Two years ago, I got a chance to shoot this abandoned arena in Memphis. In an arrangement similar to what I wrote about in my last post on the Sterick building, a group of photographers were allowed to shoot the place in return for some photos. In each case, the owners were looking to drum up publicity during the long and arduous redevelopment process. The photos were first submitted to the owners to give them a chance to vet them before giving us the green light to release them publicly. I must have gotten busy with other things, because it wasn’t until I was going through my Sterick shots that I realized I had never gotten around to putting out the batch from the Coliseum. Better late than never, I guess?
The brief back story: the Mid-South Coliseum opened in 1964, when it became the first desegregated facility in Memphis. It hosted concerts from, among others, the Beatles, Elvis, and the Rolling Stones. It was also well known among wrestling fans as the home base of the United States Wrestling Association. As such, it was the venue where the USWA’s star Jerry Lawler took on comedian Andy Kaufman in a stunt that helped shape modern pro wrestling.
Sadly, I learned while writing this post that the Coliseum is supposed to be demolished soon to make way for an outdoor soccer stadium. So, too late to help with a possible redevelopment, I submit these photos as a brief requiem to an old Memphis icon.
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A personal bonus was that, while going through these shots, I found a couple others from that trip to Memphis that I overlooked. I’ll try to post those soon. Thank you for stopping by!
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