Island Garden

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Island Garden is an indoor arena in West Hempstead, New York. The arena was built in 1998, and has a seating capacity of 5,000 people.

[edit] The Original Island Garden

The original Island Garden was built in 1957 by Arnold "Whitey" Carlson a descendent of Swedish Immigrants, Mr. Carlson's grandfather was Henrik Carlson, a noted San Diego sculptor who was the Foreign Art Director for the San Diego Exposition (now Balboa Park). Over the years many concert acts such as Cream, Dave Clark Five, Tiny Tim, Louis Armstrong, and Bob Dylan performed at the venue. In addition to concerts there was also boxing matches, circus, rodeo, midget car racing, and boat shows. The arena also hosted the ABA's New York Nets from 1969 to 1971. One of the odd aspects of this arena was that the Nets were unable to play any home playoffs games in 1971 because the arena was booked. The arena was demolished in 1973, due to its inability to compete with the larger Nassau Coliseum. A shopping center is currently at the site of the original Island Garden. Mr. Carlson later moved to Los Angeles, CA, and now owns "The Brewery" the largest artist colony is the USA.

Preceded by Long Island Arena 1968–1969

Home of the New York Nets 1969–1971

Succeeded by Nassau Coliseum 1971–1977