An event at Washington's Uline Arena - Swampoodle

Uline Arena in Washington, DC, home of the EHL Washington Lions and Washington Presidents, is back in action. This week you can do more than park your car in it, you can buy tickets to go see...
Swampoodle . http://swampoodledc.com/


It sounds a bit like Cirque du Soliel meets history of DC's notorious, historic and forgotten Irish neighborhood, which was mostly where Union Station's rail yard is now.

I know I'd go, just to experience an event in the building. I'll be interested to see how they represent hockey, if at all. The video looks to show late sixties hockey, going by the haircuts, well after the EHL was gone from DC.

5/24/11 Update...
Here's a review from Jenn Larsen of We Love DC that makes me wish I could experience it. The building itself is the main event. I guess I'll just have to park my car there sometime...
http://www.welovedc.com/2011/05/24/we-love-arts-swampoodle/

New Photos of Uline Arena in Washington

The Hidden Side of Washington - SlideShow - Washington Post
David "Deal, a Washington portrait and sports photographer, has recently been braving cobwebs, dark stairs and hardened functionaries to see the cloaked, the abandoned and the restricted spaces of D.C."

If you are an architecture fan at all, or of top-notch b&w photography, you'll enjoy this slideshow from the Washington Post. The Uline Arena shots are #18 & 19. These are the best shots I've seen to get a sense of what the inside of Uline Arena, later known as Washington Coliseum, looked like.

From A Short Pictorial History of Uline Arena: "The story of the building itself begins in of all places, Hershey Pennsylvania. In the spring of 1936, the 7,286-seat Hershey Sports Arena was constructed. It was at the time the largest monolithic structure in the United States in which not a single seat suffered from an obstructed view. Its unparalleled construction was to due to the unique and innovative use of concrete. The Sports Arena is composed of a barrel vault roof, then known as the Zeiss-Dywidag or Z-D type. The concrete shell is only 3 1/2 inches thick at the upper most part, and is stiffened at 39 foot intervals by massive two-hinged arch ribs. The roof crown is 100 feet above the floor, and the shell was constructed as five separate units, with expansion joints between each unit. In 1941 Miguel L. "Uncle Mike" Uline had started a successful ice making business. He had also purchased a hockey team, the Washington Lions, and needed a building for to them to play in. Wanting an arena much like the Hershey structure he contracted with the Lone Star Cement of company of Texas to build a similar facility. When it was done "Uline Arena" could seat close to 7,000 fans."
Here's a shot of a beer-league game courtesy National Brewers Hockey at Uline back in the late 60s. No that's not the historically impossible Knoxville Knights vs. the Washington Lions matchup that one e-Bay seller would have you believe it is.

Further reading: The Story of Uline Arena from Wizards Magazine, which I blogged back in March.

The Story of Uline Arena from Wizards Magazine

Uline Arena in Washington was an essential part of EHL hockey in the 1950s. It was home of the Lions (1954-57) and Presidents (1957-1960). I don't think this video from 2007 even mentions hockey, but is well worth the view for anyone who saw a game there or have never heard of it before. The Arena has been a transfer station for Waste Management, but in the video you can see it as a parking lot - seats and owners box intact, sort of. The video was for Washington Wizards Magazine.



ULINE ARENA LINKS:
* DC Preservation League Uline Page
* Uline Destined for New Life - NoMaNews, December 2007
* As decades pass, a coliseum's glory days go to waste - Washington Business Journal April 16, 2001
* Uline Photo Stream on Flickrby Richard Layman
* A Short Pictorial History of Uline Arena by Patrick Weadon