{"id":85,"featured":0,"modified":"2026-03-04 21:31:58","latitude":41.50331280000000333529897034168243408203125,"longitude":-81.6609167000000297775841318070888519287109375,"title":"The Arena","subtitle":null,"fullsize":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena1_4f05b2ce98.jpg","address":"3717 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH","zoom":15,"creator":["Arthur Kinney"],"description":"The Arena at 3717 Euclid Avenue was built in 1937 by sports promoter Albert C. Stuphin. Originally designed to be the home ice for Stuphin's Cleveland Barons hockey team (which until that point had played as the Indians and then the Falcons further up Euclid Avenue at the Elysium), the Arena also hosted many other sporting events throughout its history, including boxing, basketball, wrestling, and racing. The Arena served as the original home of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 1970s before the team moved to the Richfield Coliseum in Summit County. <br /><br />The Cleveland Arena was also the site of one of the first rock and roll concerts ever held: the <a href=\"https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/1021\">Moondog Coronation Bal</a>l of 1952. Cleveland DJ Alan Freed organized the concert, which drew crowds of teenagers so large and unruly that the fire department canceled the show before most of the acts could play.<br /><br />By the 1960s, the arena's facilities were becoming outdated, and in 1974, after the Cavaliers moved to the Coliseum and the Barons to Jacksonville, the Arena stopped holding large events. The building was demolished in 1977.","sponsor":null,"accessinfo":"Demolished","lede":null,"website":null,"related_resources":["\"<a href=\"https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/cleveland-arena\">Cleveland Arena.</a>\" <em>Encyclopedia of Cleveland History</em>."],"factoids":[],"files":{"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena1_4f05b2ce98.jpg":{"id":845,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"High School Championship Game, 1959","description":"St. Ignatius vs. East Tech at The Arena in 1959 | Cleveland Memory Project, Cleveland State University Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena1_4f05b2ce98.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena2_ed1504557f.jpg":{"id":846,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Spectators at the Arena, 1939","description":"Image courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena2_ed1504557f.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena3_2248c92505.jpg":{"id":847,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Boxing Match, 1943","description":"Image courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena3_2248c92505.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena4_567c05a720.jpg":{"id":951,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Arena Skating Rink, 1938","description":"Image courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena4_567c05a720.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena5_8538b0fa56.jpg":{"id":849,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Hockey at the Arena, 1950","description":"Notice the low, chicken-wire barriers (early versions of today&#039;s &quot;boards&quot;), the moveable seating, and the absence of separate team benches and penalty box areas.  These features made the Arena an exciting and unpredictable place for Cleveland hockey fans to watch games.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena5_8538b0fa56.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena6_3afc636dcd.jpg":{"id":850,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Indoor Auto Racing, 1952","description":"&quot;Midget races,&quot; as they were often called, became popular in the mid-1930s.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena6_3afc636dcd.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena7_d8fb64c140.jpg":{"id":851,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Moondog Coronation Ball, March 1952","description":"In 1952, Cleveland DJ Alan Freed organized one of the first rock and roll concerts in history.<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Western Reserve Historical Society","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena7_d8fb64c140.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/fullsize/arena8_4e7015e07f.jpg":{"id":852,"mime-type":"image/jpeg","title":"Arena Postcard","description":"The back of this postcard reads: &quot;The Arena is Cleveland&#039;s most modern structure devoted exclusively to sports events. It is here the Cleveland hockey team, the Barons, play their home games.  The Arena is also used for such other sport events as Roller Derbies, Wrestling, Six Day Bicycle Races, etc.&quot;<br />\r\n<br />\r\nImage courtesy of Cleveland State Library Special Collections","thumbnail":"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/square_thumbnails/arena8_4e7015e07f.jpg"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/999046-arena-arena-was-the-place-to-be_mixdown_9442b56592.mp3":{"id":854,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"The Place to Be","description":"Bob Sheridan describes the attraction of the Cleveland Arena | Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/999046-arena-big-hockey-fight_mixdown_4d4754d489.mp3":{"id":855,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Penalty Box Fights","description":"Bob Sheridan recalls a fight between the Hershey Bears and the Cleveland Baron&#039;s hockey teams | Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection"},"https://www.clevelandhistorical.org/files/original/999046-chicken-wire-in-the-arena_mixdown_5d81638cde.mp3":{"id":856,"mime-type":"audio/mpeg","title":"Up Close in the Arena","description":"Bob Sheridan describes the up-close experience of the Cleveland Arena | Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection"}}}