GUEST BLOG: Interesting Facts About The Old Boston Garden by Jonathan Weeks Plus Giveaway!

—Located above North Station on Causeway Street, the old Boston Garden was designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden. Rickard wanted to create an intimate setting, where fans could “see the sweat on the boxer’s brows.”

—Opened in 1928, the Garden hosted seventeen Stanley Cup Finals tournaments. Additionally, the Celtics clinched nine championships there. The Garden also served as home to the Boston Braves (AHL) and New England Whalers (WHA) hockey clubs.

—In the 1930s, a five-hundred room hotel was attached to the Garden via an elevated skyway. Originally known as the Hotel Manger, its name was changed to the Hotel Madison. It was demolished in 1983.

—A number of notable non-sporting events were held at the Garden. In 1960, John F. Kennedy staged a political rally there. Popular musical acts to appear included The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, and Elvis Presley. Led Zeppelin and Kiss were both prohibited from performing at the Garden.

—The ice surface at the Garden was located beneath the parquet floor used by the Celtics. On days when both teams were scheduled to play, a sizeable crew was required to assemble and dismantle the floor, which consisted of 264 five-foot panels. The panels were held in place by 988 bolts. The floor was uneven and had dead spots. According to legend, Celtics players would lure opponents to the dead spots and steal the ball when it took a bad bounce.

—The Garden’s ice surface was actually below regulation size. It was nine feet shorter and two feet narrower. There were no official specifications for ice dimensions when the facility was built.

—There was no air-conditioning in the Garden. This resulted in fog forming on the ice during some late-season playoff games. Stanley Cup Finals games in 1988 and 1990 were affected by power outages. Game 4 of the ’88 affair was declared a tie when service could not be effectively restored in a timely manner.

—Since the building was erected in the 1920s, various flaws in the design existed. Some of the seats at the Garden were obstructed by structural pillars. The Bruins sold tickets to these seats anyway, offering them at discounted rates.

—The last NHL game at the Garden was a preseason matchup between the Bruins and Canadiens in September of 1995. In a postgame ceremony attended by a number of all-time greats, the banners and retired numbers were removed from the rafters. The building was eventually demolished in 1998.

Publication Date: January 12, 2021

Among the “original six” NHL clubs to survive the Great Depression, the Boston Bruins have a vibrant history. Entering the 2020-’21 campaign, the team ranked fourth all-time with six Stanley Cup championships. Some of the most gifted players in NHL history have skated for the Bruins over the years. Best of the Bruins: Boston’s All-Time Great Players and Coaches tells the individual stories of the players and coaches who have helped make the Bruins perennial contenders for close to a century. Profiles of current players are included in this sweeping survey.

Jonathan Weeks will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A lifelong sports fan, Weeks has published several non-fiction books on the topic of baseball. Additionally, he has two novels to his credit—one of them a posthumous collaboration with his father. His latest project: Best of the Bruins: Boston’s All Time Great Players and Coaches, is due out in 2021.

May 24: Straight From the Library
May 25: Novels Alive
May 26: Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
May 27: Our Town Book Reviews
May 28: Fabulous and Brunette
May 31: Notes From a Romantic’s Heart – review
June 1: All the Ups and Downs
June 2: The Reading Addict
June 3: The Avid Reader
June 4: Long and Short Reviews