The Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (formerly San Francisco Civic Auditorium) is a multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, named after promoter Bill Graham. The arena holds 8,500 people.

About the venue

The auditorium was designed by renowned Bay Area architects

John Galen Howard John Galen Howard (May 8, 1864 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts – July 18, 1931 in San Francisco, California) was an American architect and educator who began his career in New York before moving to California. He was the principal architect at in ...

Frederick Herman Meyer Frederick Herman Meyer (June 26, 1876 – March 6, 1961) was an American architect. He was active in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is known for designing the YMCA Hotel in San Francisco. From c.1898 until 1901, Samuel Newsom worked with Meyer, ...

and John W. Reid Jr. and built in 1915 as part of the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely se ...

. The auditorium hosted the 1920 Democratic National Convention, the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when he ...

from 1923 to 1932 and again for the 1996 season, the National AAU boxing trials in 1948, and it was the home of the

San Francisco Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

from 1964 to 1967. An underground expansion, named

Brooks Hall Brooks Hall (originally Civic Center Exhibit Hall, nicknamed Mole Hall and Gopher Palace) is a disused event space underneath the southern half of Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco; a parking garage occupies the space under the northern half. I ...

, was completed in 1958 under the Civic Center Plaza, immediately north of the Civic Auditorium. The famous

Mother of All Demos "The Mother of All Demos" is a name retroactively applied to a landmark computer demonstration, given at the Association for Computing Machinery / Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (ACM/IEEE)—Computer Society's Fall Joint Comp ...

was presented here during the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference, and the

World Cyber Games 2004 The World Cyber Games 2004 was held in San Francisco, California, United States from the October 6–10. It was the first ever World Cyber Games to be held outside of Korea. Official games PC games * '' Counter-Strike: Condition Zero'' * ''FIFA ...

were also held here. In 1992, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to rename the auditorium after the rock concert impresario Bill Graham, who had died the previous year in a helicopter crash. Long before Bill Graham came along, James T. Graham (no relation) managed the Civic Auditorium from 1954 to 1970 and booked some of the biggest names in show business there. During Jim's tenure, the Civic Auditorium hosted Elvis Presley (Oct. 26, 1957), Judy Garland (Sept. 13, 1961), Ray Charles, the Tijuana Brass, Donovan, the Jefferson Airplane (June 4, 1966), the Mamas and Papas (Oct. 10, 1966), The Temptations and Gladys Night & the Pips (Jan. 26, 1968), Jose Feliciano, Bobby Darin and more, which prompted San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen to opine that they (the S.F. Board of Supervisors) named the Civic Auditorium after the wrong Graham (Jan. 12, 1993). Jim Graham signed the Warriors to a contract at the Civic in 1962 when they first moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco. The Warriors would play their first few seasons at the Civic before they moved to the Cow Palace, a larger venue. Jim was manager there when Brooks Halls was built as a convention center underground in the Civic Center, adjacent to the Auditorium. Dedicated on April 11, 1958, Jim Graham also managed Brooks Hall, where he booked American Medical Association conventions, the Harvest Festival, the San Francisco Gift Show and more. Under Jim Graham's management, the Civic Auditorium also hosted Barnum & Bailey circuses, the San Francisco Roller Derby, Golden Gloves Boxing matches, professional wrestling, Holiday on Ice, the Ice Capades, car shows, the International Dog Show, the Black and White Ball and the Folderol. In addition, Jim Graham was manager of the Auditorium when President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave a speech there on Aug. 23, 1956, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Republican Party, and when a fundraising gala was held there on June 1, 1968 for Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Robert Kennedy, a few days before he was assassinated in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. At the time, the "Civic Auditorium" was ground zero in San Francisco for conventions and entertainment events. There was no other major venue for large gatherings, outside of the Cow Palace, which was considered ill-equipped for such events despite the fact that it was larger. Later, the Civic Auditorium arena would continue to host concerts by many other famous artists, spanning many different genres. It is owned by the City and County of San Francisco and since 2010 has been operated by Another Planet Entertainment.

Concerts

References

{{Authority control Civic Center, San Francisco Convention centers in California Entertainment venues in San Francisco Music venues in San Francisco Sports venues in San Francisco Basketball venues in California San Francisco Warriors venues Former National Basketball Association venues Boxing venues in California Tennis venues in California Buildings and structures completed in 1915 Event venues established in 1915 1915 establishments in California John Galen Howard buildings NWA San Francisco Esports venues in California Civic Auditorium

About the venue

Concerts

See also

References