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Historic place

Curtis Hixon Hall

600 Ashley Dr, Tampa, FL

Tampa's riverfront arena hosted Elvis, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead before it was torn down in 1993.

📅 1965–1993🏛️ Music VenueDemolished
Open on the mapSlide back to 1965

The story

Curtis Hixon Hall was dedicated on January 23, 1965, and held its first event, a boxing card, on February 15. Mayor Nick Nuccio's administration built it and named it for Mayor Curtis Hixon, who died in office in 1956. Norman Six designed it in a modified Googie style, and it cost about $5 million, mostly from municipal bonds.

It held about 8,000 for concerts. Bob Dylan, The Who, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Presley, David Bowie and Jimi Hendrix all played there. It was also the University of South Florida's first home basketball court and hosted the ABA's Floridians. By the mid-1980s it was down to smaller events, and the Tampa Convention Center, which opened in 1990, made it obsolete. Demolition began in 1993.

What's There Now

The site is Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, beside the Tampa Museum of Art and the Glazer Children's Museum.

Everything that was here

Did you know?

Patti Smith broke her neck falling from the stage there in 1977.
It was USF's first home basketball court.
Aquamarine tiles from the hall were set into benches in the park that replaced it.

Nearby history

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Sourceshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtis_Hixon_Hall