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Curtis Hixon Hall
27°56′57″N 82°27′43″W / 27.94917°N 82.46194°W
Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. Named after Curtis Hixon, a long-time Tampa mayor who died in 1956 during his fourth term in the office, it opened in 1965 and was the primary concert, indoor sports, and civic gathering place for the city for about twenty years. The construction of newer and more specialized facilities around town during the 1980s gradually reduced the number of events held at the Hall, and the opening of the much larger Tampa Convention Center in 1990 made it obsolete.
The Hall was demolished in 1993, and the land was converted into a public park. The park was redesigned and incorporated into the Tampa Riverwalk in 2010, and the facility's former footprint is now home to the Tampa Museum of Art, the Glazer Children’s Museum, and the northern portions of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
Curtis Hixon Hall was planned and built in the early 1960s during the administration of Tampa mayor Nick Nuccio, who pushed for the construction of many public works projects around town. It was named for Curtis Hixon, the mayor of Tampa from 1943 until he died while still in office in 1956. Local architect Norman Six designed the uniquely shaped building in a modified Googie architecture style. Construction of the 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m2) facility cost approximately $5 million and was mostly financed by municipal bonds issued by the city of Tampa. It was dedicated on January 23, 1965.
Curtis Hixon Hall could be reconfigured and subdivided to accommodate many different events. It had a maximum capacity of about 8000 in a concert setup. It hosted concerts and sports, conventions and trade shows, large community events such as New Year's Eve dances and Gasparilla-related festivities, and political events, such as a large 1968 campaign rally for presidential candidate Richard Nixon.
Curtis Hixon Hall was the site of a wide variety of sporting events. The first event in the new facility was a boxing card held on February 15, 1965, and it hosted many subsequent boxing and wrestling cards throughout its lifetime, including a nationally televised 1971 light heavyweight championship bout between Bob Foster and Ray Anderson. Other notable fighters appearing at Curtis Hixon Hall included Earnie Shavers, Emile Griffith, José Roman, Vicente Rondón, and Maurice Watkins.
Curtis Hixon Hall also hosted many basketball games. It was the first home court of the University of South Florida's men's and women's basketball teams and the ABA's Floridians, and it was also used for high school basketball games and tournaments.
Curtis Hixon Hall was Tampa's primary concert venue from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, with only a handful of the biggest acts playing at much larger Tampa Stadium. Many of the top musical performers of the era played at Curtis Hixon Hall, including Bob Dylan (both solo and as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue),The Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Monkees, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Cash, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Black Sabbath, Sly & The Family Stone, The Jackson 5, Eagles, Santana, Bob Marley and The Wailers, The Beach Boys, Kiss, ZZ Top, Hank Williams Jr., The Isley Brothers, Van Halen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rush, The Kinks, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, U2, Yes, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among many others.
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Curtis Hixon Hall
27°56′57″N 82°27′43″W / 27.94917°N 82.46194°W
Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. Named after Curtis Hixon, a long-time Tampa mayor who died in 1956 during his fourth term in the office, it opened in 1965 and was the primary concert, indoor sports, and civic gathering place for the city for about twenty years. The construction of newer and more specialized facilities around town during the 1980s gradually reduced the number of events held at the Hall, and the opening of the much larger Tampa Convention Center in 1990 made it obsolete.
The Hall was demolished in 1993, and the land was converted into a public park. The park was redesigned and incorporated into the Tampa Riverwalk in 2010, and the facility's former footprint is now home to the Tampa Museum of Art, the Glazer Children’s Museum, and the northern portions of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
Curtis Hixon Hall was planned and built in the early 1960s during the administration of Tampa mayor Nick Nuccio, who pushed for the construction of many public works projects around town. It was named for Curtis Hixon, the mayor of Tampa from 1943 until he died while still in office in 1956. Local architect Norman Six designed the uniquely shaped building in a modified Googie architecture style. Construction of the 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m2) facility cost approximately $5 million and was mostly financed by municipal bonds issued by the city of Tampa. It was dedicated on January 23, 1965.
Curtis Hixon Hall could be reconfigured and subdivided to accommodate many different events. It had a maximum capacity of about 8000 in a concert setup. It hosted concerts and sports, conventions and trade shows, large community events such as New Year's Eve dances and Gasparilla-related festivities, and political events, such as a large 1968 campaign rally for presidential candidate Richard Nixon.
Curtis Hixon Hall was the site of a wide variety of sporting events. The first event in the new facility was a boxing card held on February 15, 1965, and it hosted many subsequent boxing and wrestling cards throughout its lifetime, including a nationally televised 1971 light heavyweight championship bout between Bob Foster and Ray Anderson. Other notable fighters appearing at Curtis Hixon Hall included Earnie Shavers, Emile Griffith, José Roman, Vicente Rondón, and Maurice Watkins.
Curtis Hixon Hall also hosted many basketball games. It was the first home court of the University of South Florida's men's and women's basketball teams and the ABA's Floridians, and it was also used for high school basketball games and tournaments.
Curtis Hixon Hall was Tampa's primary concert venue from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, with only a handful of the biggest acts playing at much larger Tampa Stadium. Many of the top musical performers of the era played at Curtis Hixon Hall, including Bob Dylan (both solo and as part of the Rolling Thunder Revue),The Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Monkees, Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Cash, Elton John, Elvis Presley, Black Sabbath, Sly & The Family Stone, The Jackson 5, Eagles, Santana, Bob Marley and The Wailers, The Beach Boys, Kiss, ZZ Top, Hank Williams Jr., The Isley Brothers, Van Halen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rush, The Kinks, Talking Heads, Dire Straits, U2, Yes, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among many others.