfed large sections of the splintered benches. Much of the stadium’s concrete is crumbling, and its signs and other fixtures are showing their age. But structurally, the stadium is sound, Mr. Meier said.
The project got a big boost recently when city inspectors deemed the structure stable and safe. “You could drop a bomb on it and it would still be standing — it’s borderline indestructible,” said Mike Luba, who is promoting the concert series. By the August concert, he added, “The stadium won’t be perfect, but it will be safe and meet city requirements.”
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http://www.wfuv.org/news/life-arts/1...aking-comeback
Forest Hills Tennis Stadium Making Comeback
6.24.13
by Associated Press
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A storied New York City sports and concert site that once hosted the U.S. Open tournament and the Beatles is poised to return as a music venue.
The stadium is undergoing renovation after years of neglect. The first concert, featuring Mumford & Sons, is set for Aug. 28. It'll be followed by six in each of the next three summers.
Club President Roland Meier says it's hoped that the concerts will help finance the refurbishing of the stadium and lead to the return of tennis and other top events.
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