| |||
For many CWF diehards in the 1970s, Monday nights meant a trip on I-95 to West Palm Beach, and the WPB Auditorium. The venue was designed and built by local developer Louis R. Perini, whose father is widely considered one of the most influential businessmen in West Palm Beach history. The Perini family began purchasing swampland in the 1950s around what is now known as Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard, continuing until the early 1970s when their developments accounted for a third of the city's total area. Opening on Labor Day weekend in 1967 with performances by Lefty Frizzell, Shep Wooley, and Johnny Desmond, the Auditorium was Affectionately dubbed the "leaky teepee," a tag it would carry for over thirty years because of faulty roofing materials.
Cowboy Luttrall moved his cards from the West Palm Beach Polo Grounds, which had been a CWF staple for many years, to the Auditorium in the early 1970s. With its easy proximity to both I-95 and the Florida Turnpike, attendance increased immediately. For the next seventeen years, every major star that passed through the Sunshine State wrestled in the building, the same building that saw Elvis Presley, the Supremes, James Brown, and Liberace. By June of 1998, the West Palm Beach Auditorium, like so many other entertainment venues of the 1960s, had become outdated, and the city, losing a million dollars a year in operating costs, decided it wasn't worth keeping. The Auditorium, as well as the adjoining Municipal Stadium were sold to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Florida, Inc., the corporate arm of the Jehovah's Witnesses for $12.5 million. The name was immediately changed to the West Palm Beach Christian Convention Center, and extensive work was done to the interior, as well as a complete overhaul of the air-conditioning system. The roof, long a problem for many who attended events at the building, was repaired, and the "leaky teepee" was no more.
Matches 1 to 20 of 25 |
|
|
|
January 10th, 1966 Clipping |
February 21st, 1966 Clipping |
December 11th, 1967 Clipping |
April 14th, 1969 Clipping |
|
January 5th, 1970 Clipping |
October 20th, 1975 Cover |
December 1st, 1975 Cover |
January 16th, 1978 Cover |
|
January 16th, 1978 Lineup |
June 19th, 1978 Lineup |
June 19th, 1978 Cover |
September 4th, 1978 Cover |
|
September 4th, 1978 Lineup |
April 16th, 1979 Cover |
April 16th, 1979 Lineup |
November 12th, 1979 Lineup |
|
November 12th, 1979 Cover |
January 4th, 1982 Cover |
January 4th, 1982 Lineup |
January 11th, 1982 Lineup |
Matches 1 to 20 of 25 |
|
|
© Copyright 2004-2006, Barry Rose,
