abstract
| - 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. It hosts a local youth basketball league. It was named for the original Island Garden, which stood just south of the present site. The original Island Garden Arena 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, The Byrds, Sly and the Family Stone, The Dave Brubeck Quartet and Bob Dylan performed at the venue. In addition to concerts there were also boxing matches, professional wrestling, circus, rodeos, stamp shows, midget car racing, and boat shows. The 5,200 seat arena also hosted the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association from 1969 to 1972. 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, because it was unable to compete with the newer and larger Nassau Coliseum. A shopping center is currently at the site of the original Island Garden Arena.
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