Anaheim Arena Ready for a Face Lift

Elvis has left the building, but so have James Taylor, Red Skelton, Roberto Duran, the Anaheim Amigos and the California Oranges.

The Anaheim Arena, which opened its doors with a Doors concert in 1967, has played host to musicians, comedians, boxers, circuses and ice shows. The Amigos of the American Basketball Assn. and the Oranges of World Team Tennis played there, as did the Harlem Globetrotters, who could be seen for $3 in 1970.

In recent years, such acts and sporting events have been replaced by trade shows and meetings that were displaced when the adjacent convention center was undergoing a major renovation. But now, city officials hope to revitalize the slumbering arena and revive its eclectic menu of sports and entertainment.

“It’s an old facility that has served us well,” City Manager James Ruth said. “It’s time to put some money into it.

“The thing has really deteriorated. We’re going to dress it up and fix it up.”

In this era of bigger-is-better buildings, like the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and Staples Center in Los Angeles, city officials believe their cozy arena can offer a charming and cost-effective alternative for shows and events not quite big enough for the big time.

On the outside, the arena showcases the distinctive Googie-style architecture that once proliferated along the blocks surrounding Disneyland. On the inside, blissfully free of luxury suites, the 7,500-seat arena lets spectators sit far closer to the action than possible in newer buildings like the sparkling Pond, home of the Mighty Ducks.

But when Gary Elbogen recently toured Anaheim in search of a home for his proposed minor league basketball team, he opted to negotiate with the Pond despite a rental fee he said would be “at least twice as expensive” than that of the convention center arena.

“It definitely has great intimacy and also a lot of history,” Elbogen said. “But they do need to update the upholstery. The seats are probably the same as when I sat in that arena in 1982.”

Indeed they are, said Greg Smith, general manager of the convention center. The three-year, $179-million renovation of the convention center, scheduled for completion this fall, forced trade shows and meetings into the arena.

As that project concludes, Smith plans to allocate $3 million to $4 million from convention center profits to revamp the arena’s seats, scoreboards, light and sound systems, concession stands, locker rooms and carpeting.

He also intends to accent the historic architecture with a “signature lighting element” similar to the purple night light that bathes the new Staples Center.

Smith hopes to obtain City Council approval within months and complete renovations over the next two to three years. By that time, he said, he plans to book 80 events per year into the arena, up from the current 20.

“If we don’t have a 35-date-a-year sports franchise, we will be able to fill it with other events,” Smith said.

A sports franchise is iffy at best. That minor league basketball team, part of a proposed revival of the ABA, prefers the prestige of the Pond. And while Smith said three minor league hockey teams had contacted him about moving to Anaheim, he is reluctant to spend $1.5 million for a new ice surface and related equipment.

“We would have a hockey team here right now if we had an ice system,” Smith said.

The Big West Conference recently agreed to move its men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments to the arena, starting in 2001.

“It’s the right-sized venue for our event,” conference commissioner Dennis Farrell said. “We like the location. It’s right across from the new Disney theme park, which should be an attraction for our out-of-town visitors.”

Farrell also plans to explore staging a nationally televised basketball doubleheader at the arena, with conference members UC Irvine and Cal State Fullerton playing top opponents.

That takes care of four or five dates, but Smith insists he can fill the calendar with shows and concerts, particularly family events like “Sesame Street” and “Barney” stage shows and Latin music performances.

Ruth plans to meet this week with a concert promoter who contends the arena can benefit from a shortage of medium-sized arenas. Although the 18,000-seat Pond is one of the nation’s busiest buildings, booking 200 events annually, general manager Tim Ryan dismissed the notion that a vibrant arena would siphon business from the Pond.

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Popular acts like the Rolling Stones, Lauryn Hill and Shania Twain, all of whom have played the Pond, have long outgrown a 7,500-seat arena. Ryan said he and Smith talk regularly, trying to land as many events as possible for the two city-owned buildings.

“When you really get inside the bidding process, whether it’s a sports event or a concert, you want to put the event in the appropriate arena,” Ryan said. “It doesn’t help anyone to put 5,000 people in an 18,000-seat facility. It doesn’t help anyone to force an event that has the ability to sell 15,000 tickets into a venue with 7,000 seats.”

Whatever athletes or artists play at the arena, Smith vows to reserve dates for community gatherings and high school graduations. Smith remembers and appreciates the community support that headed off a plan several years ago to demolish the aging arena in favor of an exhibit hall expansion.

“There’s a tremendous sentimental value to the building,” Smith said. “Without it, this is just a trade show building used by people from out of town. This is a link to the people in our community.”

So much so, Smith said, that the City Council refused to allow him even to explore how much money the city could reap by selling the arena’s naming rights to a corporation. In a city with a baseball stadium named for an energy company and a hockey arena named for bottled water, the council rejected another lucrative corporate tie. An arena from another era, indeed.

“We’d like to keep the name Anaheim somewhere on our facilities,” Smith said.