The arena was built in 1966 by Robert Breitbard, a local football hero who played for Hoover High School and San Diego State, for a "modest $6.4 million dollars.(1).
The roar of 11,682 professional hockey fans gave birth to the Valley View Casino Center (formerly, the San Diego International Sports Center) on November 17, 1966, as the San Diego Gulls-then of the Western Hockey League-won their home opener in a 4-to-1 victory against the Seattle Totems.(1)
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| November 10, 1969 plus second show added 2:30pm on the 11th! |
02/18/67 James Brown & the Famous Flames(4)
01/13/68 The Byrds, The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, Stone Pony's(4)
Janis Joplin performed here on September 28, 1968 with Big Brother and the Holding Company and again on March 29, 1969 and July 11, 1970, with her Kozmic Blues Band.(1)
01/11/69 Buffalo Springfield(4)
03/07/69 Iron Butterfly(4)
On May 24, 1969, The Jimi Hendrix Experience played one of its final gigs here.(3)
12/13/69 Iron Butterfly, Beautiful Day
In 1970, Elvis Presley played the arena. After playing before a packed house, Elvis became friendly with one of the security guards whom he discovered hailed from his home town. The next day, a brand-new Cadillac was delivered to the guard, courtesy of Presley.
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| May 24, 1970 |
Janis Joplin performed here on July 11, 1970.
12/04/71 Beach Boys(4)
12/08/71 The Who(4)
12/09/71 The Who(4)
02/13/72 Chicago(4)
On September 9, 1972, Jefferson Airplane performed here. Poco opened, playing a short set that included "Consequently So Long," with Jorma Kaukonen guesting on the latter.
Just two weeks earlier, the band had threatened to cancel the remainder of the tour, after Slick was maced by police and Kantner slightly injured in a fight during an Akron, Ohio, concert. Someone in the band's crew allegedly called the police "pigs" from the stage, sparking the melee: the crewmember -- Jack Casady's brother Chick -- was dragged off the stage and arrested.(3)
12/01/72 Grand Funk(4)
12/17/72 B.B. King, Loggins & Messina(4)
The infamous 1973 Muhammad Ali versus Ken Norton bout, in which local boxer Norton defeated Ali by split decision to become world champion of boxing, was held here.
01/24/73 Traffic, Free(4)
On April 26, 1973, Elvis Presley returned to perform here.(3)
02/01/74 Moody Blues(4)
03/30/74 Johnny Winter(4)
12/06/74 The Guess Who(4)
12/24/75 Frank Zappa(4)
01/01/76 Little Feat(4)
Elvis's final local appearance was at the Sports Arena on April 24, 1976.
02/13/76 David Bowie(4)
On October 7, 1976, the Who at San Diego Sports Arena: Beneath Keith Moon's drum kit that evening was a Persian rug that the day before had graced a reception area near his room in a Phoenix hotel. According to the biographical DVD The Most Dangerous Man Alive, Moon was "accused by another hotel guest of urinating on the expensive carpet...easily seen by anyone walking past the room." Moon told hotel management that the wet spot had been caused by a spilled drink. "When told the band would be billed for the full value [of the rug], Moon moved some furniture off the carpet, rolled it up, slung it over his shoulder, and took it immediately to the band's tour bus, using it that night and over the next few dates [including San Diego] to anchor his notoriously unstable drum kit." No local news reports surfaced of damage to the Westgate Hotel, where the band stayed that night before driving to Oakland.(3)
01/01/77 Lynyrd Skynyrd(4)
12/16/77 Queen(4)
12/03/78 Black Sabbath, Van Halen(4)
02/21/79 The Tubes(4)
12/09/79 Fleetwood Mac(4)
12/13/79 The Jacksons, LTD(4)
12/05/81 Chuck Berry(4)
12/06/81 Stevie Nicks(4)
01/13/82 Willie Nelson(4)
02/16/82 The Pretenders(4)
12/01/82 Crosby, Stills & Nash(4)
01/29/88 Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli(4)
01/30/88 Frank Sinatra, Liza Minelli(4)
03/22/88 Sting(4)
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| Freddie Mercury of Queen at the Sports Arena on March 12, 1976 |
Formerly known as the San Diego Sports Arena, then named the ipayOne Center (named for a real estate company), and now Valley View Casino & Hotel.
A North County Indian gaming tribe signed a multi-year marketing deal with the operator of the San Diego Sports Arena that resulted in the renaming of the sports venue as the Valley View Casino Center on Nov. 1, 2010. It will allow the Valley View Casino & Hotel in Valley Center to be marketed along with the sports arena under its new name. The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians is the owner of the Valley Center casino and hotel. The agreement was approved by the San Diego City Council.(2)
Jerry performed here on
11/14/73 Grateful Dead
7/1/80 Grateful Dead
4/18/93 JGB
12/12/93 Grateful Dead
12/13/93 Grateful Dead
1.)^http://valleyviewcasinocenter.com/history.php
2.)^Cruz, Manny, Indian Tribe Renames San Diego Sports Arena, 2010-10-13, http://sandiegometro.com/2010/10/daily-business-report-%E2%80%94-oct-13-2010/
3.)^http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/bands/2008/oct/09/50-greatest-concerts-in-san-diego-history-1917---2/
4.)^http://www.sandiegoconcertarchive.com/concertarchive/12-december.html
Ah - it was here that I saw this - 01/13/68 The Byrds, The Turtles, Buffalo Springfield, Stone Pony's(4)
ReplyDeleteLinda's group should be spelled the Stone Poneys (the e on Pony is correct and there is no apostrophe s on the end of Poneys) - think I said before in other comment it was Andrew Gold who spelled it wrong and it stuck - it was Kenny Edwards not Andrew.