New Haven Arena
One of the most famous/infamous) events in rock history occurred at the New Haven Arena on December 9, 1967. On that date, Jim Morrison was arrested in the middle of a performance with The Doors. He was charged with obscenity and breach of peace and kept behind bars for several hours before eventually being released.
This is thought to be the first time that a rock star was arrested on stage during a performance. The incident was immortalized in The Doors’ 1970 song “Peace Frog,” notably in the line “Blood in the streets in the town of New Haven.” Very ironically, after the New Haven Arena was demolished, the New Haven-based division of the FBI became the occupant of the new building on the site. the FBI.
OPENING, RECONSTRUCTION, NOTABLE APPEARANCES, CLOSING
The original New Haven Arena opened in 1914 but burned down in 1924 and was reconstructed in 1927 with hockey in mind. Some of the teams that called the New Haven arena home were the New Haven Eagles, the New Haven Blades, the New Haven Elms and Yale University. Besides hockey, the arena hosted nearly every major event that came through New Haven.
As a music venue, the it hosted a bevy of musical icons including The Young Rascals, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, The Temptations, Cream, The Supremes, and Frank Sinatra, to name just a few. After appearing at the arena, Sinatra would make a point of dining at New Haven’s famed Sally’s Pizza. Interestingly, on June 18, 1964, The Rolling Stones were scheduled to perform at the New Haven Arena but the show was canceled – due to the lack of ticket sales (even though the face values for the show were only $2, $3 and $4). The Stones did return to a sold-out crowd at the era the following years, however (November 4, 1965). Other major events included an appearance by The Bolshoi Ballet, the IBA World Boxing Championships and the legendary Ringling Bros. & Barnum Bailey Circus.
While the New Haven Arena was an extremely popular venue for over 50 years, attracting millions of fans far beyond the Connecticut border, its demise was inevitable after construction of the New Haven Coliseum in 1972. Two years later, the New Haven Arena was demolished.
(by Tony Renzoni)
Tony Renzoni is the author of Connecticut Rock ‘n’ Roll: A History (The History Press, 2017) and portions of this piece are taken from that book.
