Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spectrum Brick

As a Christmas gift my wife bought for me a brick from the Spectrum in Philadelphia.  Because of demolition delays, the items was not available to ship before Christmas.  An email "certificate" was sent.
Finally last week the brick showed up in a nice logoed box with a wood mount and plaque on the side of the brick.
JFK Stadium Brick, South Phila


I'm not a brick collector.  I do have one other brick in my ManTown; one from JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.  JFK (formerly Municipal Stadium) was located behind the Spectrum on the site of the present Wells Fargo Center (home of Flyers).  It was a run down old horseshow stadium rarely used in my youth.  My father and grandfather used to go to Army/Navy games regularly there until my grandfather's death in the early 60s.  I've seen the Philadelphia Bell once (old WFL team in the mid 70's), a concert with Santana, The Clash and The Who in 1982 and Live Aid in 1985.  The last event there was a Grateful Dead show in 1989.
When the stadium was demolished to make room for the new home of the Flyers there was a temporary fenced in lot at the Spectrum.  I had my boy (5 or 6 at the time) at the Spectrum one afternooon to pick up tickets for that evening.   I noticed pallets of bricks stacked up inside past a guard shack.  The gate was opened and no guard was in sight.  I sent my boy in to fetch a brick, which he did.
Spectrum Brick, South Phila
To this date I never seen or heard of any bricks from JFK making their way into the public.
Also in the photo is a practice puck from the early-mid 1970's.